Household chores by age: Find suitable tasks together
Age, abilities and experience can guide you when choosing household chores. A younger child might put laundry in the basket, for example; more involved processes can come later. Choose a specific task, show the necessary steps and look with your child at what support they need. The following age groups provide ideas for this choice.
Household chores by age at a glance
This breakdown continues the guidance from the existing guide. It is an editorial collection of examples, not a scientific developmental chart. The age range is neither a requirement nor proof that a child can already complete a particular task safely on their own.
| Age for guidance | Possible tasks | How you can support |
|---|---|---|
| Ages 3 to 5 | Put toys in a box, take laundry to the basket, put books back in their place, help set the table | Show one step, start together and choose light, safe objects. |
| Ages 6 to 8 | Set and clear the table, make the bed, water plants, take out a small rubbish bag | Agree what the task includes; check the weight, reachable places to put things and the route beforehand. |
| Ages 9 to 12 | Load and unload the dishwasher, tidy the room, take out the rubbish, vacuum a manageable area | Show the process, handle dangerous or breakable items together and set a specific area. |
| Age 13 and over | Sort and wash laundry, prepare simple meals, do an agreed shopping trip, clean an area of the bathroom | Explain appliances, heat, knives and cleaning products; decide what can be done independently only after practising together. |
If a task is not suitable yet, choose a smaller part of it. A child who cannot unload the whole dishwasher yet could start by putting unbreakable cups on a reachable shelf. The exact choice depends on your kitchen and the child's abilities.
Find a clear starting point with younger children
A large instruction such as “Tidy your room” contains many individual decisions. To start, choose one visible part: put the building blocks in the box, the books on the shelf or the used clothes in the laundry basket.
Show where things belong. Start together and let your child take the next suitable step. If the goal is unclear or the place cannot be reached, change the task accordingly.
When helping to set the table, you could choose the light cups, for example. You take care of heavy bowls, hot food and sharp knives. This sets the specific contribution your child can make in this situation.
Take on a whole process as experience grows
When individual steps are familiar, you can connect several of them. Clearing the table could mean taking your own dishes to the agreed place, putting leftovers away and wiping part of the table.
Discuss the steps beforehand. Otherwise, the task may already be finished for the child while you are still expecting another action. Also agree when the task is due.
Taking out the rubbish includes the trip to the bin. Check with your child whether the bag is easy to carry, how the container opens and whether there is anything to watch out for on the way. With the dishwasher, you can decide which parts an adult will do. An age number does not replace this specific check.
Offer teenagers a manageable area of their own
With teenagers, you can discuss which area fits their daily routine and abilities. Examples include a particular laundry cycle, vacuuming a room or preparing a simple meal.
Give the area a clear boundary. “You take care of the laundry” can mean a lot. “You sort your clothes and take responsibility for the agreed wash; then we hang up the laundry together” describes a more concrete starting point.
Once the process is familiar, you can discuss again which further steps belong to it. For suitable tasks, allow flexibility about when they are done within an agreed time. When cooking or cleaning, what matters is which appliances and products the child can handle safely.
It should also be visible which tasks other family members take on. A shared task planner records the agreed contributions. The guide Share tasks fairly shows how to turn this into a shared weekly plan.
From our family: rubbish, dishwasher and laundry later
For our children, taking out the rubbish was the first task they took on. The dishwasher came next. The older children now also handle laundry and vacuuming.
On Sunday, we discuss which tasks come up during the week and create our task plan. Some things need doing every day, while others only need doing once a week. In the app, the children can check for themselves what needs doing.
This order comes from our family. It is not an age rule for other children. When choosing for your family, consider which task already comes up regularly, is easy to explain and can be taken on safely in your household.
Introduce a new task together
To start, you can try these steps:
- Name it precisely: Instead of “Clean up”, describe the object or area, such as the dining table after dinner.
- Show it once: Go through the individual steps. Also explain which objects or appliances your child should not use alone yet.
- Try it together: Let your child do what is already possible and help with the remaining steps.
- Recognise when it is finished: Look together at how you can tell that the task is complete.
- Agree the next opportunity: Decide when the same process is due again and where to check the task.
There is no fixed number of practice rounds for this. Some steps are already familiar, while others need more guidance. Observe what actually happens and adjust your support accordingly.
When a child does not want to take on a task
Ask about the specific difficulty. Is it unclear where to start? Is something unpleasant, heavy or not yet safe to handle? Is the timing not right? Or does the child feel the division is unfair compared with other family members?
If a task is too large, choose a smaller part. If the description is unclear, take the first step together. If the issue is task sharing, bring the task to your next family discussion.
One possible way to put it is: “You have already taken the dishes away. In our family, clearing the table also includes wiping it. Let us do that together once more today.” This is an example of specific feedback, not a report from our family life.
If you use points and rewards, the agreed tasks must still fit the child. We explain how we discuss the choice and redemption at home under Reward system for kids.
Our experience with a family planner app
We use DOTOG as a household app and shared task planner for our family. When designing it, we deliberately focused on simple operation without overloading the app with too many functions. Tasks, progress and rewards should be easy to see in everyday life.
This simple operation made it easier for our children to get started. We did not need much practice. Together, we looked at the upcoming tasks and rewards and showed them how to mark a task as complete. The children quickly understood how to use the app for their own tasks.
They also discovered for themselves that they could choose fun names and avatars. They enjoyed choosing and trying them out. They could quickly see their tasks and possible rewards and used the app independently.
When introducing it together, you can use a real task from everyday life and explain the app with it. The task itself is still done in the household. The display in an app should make your agreement clear.
The age groups for household chores should be kept separate from the app's account rules. DOTOG's existing rule is: no minimum age, use recommended from age 7, under 16 only a child account with consent from a parent or guardian, from age 16 an individual account is possible. The details are available under Child Safety Standards.
The legal framework refers to abilities, not a chore table
In Germany, § 1619 BGB describes the duty to help as follows:
As long as a child is part of the parental household and is brought up or supported by the parents, the child is obliged to help the parents in their household and business in a way that matches the child's abilities and position in life.
The wording specifies neither particular household chores for individual ages nor a fixed daily duration. The examples on this page are therefore not a list of chores derived from the law. For your specific choice, abilities, experience, scope and the support needed remain decisive.
Start with a suitable task
Choose a task together with your child that actually comes up in your household. Clarify the individual steps and when it is due. Then look together at what already works independently and where help is still needed.
You can add this contribution to a shared plan for the rest of the family. The guide Share tasks fairly can help. If you want to use DOTOG for this, you can find instructions and tariff information in Help.
Sources and our experience
- § 1619 BGB, official statutory text, accessed on 8 September 2026. Used only for the short legal context.
- Our experiences from the family life behind DOTOG, discussed on 7 and 8 September 2026. The statements about getting started quickly refer to using the app.
- The age groups continue the guide's existing editorial orientation. The tasks and support are practical examples, not scientifically established developmental stages.