Chores for 11-Year-Olds: 25 Jobs for Tweens

Eleven is the age when a child can stop helping with a job and start owning it. They can follow a several-step task, notice when it isn't finished and, with a bit of practice, do it without you standing in the doorway. This list gives you 25 chores that fit the age, a realistic sample week, and a plan for teaching the jobs that still need an adult close by.

What changes at 11

Most 11-year-olds have the coordination and strength for nearly every household job. What they're still building is planning: remembering to start, keeping track of the steps and judging when "done" means done. That's why the best chores at this age have a clear finish line and a checklist the child can use without asking.

It's also an age of opinions. Tweens push back harder on being told, and they respond well to a bit of choice. Offering "bathroom or vacuuming this week, your pick" usually goes better than handing out orders. If the pushback is constant, our guide on how to get kids to do chores without nagging has strategies that suit this age.

Plan for about 30 minutes a day in total. A good shape is 3 or 4 daily jobs plus one weekly big job. For how this compares with younger and older kids, see our list of age-appropriate chores for kids.

25 chores for 11-year-olds

The number in brackets is a suggested point value: 5 for a small job of a few minutes, 10 for a medium job of 10 to 15 minutes, 20 for a big job of 30 minutes or more.

Their own room and things

1. Make the bed and open the curtains every morning (5)
2. Tidy the bedroom fully once a week, including the floor, desk and under the bed (10)
3. Strip and change their own bed sheets (10)
4. Fold and put away their own clean laundry (10)
5. Pack the school bag and sports kit the night before (5)
6. Set their own alarm and get up with it (5)

Kitchen

1. Load the dishwasher after dinner and start it (10)
2. Empty the dishwasher and put everything away, glasses included (10)
3. Wipe the counters and the cooled stovetop (5)
4. Make their own school lunch (10)
5. Put away the groceries (5)
6. Hand-wash pots and pans that don't go in the dishwasher (10)
7. Cook a simple meal with an adult nearby, such as pasta with sauce or quesadillas (20)
8. Plan one family dinner a week and write the shopping list for it (10)

Bathroom and cleaning

1. Clean the bathroom sink, faucet and mirror (10)
2. Clean the toilet, inside and out (10)
3. Vacuum one room or the stairs (10)
4. Mop the kitchen floor (10)
5. Dust and wipe surfaces in the living room (10)

Laundry

1. Sort the family's laundry by color and move a load from washer to dryer (5)

Outside, pets and family

1. Take the trash and recycling out to the curb on collection day (5)
2. Wash the car (20)
3. Rake leaves, pull weeds or water the garden (20)
4. Handle all care for one pet: food, water, and the walk or litter box (10)
5. Read a bedtime story to a younger sibling while a parent finishes the kitchen (10)

Readers in the UK can use the same list: "bins out on bin day" and "hoovering the stairs" are the same jobs with different names.

A sample week for an 11-year-old

Here's how a hypothetical 11-year-old's week might look, with three daily jobs worth 25 points together and one extra job most days. Weekdays stay light because of homework. The bigger job lands on Saturday.

Older kids rack up points faster than little ones, so price rewards accordingly. Aim for a small reward every 2 to 3 days and a big one every 3 to 4 weeks of steady work.

How to teach the jobs that still need you

Cleaning a toilet or cooking dinner is new territory for most 11-year-olds. Use the same four steps for each new job:

1. Show them once, start to finish, and say each step out loud.
2. Do it together the next time, with your child doing the hands-on parts.
3. Watch while they do it alone, and only step in for safety.
4. Hand it over. Check the result, not the method, and give one tip at most.

Two safety notes are worth repeating. With cleaning products, give one product per job, keep gloves nearby, and teach that bleach is never mixed with other cleaners. In the kitchen, an adult stays nearby whenever the stove, oven or a sharp knife is in use. Most kids this age are ready to cook, but not ready to handle a pan fire alone.

Write the steps for each new job on an index card and tape it where the job happens. "Toilet: spray bowl, wait one minute, scrub, flush, wipe seat and handle, wash hands." The card does the reminding so you don't have to.

One list for boys and girls

Some parents search for chores for 11-year-old boys or chores for 11-year-old girls, but the right answer is the same list. Every job above is something an adult needs to know how to do. If one child always gets the car and another always gets the bathroom, swap them on a regular schedule so both learn both.

Assigning chores 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. An 11-year-old joins on their own phone with a 6-character code, sees the jobs you assign with their points, and checks them off themselves. You decide whether a parent has to approve first, which is useful for new jobs like the toilet. Kids get a notification when a new task arrives, and you get one when it's done.

For other tools, see our list of the best chore apps for kids.

Pick three daily jobs and one weekly job from the list, teach the weekly one this weekend, and add another job each month as they get confident.