Chore Chart for an 8 Year Old: Daily Jobs Plus a Weekly Big One

Eight is a step-up year. Your child can now do a job while you are in another room, finish a task that takes 10 to 15 minutes, and carry a plan from one day to the next. The chart should reflect that, with fewer reminders and one job that is bigger than anything they have done so far. Below you will find the jobs, a four-week ramp, a points budget and a printable.

What changes on the chart at 8

A 7-year-old's chart is mostly about habits attached to a time of day. At 8, the chart can hold a few jobs with more steps, and some of them can be weekly. The age table from our guide to household chores for kids by age lists loading the dishwasher, folding laundry, vacuuming one room, making a simple snack and taking out the trash for ages 8 and 9. That is the pool to draw from.

The rule of thumb from the same table still holds: 3 to 4 daily tasks, plus from age 8 one weekly big job. Expect about 20 to 30 minutes a day in total. If your child comes from a younger chart, see the chore chart for a 7 year old and keep those jobs.

Daily jobs and weekly jobs

Pick the four daily rows that match your house. A dishwasher you run every night makes "empty the dishwasher" a good daily job. If you run it every second day, make it every second day on the chart as well, since an empty-dishwasher job with nothing to empty feels like a trick.

A four-week ramp

Adding everything at once is how a chart dies by week three. Spread it out.

Letting your child choose between two weekly jobs is a small thing that helps a lot. At 8, a bit of control goes a long way.

Points, bonuses and what they buy

The default point sizes in Famiyo are 5 points for a job of 2 to 5 minutes, 10 for 10 to 15 minutes and 20 for a job of 30 minutes. Add 2 bonus points when a job is done without a reminder. That bonus is the one that matters at 8, because it rewards what you actually want, which is a child who starts the job on their own.

Here is what a week on the chart above is worth: a daily core of about 25 points over five days is 125, plus 35 for the weekly jobs, plus up to 14 in bonuses. That is close to 170 points. A small reward costs 30 to 50 points, a medium one 100, and a big one 300 to 500, so your child can buy something small every two or three days and save toward a day out over several weeks. If you convert to money, 100 points is $1.

Introducing the chart without a fight

1. Choose a calm moment and say what is changing: "You are 8 now, and I think you are ready for a bigger job."
2. Show the chart and ask which weekly job they prefer.
3. Do the first run together. Say each step out loud.
4. Agree when the chart gets checked, for example right after dinner.
5. Keep the first two weeks boring. Same time, same words, no new rules.

Agree on the ground rules early. Our household chores rules page covers what to settle before the first week. Laundry is the job most worth teaching carefully, so see our laundry chores for kids by age for a step-by-step sequence.

The printable chart

The printable below lists seven rows with points and a Monday to Sunday grid. It suits a child who reads well and wants a full-week view. Start with the first three rows and cross out the rest until week three.

Running the chart in Famiyo

Famiyo is a free family app for iPhone and Android that combines a shared family calendar, chores with points and a rewards shop; kids join with a code, no email needed. It replaces the printed chart: make each job repeat daily or weekly, set points per job, and your child checks them off on their own phone. You can switch between self check-off and parent approval, so the daily jobs run on trust and the weekly vacuuming waits for your tick. See our ranking of the best chore chart apps to compare.

After a month, look at what still needs reminding and either move it to a better time or drop it for now.