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17 Chore Games (that’ll Make Your Kids WANT to do Chores)

These 17 chore games turn household chores into memories! These family chore games will instantly become a fun family tradition in your home.

Chores.

tween boy loading dishwasher, text overlay "fun and simple family chore games"

Do your kids scrub off their bathroom countertops with joy, and secretly sing your praises while cleaning their rooms?

Or…does the announcement of chores result in rolling eyes, sarcastic remarks, and the word “survive” getting thrown around a lot?

Some parents use chore charts with reward systems attached to them – with money, chore bucks, star stickers, extra screen time with video games, etc. – to motivate their kids to clean up, while others expect their child to do chores without a reward because they don’t get paid to put their dishes in the dishwasher, either.

Either way, getting your child to actually DO the chores – without the amount of nagging COMPLETELY overriding any benefit the household gets from the work – is difficult to do.

I've got you covered with some really fun family-tradition-in-the-making chore games to add to your home cleaning routine.

Let these housework games keep the chore gremlins (and grumbles) at bay!

Pssst: interested in divvying up and tracking chore completion through chore apps? I've reviewed the best chore apps for families here.

How to Make Cleaning into a Game – Gamify Chores

Before we dive into one of my fave family chore games, I want to talk a little about how to make cleaning into a game.

If you’re like me, you don’t see cleaning as a game (sorry, Mary Poppins). You don’t even see it as fun.

But, if you think this way, then how are you supposed to make it fun for your kids? They’re probably picking up on some of your mental cues about the cleaning process in general.

Don’t worry – that can be changed over time.

Aside from changing your mental outlook on chores and cleaning, you can also “gamify” the activity by adding points systems, challenges, rewards, a little friendly competition, and so much more.

Bonus: many of the following cleaning games will also make cleaning fun for adults! Also, here's 100 kids chores to do around the house to pick from, and free printable chore cards to help put them into practice. 

17 Fun Cleaning Games

I can't figure out which of these fun chore ideas I'm more excited to try first – turning our cleaning day into an escape room, or turning our Velcro dart board into a chore dart game.

1. Escape Room Cleaning

Give each family member a specific room to clean. Add a timer – you can adjust the times based on room difficulty levels and whether or not you've given someone small chores or large chores to do. Have your family race against the clock – sort of like when you go to an escape room and you only have 60 minutes to solve the puzzles and get the heck ‘outta dodge.

If they don’t meet the buzzer?

Come up with a “fun” negative consequence, like dunking a bucket of water on them (remember that Ice Bucket Challenge a few years ago? Yep. I got dunked.).

2. Musical Tasks

Set a timer, and each time it goes off, everyone swaps tasks with the person to their right (or with the room to the right, in case you divide household duties up into chore zones) and picks up where they left off. One of my favorite chore games!

3. Winner Chooses the Movie

You can pair family cleaning day with pizza + a movie afterward. The first person who gets their tasks completed – and okay’d by everyone that it’s been completed (a chore oversight system is part of your family chores system) – gets to pick the movie!

Psst: you'll also want to check out these 20 child reward system ideas.

4. Minute-to-Win-it Tournament

Take your entire house chore list (wait…you don't have one? Here's how to choose age-appropriate chores), and divide it into two lists. Either do a random count of 1, 2, and divide as you see fit, or REALLY up the competition by dividing the list into desirable chores, and non-desirable ones you typically have to nag everyone to do (dirty toilet cleaning, anyone?). Then, divide your family into two teams.

Hold a family tournament night, picking several Minute to Win it games. Divide your whole family up into teams, and let them know that the team they're on is the one they'll also be on to complete their list of chores this week. Keep score, and play several rounds so that everyone has the chance to catch up on points.

The winning team gets to choose which chore list they want to tackle.

5. Minute-to-Win-it Chore Breaks

Complete your chores as a family (as usual), but with a twist…set a timer to go off every 10 minutes, at which point you all run to a central gathering location (like the living room) and complete a minute-to-win-it game.

Chore-inspired Minute-to-Win-it Games:

  • Penny Hose Game: Give everyone 1 minute to find all of the change they possibly can that's NOT in someone's wallet or in a jar (think: cushions, floor, bedroom floor, top of washing machine, etc.). Then, use what they've found (you only need a few) to play the penny hose game.
  • Socks Match-Up: Bring out the basket of mismatched socks, and give everyone a minute to rifle through the piles and try to find matches.
  • Laundry Dash: Put 60 seconds on the clock, and have everyone gather ALL the laundry they possibly can, and race to get it on the laundry room floor. Biggest pile wins!
  • Window Water Gun Shoot-Out: Arm your family with water guns filled with vinegar/water solution, and set the timer to 60 seconds. The person with the cleanest window in front of them is the winner.

Winner of the round? Gets to choose to switch tasks with someone else.

Then, it's back to work!

6. Chore Darts

My three-year-old, husband, and I have a new favorite game that would fit PERFECTLY into chore work: a set of Velcro darts and a Velcro dartboard.

