Last updated on October 23rd, 2023
Toddlers are natural born helpers
Young toddlers love to help us out with stuff. At an early age, they take great pride in being our little helpers.
Your young toddler is probably eager to show you how big they are and is ready to show off their listening skills. Chores are a great way to build on their current skills, learn new ones, and learn responsibility. All of these are so important for toddlers and two is the perfect age to really begin teaching them these valuable skills.
Be Realistic When It Comes To Toddler Chores
Now, I use the term ‘chores’ pretty loosely here. Your two year old is ready to help and practice, but they are by no means ready for chore charts and actual assigned tasks. Chores at this age just look like casually asking them for help with tasks that happen to pop up day to day.
Keep in mind that this isn’t meant to be hard. It should be fun and casual – if they aren’t into it or they help for a few minutes until their attention span wanes, that’s fine! The whole purpose is just getting them used to being your little helper and facilitating in expanding on their current skills.
Another thing worth mentioning is the importance of watching and assisting ALL family members in household chores. It’s so crucial for your son or daughter to watch both mom and dad (and older siblings) being part of the family dynamic. In our house, chores are equally shared. It’s not a woman only task. So I think it’s very important for my son to watch my husband cleaning just the same as me.
If you’re wondering what tasks are appropriate for your two year old to help out with, I’ve listed out for you ten examples.
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1. Sorting laundry
Toddlers this young won’t be able to help fold laundry yet (they usually will ‘help’ fold by crumpling clothes into a ball) but they can easily sort items with your guidance.
Everyone does laundry a little different, so this will look different in each home. But this is what I do: when I fold laundry, I typically will sort the clothes into piles first and then fold them. I make a pile of baby clothes, our dresser clothes (clothes that get folded and put into our dressers), socks, and our closet clothes (clothes that get hung in the closet). Doing this, for me, speeds up the putting away process.
I encourage my toddler to help with laundry in three ways. The first, is by recognizing which clothes go into which piles. I was surprised when my son naturally started to point items out that specifically belonged to me or my husband.
He would pick out my husband’s work clothes or boxers and say ‘daddy’ and the same for mine. He would get it right every single time. Now, I help cultivate that skill by having him help with my piles. I’ll say, “where is daddy’s shirt?” And when he picks it up, I’ll say, “very good! Can you put it right here in his pile? Thank you! You’re such a good helper!”
The second way that my toddler helps with laundry is when I hang our closet clothes pile. He started doing this naturally one day and now I run with it. My son will pick up an article of clothing and hand it to me and I will hang it up. He loves this and is always eager to grab the next thing!
Lastly, toddlers can help put dirty clothes in the laundry hamper. Usually just a simple, “hey, sweetie, can you put this in the hamper?” is all it takes for them to get the hang of it.
2. Emptying the dishwasher
I will never understand a toddler’s fascination with the dishwasher. My guy is totally enamored by it and always comes running to inspect it when I open it up. It was no surprise when he wanted to start participating in emptying the dishwasher.
My toddler will grab one or two utensils at a time and drop them into the silverware drawer to help out. If you wanted your toddler to learn to sort utensils properly, you could grab a step stool for them to use, so they can see. For us, my guy will just drop them into the proper drawer and I will sort as he walks back to grab the next item.
You can also prompt them to put away plastic Tupperware in low cabinets or dry off dishes. When my toddler tries to grab for our glass dishes, I simply redirect with, “mommy will get the plates, can you help with the spoons?”.
3. Wiping down cabinet faces
This is a favorite for my toddler. I typically wipe down our kitchen cabinet faces once a week or so (hello sticky fingerprints and white cabinets), and he is always excited to help. I just give him a dry washcloth or a wetted down washcloth and he will copy me as I wipe the cabinets down. Toddlers love to mimic us!
4. Vacuuming
Is anyone else’s toddler completely obsessed with the vacuum?! I could probably get rid of every toy in my house so long as I kept the vacuum. He’d play with it all day if I let him. He is getting pretty good at pushing the vacuum back and forth. And also riding on it like it’s a toy car.
5. Putting groceries away
After I lug all the bags into the house, my toddler likes to jump in and assist me in putting the groceries away.
For us, this is typically him taking items out of the bag and handing them to me one at a time to put away. It makes the process so much more enjoyable to have a little helper and saves my back from having to bend down to reach into each bag. I always make sure to compliment him with, “wow, you are such a big boy! Thank you for helping mommy!”.
This is also a good vocabulary teaching moment. You can ask for specific items and see if they can properly identify them. You can also ask them which item they are handing you so they can practice using more vocabulary.
6. Cleaning up toys
This is one of the first chores that we routinely do as a family in our house, and for me, it’s the most important one to instill in our kids starting at a very young age.
It’s important to clean up toys after play time is over. I like to do this with my toddler every time so that he starts to learn that it’s just what we do at our house and it becomes habit for him.
We clean up at least twice a day. Once before nap time and once before bedtime. It’s nice to do it while my toddler is still up so I am not wasting my kid-free minutes cleaning up his stuff by myself.
I like to do it before nap and bed time so I can enjoy a clutter-free house while he’s sleeping. Nothing makes me crazier than trying to relax and watch some TV and seeing toys littered all over my living room floor.
7. Throwing stuff away
This was one of the first instructions my little one was able to follow, that I can vividly remember. He learned how to throw his diapers away after being changed. Now, he can easily follow this instruction which makes tidying up easier. Once he completes the task, I will follow it up with, “good job, high five!”
8. Washing the car
Toddlers get such a thrill out of washing the car! On the next sunny day, have your toddler head outside with your partner and wash the car together. It’s a good bonding experience and they will have a blast getting soapy and using the hose.
You could substitute ‘car’ for almost anything. Maybe it’s hosing off the outdoor toys at the beginning of spring or bathing the dog together or hosing off the highchair in the summer. They love to use a sponge and get soapy and wet.
Check out my toddler-sized car wash activity post here!
9. Watering the lawn and flowers
“Hose on” was one of our first simple sentences that we learned. My little one is completely obsessed with the garden hose. He does an excellent job at helping water things.
You could totally help them learn this skill with pretend play too. I bought a small kid’s watering can and I prompt him to ‘water’ anything we can find outside. He gets such a kick out of it and will do it on his own during independent play now.
In warmer months, when we have the baby pool set up, he will practice watering anything he can find with the watering can. It’s all great practice!
10. Feeding the pets
This can be one of your toddlers first true responsibilities. Feeding the pets in the house is an easy chore that teaches responsibility, not to mention the fine motor skills of scooping and pouring. All good things! They will feel so proud to be feeding their pet siblings. My dogs always know to come running for spilled kibble too!
It’s important to help your little one learn these valuable skills and to teach them early on the value of helping with family tasks. These simple chores don’t feel like chores to a toddler, they think it is a new and fun game to do ‘big kid’ stuff and will beam with pride at your compliments.
What “chores” does your young toddler like to help with? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Be sure to check out these fun toddler activity ideas.
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