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One year old children are busy bees and keeping them out of trouble isn’t always easy. One of the easiest ways I have found to keep my daughter from getting into things is just including her with whatever household task I’m working on. Over time, I’ve found that I can include my toddler in almost any chore I’m currently doing. Some of these tasks are easier to share than others, but she LOVES to help.
One quick reminder, having a one year old helper will likely make the task take a little bit longer. Sometimes, that’s not the case, but try to just relax and have fun with it when possible. Toddlers just want to have fun, and helping their mommy or daddy is great fun for them.
Here’s some of our favorite household chores to work on together.
1. Wiping counters
My daughter loves to wipe the table or counters. I just hand her a towel and let her go to town wiping up water or flour or whatever the mess may be. Currently, my daughter just stands on a kitchen chair to do these activities, but I’d like to get her a kitchen helper to make it a bit safer.
2. Sweeping
The easiest way to let your toddler help with sweeping is to get them their own little broom. We got my daughter a broom for Christmas, and she loves to help sweep the kitchen. Does she spread my dirt piles around? Absolutely! But, she has a blast, and I always thank her for being such a big helper. This is the broom my daughter has.
3. Putting toys away
My daughter loves dumping out her toys and then putting them into another container. She also enjoys taking objects from one container into another and back again.
Toddlers are very capable of helping with putting away their toys. However, my daughter suddenly doesn’t love sorting things when I ask her to put her toys away. But, it’s still good practice. Usually, I’ll ask her to help me, and sometimes she is a big help.
4. Cooking or baking
Making cookies or bread? If you’re feeling chill, you can let your toddler help dump in some of the ingredients. This works best when you’re not in a huge rush and when you are prepared for cleaning up some mess. When you’re expecting mess, it’s not as big of a deal to clean it up.
Pro tip: Letting your one year old help with dumping in ingredients works best if you are weighing the ingredients. If you have your bowl on the scale, your child may dump half of the flour on the ground, but you still know exactly how much you need. No guesswork required.
5. Cleaning up spills
This goes right in hand with the last toddler task. Let your little one help with the cleanup. They can sweep up flour or other spills, or wipe up water off the floor. My daughter loves cleaning up water that ends up on the floor.
6. Laundry
When our laundry is finished drying, my toddler loves to help me take the laundry from the dryer to the living room where we fold it. If you skip the laundry basket, it gives your one year old more work to do. My daughter is not great at folding laundry yet, but she can help me take the folded laundry to it’s designated home.
7. Groceries
Finally, my daughter loves to help me put away groceries. Toddlers are excellent at taking all of your food and other groceries out of the bags. Also, they can help you put away cans in the pantry or fruit into the fruit basket. Putting away groceries might just be one more thing on your to do list, but your toddler will probably love the opportunity to help you.
Endless toddler tasks
These fun and simple toddler tasks are a great way to get your child involved and helping. Not only is it great practice for helping around the house, but it also helps keep your child occupied with something safe. My daughter doesn’t love me being busy without her, but she loves being busy with me.
This list is just the beginning. There are so many ways for your child to help out around the house. What are some of your or your child’s favorite household chores?
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