Chore Chart: Part 1

My oldest son is 5 years old.  When he turned 3, I started toying with idea of creating a chore chart.  I tried different things, but I wasn't ever really happy.  The one he used for a few months was broken down into morning and night time chores, 4 for each time of day.  The thing I hadn't considered when I made it was there were things on his list he couldn't do by himself.  I either ended up doing it for him or he wasn't able to help enough that I felt he really earned credit for that chore.  Finally one night about 10:30, I decided that I was going to make something that actually functioned for him and me.  This time I did think about things he should be required to do every single day, but that he can do completely by himself or with very little help.  My husband and I agreed on 6 things for every day.  Feed the dog, make bed, get dressed, do preschool lesson, pick up toys, and put dirty clothes away.  Feeding the dog is the only thing he needs a little help with and then he only needs some one to carry the full water bowl to the dog.  I do his preschool with him, but he doesn't usually need any help with his online lessons, and I only require it 5 days a week just like regular school.  For reference, we having been using ABCmouse.com for about a year now.  Making the chart is really easy!

Supplies:
1 piece 11 in. x 14 in. White Poster Board
Glue or Tape
Pencil or Pen
Ruler or some type of straight edge

I googled clip art to match the various chores on my list.  I just copied and pasted the clip art on a Microsoft Word document and wrote the chore name underneath each picture.  That way my son can figure out the chore by the picture until he learns to read or anyone who is babysitting can read the label instead of being left to translate the hieroglyphics that I come up with.  I typed up the days of the week and a title. 

1.  Print and cut out each picture, day of the week, and the title.
2.  Glue or tape the chore pictures on the left side.
3.  Glue or tape the days of the week across the top.
4.  Glue or tape the title at the top.
5.  Use a ruler or straight edge to draw lines across the rows and down to make columns.

That's it!  I didn't have to buy any supplies for this which it even better.  You can decide on what you want to use to fill in the boxes.  We are using Post-it Flags currently.  My clip art icons ended up being large enough that the columns/rows are the right size to fit the flags.  Honestly, the reason we use those is because I had them left over from college so free seemed great!  The flags are sticky enough you can reuse them.  We just stick them on the refrigerator when we clear the chart.  You could even cover the entire chart with contact paper so that stickers would come off easily or possibly even create a dry erase type surface.

Here is the finished product.  (Please forgive my cell phone quality photos.  My camera was broken a while back and I just haven't gotten around to replacing it.)