Resource: Job Charts

By Enos Choy  (Outreach Worker at Flemingdon Park-Victoria Village)

At Kingston-Galloway, we start our days off with snack. After growing tired of picking up after kids every day, my coworker Gala came up with a brilliant idea: create a job chart with tasks kids can do to help out, and have them volunteer (or help assign them!) at the start of each day. Multiple kids could also be assigned to each task. Tasks on our chart included:

1) Line Leader

2) Serve Snack

3) Wipe Tables

4) Sweep Floor

5) Collect Garbage

6) Pray (Thank God for our food)

Of course everyone wanted to be line leader but not so much garbage cleaner, so I ended up giving the role of line leader to whoever volunteered first for garbage duty. The kids caught on fast and things got cleaner faster!

Below are examples of charts found online (much prettier than ours). The kids’ names can be printed on:

1) Popsicle sticks and inserted into envelopes labeled with their tasks

2) Clothes pins and clipped onto their tasks

3) Magnets and stuck next to their tasks

In creating a job chart, kids learn to take on responsibility, master basic household chores, practice serving others, realize their actions impact others, and in the end, gain a sense of accomplishment. Plus, you have less work to do at the end of the day!