Chore Chart Maker: Free Printable Chore Chart for Kids and Adults

You don't need a chore app to split chores fairly: print the chart for the fridge or send the link to your household. Need reminders on every phone or allowance payouts? Then an app may fit better, and we compare the options below.

How to make a chore chart in 4 steps

To make a chore chart, choose who it's for, add everyone's name, pick chores or a ready-made pack, choose how to split them, then print or share it. The chart updates as you type, so there's no Generate button, no account and nothing to download. You can change any chore, effort or name afterward.

1. Choose who the chart is for

   Kids, Family, Roommates, Couple or Just me. Add names, and an age for kids, so they only get chores they can do.

2. Pick chores or a quick-start pack

   Start from a pack like "Kids 4 to 6" or "Shared apartment", then add chores from the list of 77 or type your own.

3. Choose Rotate weekly or Balance by effort

   Rotate passes the chores on every week; Balance gives everyone about the same effort points. Keep Split daily chores by day on, so the dishes switch person every day.

4. Print or share

   Print on US Letter or A4 (or save a PDF from the print window), copy the chart as a list for the group chat, or share the link.

Age-appropriate chores for kids (ages 2 to 13+)

Kids can start with simple chores as toddlers, like putting toys in a bin, and take on more as they grow. In our list, setting the table starts at 4, wiping counters at 6, the dishes at 9 and cleaning the bathroom at 12. Keep the list short, show them how first, and praise the effort instead of nagging.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry's fact sheet on chores says children can benefit from chores from as early as age 3, with jobs that grow with them. Our table is the tool's own chore list by starting age, set on the careful side for cleaning products, heat, blades and engines. A child can also do the chores in every row above their age.

How much is too much? The tool warns when a child under 6 gets more than 4 daily household chores, not counting their own routines like brushing teeth or making their bed. That's our rule of thumb, not a research finding: if the chart turns into a nightly fight, cut it back.

Do chores help kids? What the research says

Doing chores is linked to better social skills, school confidence and working memory in kids, according to two studies from 2019 and 2022, described below. Both show links, not proof that chores cause these benefits, and both relied partly on parents' reports. That's still a decent reason to start, without the bigger promises online.

In a 2019 study of 9,971 US children by White, DeBoer and Scharf, from a national cohort that started kindergarten in 2010 to 2011, kids whose parents reported more chores in kindergarten rated their own social skills, school abilities and life satisfaction higher in third grade. That held after accounting for sex, family income and parents' education. In a 2022 study by Tepper, Howell and Bennett, parents of 207 children aged 5 to 13 filled in questionnaires once; kids who did more self-care and family chores, like putting away their clothes or setting the table, had better working memory. Both are associations, and the second measured everything at one moment, so neither proves chores make kids more capable. Families who give kids chores may differ in other ways too. What the research does support is modest: regular, age-appropriate chores fit with kids who feel capable.

Rewards? Stars or one shared family reward can help young kids when the system stays simple, so the chart has a stars row and a reward line. Tying allowance to chores is a family choice.

How to split chores fairly with roommates or a partner

There are two fair ways to split chores. Rotation means everyone takes turns at everything, which is easy to explain and suits roommates. Balance by effort means everyone gets about the same amount of work, which suits couples who mind different chores. You can mix both: balance first, then swap by preference.

Here's the same three-person apartment (the "Shared apartment" pack, with the dishes and counters split by day) both ways:

For roommates: agree on one rotation day, like Sunday, and one rule for a missed chore, like swapping it with next week's. Post the link in the house group chat.

For couples: add the invisible jobs as chores, like keeping the shopping list, booking appointments and paying the bills. The gap is real: a 2023 Pew Research Center analysis of marriages where both spouses earn about the same found wives spent about 2.5 hours more a week on housework and about 2 hours more on caregiving than their husbands, who had about 3.5 hours more leisure. Only when the wife was the sole breadwinner did the two spend roughly the same time on chores. Points on paper make a gap easier to talk about without blame.

How we split and rotate chores (the method)

Every chore gets effort points, 1 for light, 2 for medium and 3 for heavy, times how often it happens. The tool then hands out chores so everyone ends up with about the same weekly total, or passes whole bundles on every week. Here's exactly how.

Weekly effort of a chore = effort points × times per week. Daily counts 7, chosen weekdays one each, weekly 1, every 2 weeks 0.5 and monthly 12 ÷ 52, about 0.23.

Balance by effort gives the heaviest chore to whoever has the fewest points so far, then the next heaviest, and so on. When everyone may do every chore, the busiest and the lightest person never end up further apart than the heaviest single chore. Age limits can widen that gap, and the tool says so. A heavy daily chore is the classic problem: the dishes set to Heavy are 3 × 7 = 21 points for one person. Split by day, two people share them and land at 12 and 11 points, counting a light trash job. Rotate weekly splits the chores everyone may do into equal bundles, one per person, and moves each bundle one person along every week. In a house of 3, everyone has done every bundle after 3 weeks, so the points even out over that cycle even when one week is heavier.

The limits, honestly: points are an estimate, so you can change any chore's effort. The chart doesn't sync between phones and ticks aren't saved; your link keeps the chart itself.

Chore chart vs chore app: which one fits your home?

A printed chore chart works best when everyone lives in the same house and passes the fridge every day. A chore app is worth it when you need reminders on every phone, proof that a chore was done or allowance payouts. Our suggestion: try a chart for a few weeks first, then decide.

Before you pick, check five things:

• Who needs to see it: one fridge, or several phones?
• Do you need reminders, or does a fixed moment in the day do the job?
• Do you want rewards or money tied to chores?
• Free, or a subscription you'll keep paying?
• What data about your kids would the app hold?

Many "best chore app" lists are written by companies that make one of the apps, so read their rankings with that in mind.

Chore charts for adults: a cleaning routine you keep

For adults on their own, a chore chart works best in three layers: a few small daily chores, one weekly reset and a monthly round. Tie each one to a moment you already have, like after breakfast or before bed, instead of "when I have time".

In the tool, choose Just me and the Weekly reset pack; it spreads weekly chores over your lightest days.

Low on energy? Do a 25-minute power clean with the Pomodoro Timer. When everything feels urgent at once, sort it with the Eisenhower Matrix.

Make chores part of your daily routine

Most chore charts stop working after a few weeks because the chores have no fixed spot in the day. Give them one, the same moment in the same order, and they start to run on their own. That's a habit, not a weekly fight.

In a 2010 study of 96 volunteers, Phillippa Lally and colleagues found a new daily behavior took a median of 66 days to feel automatic, with a range of 18 to 254 days. So expect weeks, not days. Linking a chore to something you already do, which the Atomic Habits cheat sheet calls habit stacking, helps.

One way to do it: in Greatr, add your daily chores as your own habits, like "10-minute tidy" or "Dishes done", to your morning or evening routine, and run them in the same order every day. Every habit earns XP, and Greatr counts each day you show up.

Your next step is small: tonight, attach one chore to after dinner and do it before you sit down. Can't agree who goes first? Spin the Decision Wheel.