Free Printable Back to School Task Lists

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Sharpie, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #SharpieClearview https://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV

OK ladies, I discovered something that I absolutely LOVE about summer and I just have to share it with you! I discovered the art of how to get kids to help with household chores and tasks!! We started something new at our house this summer that I have just loved and I’m a little sad to have the kids go back to school for this reason. I decided that my kids had to get a list of things done before they could play with friends or with their electronic devices and it has been wonderful! I think it worked well because of the ages of my kids – they’re 11, 9 & 7 so they can all do a variety of household chores now.

They each had a list of things that had to get done every day (like put their breakfast dishes away, brush their teeth, make their bed, pick up their room, read for 20 minutes, empty the dishwasher, etc.) plus 2-3 other “cleaning chores”. And I just have to tell you that my house has never been cleaner, seriously!! They do the normal things like dust and vacuum and wipe down bathrooms, etc. but then I added things like wipe down the baseboards, vacuum around the baseboards, wipe down the doors, clean the light switches, dust around the tops of walls, etc.

Now that school is just around the corner (9 days to be exact, but who’s counting?!) our routine will have to change a bit, so I created a task list for each child so they could remember the things that need to get done in the morning before school and in the evening after school and activities.

I wanted to create a specific area where we could keep these fun new charts so that they were easily accessible, portable and motivating. I added removable clear plastic hooks to the back of my pantry door in our kitchen, which is where all the action takes place at our house. I then clipped the task lists to some clipboards and added a Sharpie Clearview highlighter to each clipboard with a piece of twine. This way the kids can take the clip boards down easily when they’re ready to mark off their tasks and they always have a highlighter close by to check off their progress. I got my Sharpie Clearview highlighters on sale at Walgreens – gotta love that!!

The kids were all actually pretty excited about the new system and I think it’ll keep them on track for the new school year and the new schedules.

I have a blank task list that you’re welcome to download and use at your house to help keep you and your kids organized and on a new schedule for the start of the school year. I know it’ll help minimize the chaos at our house when school starts back up and the kids are wanting to play with friends or on their devices. All I have to do is ask them to make sure their tasks are completed and we both have an easy way to check that!