Take any dartboard set you've got (though make sure it'll be safe for your kids…AND for the parents), and write a chore post-it note or chore piece of tape for each section. Have fun watching your kids attempt to target the chores they want, but inevitably get one or two they don't.

Feeling REALLY crafty? If your dartboard comes with numbers, then create a list of how much each chore “costs” (with the easier chores costing more points), and keep a tally of everyone's points. At the end, let everyone take turns purchasing a chore (by rounds – with the overall winner getting to go first).

7. Chore Relay Race

Divide your family members into two teams (or however many make sense for you guys). Give each team a chore task to complete.

Set a timer for 3 minutes, and the first person starts (or rather, races) through the chore task. They want to get as much done as possible before the timer rings, at which point they run back and give their partner a high-five – it's their partner's turn to try to get as much done as possible in 3 minutes. Decide how many timer-runs you want to do, and how to establish a winner (best effort? closest to completing? good team-manship?)

8. One-Week Chore Pass

Think about ways you can introduce a one-week chore pass for someone in your family. This can increase morale (if done right – it could also go badly, so gauge how well this will work for you guys).

Reasons to give this coveted pass out:

  • Best grade improvements
  • Birthdays
  • “You've been caught being kind”
  • Winner of family board game night
  • Best team player
  • etc.

9. Chore Dice Game

There are chore dice out there, though you might just want to make your own dice game that lines up with your system (here's a set of big, blank dice you can fill in with your own chores! I love how these use dry erase markers, so you can use them endlessly.).

Here's how to do that:

  1. List out all of your household's chores. If you have a chore chart already established, then you can use that.
  2. Assign a number for each chore, from 1-12.
  3. Get a pair of dice, and go through chore-picking rounds by letting each of your kids roll the dice and see what number they get. If you have multiple age ranges, then you can just use one dice and create a chore list categorized by ages (so, a younger box of chores form 1-6, and a tween set, and an adult set).
  4. Complete enough rounds to give everyone chores for your next family cleaning day.

10. Chore Jenga Game

You could play a round of Jenga on your actual chore day (with a little prep work) to keep things interesting.

Get out your Jenga or building blocks game, put color dot stickers on each piece, and add corresponding colors to your chore chart or master chore list.

Break out the game on chore day, and repeat playing a round, everyone getting their chore, completing the chore, then meeting back to play one more round. Could be the longest game of Jenga you've ever played…but it will also keep your kids curious to see what their next chore will be.

11. Chore Popsicle Game

I love making smoothie Popsicles for my little guy – we make Monster Pops (using these awesome monster molds…but they won't work for this one), made of only watermelon, one banana, and one steamed carrot. They're delicious!

Grab a pack of food-grade, wooden popsicle sticks, your mold of choice (if you don't have one, here's how to still make Popsicles), and a food-decorating pen.

Write a chore on each Popsicle stick, make your Popsicles, and freeze. When chore day comes around, offer up some pops! Whatever is revealed is the task they need to complete.

Another way to do this? Create your Popsicles, and drop in a different colored piece of candy in each. Then, coordinate each color with a chore on your chart. Boom!

12. Color-by-Number Chores Game

Here's how this one works:

  • Print off an age-appropriate color-by-number: There are Pokemon sheetschameleon sheets, and lots of hidden color-by-number sheets.
  • Hide the Color Crayons They Need in Each Chore Area: If you use chore zones, you'll hide one color crayon needed for the coloring page in each chore zone. OR, hide one color crayon in each task area.
  • Child Colors After Each Task: After your child successfully completes that task, they get to take the crayon in color in part of the page.
  • Rinse and repeat

Does your child need more motivation than getting to color (I get it)? Then tell them once the page is complete, they win a prize. Your choice of how to set that up!

13. Pool Noodle Chore Draw

Grab a set of dollar-store pool noodles – one for each member of your family (or each member who will be doing chores).

Wrap the bottom part of one of your pool noodles with tape (any kind will work – a marker circle works as well!).
Find a bin where all of these pool noodles can stand up, then gather your family for chore draws.

From your chore list, read a chore out loud. Everyone grabs a pool noodle…and whoever grabs the one that's marked in tape adds that chore to their list.

Have them drop out of the round, put the noodles back in the bin (mix them up), and draw the next chore. When everyone has their first chore, have everyone join up again and go through Round #2.

14. Pick a Mystery Stick

I don't know if you've seen these cool chore Popsicle sticks creep up on Amazon, but the reason why I call them “mystery chore sticks” is because they don't have ONLY chores on them. Sometimes, your kid gets to do something fun. The fact that they can sometimes get a reward-like stick, and sometimes will get a chore stick, adds a game element.

15. Chore Fortune Cookies

What's better than having to be the bad guy (i.e. the chore assigner)? If fortune takes over and it's out of your hands – or at least your kids think so.

