Put toys away: how many points?
Put toys away is worth 5 points: about 5 minutes of work, the same as making the bed, and 35 points across a daily week.
Put toys away, priced in points
- Time it takes
- about 5 minutes
- Suggested points
- 5
- How often
- Daily
- Points a week
- 35
- Starts with help
- around 2
- Alone
- around 4
The scale
| Time the job takes | Points |
|---|---|
| 5 minutes or less | 5 |
| 6 to 15 minutes | 10 |
| 16 to 30 minutes | 15 |
| More than 30 minutes | 20 |
The same arithmetic as TaskFamily's suggested points: bigger jobs, more points.
Other tidying up jobs at 5 points
- Hang up their coat and put shoes away
- Make the bed
- Pack their school bag the night before
Jobs elsewhere at 5 points
- Wash fruit and vegetables
- Set the table
- Clear the table after meals
- Wipe the table and counters
How many points is it worth?
Give it 5 points. The job takes about 5 minutes, and your scale puts anything at 5 minutes or less at 5 points. That holds whether the toys are a handful of blocks or the usual after-dinner scatter across the rug.
Five points a day adds up to 35 points in a week. That is a real number to a child. It is enough to feel like the everyday pickup matters, and small enough that you are not paying a fortune for five minutes of work.
A two-year-old can start with help, handing you blocks and dropping them into the bin. By around four, many children can do the whole job alone, though children develop at different speeds. The points stay the same either way. You are paying for the job, not for how neatly a four-year-old stacks the animals.
Why that number
Points should track time first. Five minutes is the bottom of your scale, so 5 points is the floor price, not a reward for good behavior. Pay 10 for a five-minute job and every longer job on the list gets harder to justify.
It also sits with the other small jobs in the house. Hanging up a coat and putting shoes away is 5 points. Making the bed is 5 points. Packing the school bag the night before is 5 points. Put toys away belongs in that group: quick, visible, done every day.
The daily part is what makes it worth attention. A job done once a week at 5 points is barely a blip. The same job done daily is 35 points by the end of the week. Small jobs done often add up, and that is the lesson worth teaching.
How it compares with other jobs
Line it up against the kitchen jobs at 5 points: washing fruit and vegetables, setting the table, clearing the table, wiping the table and counters. A five-minute toy pickup is the same amount of work, so it gets the same price.
Bigger tidying is different. If the job takes 6 to 15 minutes, it is 10 points. That might be the playroom floor plus a shelf. If it takes 16 to 30 minutes, it is 15 points. More than 30 minutes, 20 points. When the toy situation turns into a real sort-out, it stops being a 5-point job, and you should say so before anyone starts.
The trap is paying 5 points for the quick version and 5 points for the long version. Your child learns fast that the price is fixed no matter how much work sits on the floor, and the big clear-out becomes a fight.
When to change the price
Change the price when the job changes, not when you are tired. If toys are spread through more than one room, that is no longer a five-minute job. Name the new scope and the new price: “This is the whole downstairs, so it is 10 points today.” Say it before they start.
Change it if you have to help. A two-year-old who needs you on the floor is doing a different job than a four-year-old who does it alone. You can hold at 5 points and count the help as part of the routine, or expect less for a season. Keep the price steady and let the help shrink.
Do not change the price mid-job. If you said 5 points and then found a pile of blocks under the sofa, pay the 5 and talk about the bigger job tomorrow. Renegotiating after the work is done teaches them that the deal is soft.
Keeping points fair
Write the price down where everyone can see it. Five points for put toys away, same as making the bed. A written price ends the nightly argument about whether tonight is worth more.
Pay the same job the same points every time. If one child gets 5 and another gets 10 for the same five minutes, the number stops meaning anything. Rotate who does which job, not what each job is worth.
Keep points separate from punishment. Taking points back for a bad mood or a late bedtime muddies the deal. If the job is not done, the points are not earned. That is enough.
Check the list now and then. Children grow, toys change, and a job that took five minutes last spring might take fifteen now. Adjust the price when the work changes, tell everyone, and start again.
TaskFamily suggests 5 points for "Put toys away" and lets you change it for each job. Points land after you approve the job, and children spend them in your reward shop.
Free for one household. Premium is $5.99 a month or $49 a year for the whole family, never per child.
Questions parents ask
How many points should I give for putting toys away?
Five points, if it takes about 5 minutes. That matches the 5-minutes-or-less slot on your scale, and it lines up with other quick jobs like making the bed or setting the table.
Is 5 points too much for a five-minute job?
It is the floor of the scale, not a generous extra. Ten points is for 6 to 15 minutes of work. Paying 5 keeps the list in order, so a longer job can be worth more without an argument.
My child takes 20 minutes to put toys away. Should I pay more?
If the mess really takes 20 minutes, that is a 15-point job on the scale. If the time is mostly stalling, keep the price at 5 and treat the slow pace as a separate conversation about the routine, not about points.
Keep reading
Points follow the time a child needs for the job, on a scale TaskFamily suggests: change it to fit your family. The guide text is drafted with AI from these numbers and checked automatically before it is published. Updated November 14, 2026.