This woman came up with a way to take regular fortune cookies, open them, and put in your own messages. So, I got to thinking, why not offer these up as dessert, but with a chore added into each one? Put them in the middle of the table, and let everyone pick one.

16. Pay Out of Chores

What if…your kid earns “chore bucks” for chores that they complete, and then they're given the opportunity to PAY their way out of doing one chore of their choice the following week (or whenever they rack up enough chore bucks)?

Sounds pretty fun, to me.

You can find free printable money here:

17. Tic-Tac-To-Do Chore Game

Here's a fun idea: use a Tic-Tac-To board to incentivize your kids to do chores. You write down the chores that need to be completed on a Tic-Tac-To board. As your child completes a chore, they cross it off. 

When they get three in a row? You give them a surprise!

And now…I’m going to walk you through something I created that has become one of my favorite chore games out there!

What is the White Elephant Family Chore Game?

I’ve come up with a pretty fun idea you’ll want to introduce into your home: The White Elephant Chore Games.

You know the regular White Elephant Gift exchange? The one where a group of people each brings a silly, unwanted, gag gift to a get-together and then swapping/exchanges/stealing happen with people trying to leave with the best option?

Well, I’ve applied the same principle to chores.

Here are the rules of play: 

Rule #1: You can only choose one of the chores you were given to include in the game.
Rule #2: Everyone must complete the chore in their possession at the end of the game + their other chore cards that were not swapped by __________ date.
Rule #3: Everyone must put their sealed envelope in the basket before the game begins.
Rule #4: Each person chooses a number from the basket. This is the order you go in.
Rule #5: For each person’s turn, they can either a) choose a sealed envelope from the table (you need to open the envelope you choose and read it out loud), or b) steal someone else’s opened chore envelope.  
Rule #6: The person whose chore gets stolen gets to either a) choose a sealed envelope from the table, or b) steal someone else’s opened chore envelope.
Rule #7: Chores can only be stolen one time per turn, and opening a sealed chore ends a turn. 
Rule #8: The game is over when each person has a chore in hand (give the first person who started the game one more shot to either steal another chore or keep the one they have).

Your family is going to take one of the chores they’ve been given for the week, and they’ll bring it to a fun round of White Elephant Chore Game. During this game, everyone will swap the chore they don’t want for one that they do want, with a little fun competition as everyone tries to walk away with the “best” chore.

Prep Work for the Chore Game

Before you can play this game with your family, you’ll need to do a little prep work.

For starters, do you have a chore system of some sort? Meaning, a way that chores get divvied up among your household members?

Things to Think about for Your Chore System: 

  • Chore Organization System: It can be hard to keep straight who is doing what, and when (or at least what each person is responsible for). Some sort of chore chart is a great way to organize which child/family member does what task, and on what day, to keep everyone accountable and to keep things rolling.
  • Age-Appropriate Chores for Kids: You’ll need to fill your chore chart in with chores that are appropriate for your kid’s capability level. I want to take this a step further and add that you’ll want to choose chores that will help your child learn and grow in 5 different ways – a novel chore idea!
  • Oversight System: So, how do you know when your child’s work is finished (or any family member, for that matter)? You can model the chore with your kids, and then quickly look things over when they’re finished. You could create checklists for each room/chore that your child can work through. You could even have chore buddies who check on each other’s jobs and provide some feedback before giving the “okay” that it is, in fact, completed.
  • Rewards System: This topic is highly debated, but something you’ll need to search your gut about and figure out how you want to handle it. Are chores expected of your child because they are part of the household? Should kids get paid to do chores? Should you do a hybrid of rewarded and non-rewarded chores?

Whatever you choose to do, be clear about your expectations and systems with your child.

I can’t wait for you to try this out! Let me know how it goes.

Chore Game Apps

I'd like to finish up this article with chore game apps – yet another way to introduce interest and competition into your household chores.

Chore Wars

Do your kids get excited about things like gold coins and experience points? They can earn these plus you can get some help with chore management through the chore game app, Chore Wars.

The person who creates the guild for everyone becomes the “Dungeon Master”, and all others are “Apprentices”. Each member of your guild (I mean, family), gets to create their own character. Kids (and parents) can pick chores one of two ways: using a drop-down menu, or from the “adventure” page.

Points tracking occurs both on weekly high-score charts, as well as with ongoing character sheets. Characters can level up each time they've completed 200XP worth of chores to Henchlings or even Secondary Dungeon Masters.

Sounds a bit like World of Warcraft to me!

mom in super hero mask, thinking of fun chore games
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Amanda L. Grossman is a writer and Certified Financial Education Instructor, a 2017 Plutus Foundation Grant Recipient, and founder of Money Prodigy. Her money work has been featured on Experian, GoBankingRates, PT Money, CA.gov, Rockstar Finance, the Houston Chronicle, and Colonial Life. Amanda is the founder and CEO of Frugal Confessions, LLC. Read more here or on LinkedIn.

jiselle

Thursday 8th of November 2018

this is interesting will have to give it a try!!!

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