Quick chores (5 minutes or less) for 3-year-olds
9 jobs that take five minutes or less that a 3-year-old can do or start learning, with how often each comes up and what it is worth in points.
Quick chores (5 minutes or less) at 3
| Job | Stage | Time | How often | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brush their teeth morning and night | With you | 4 min | Daily | 5 |
| Put dirty clothes in the hamper | On their own | 1 min | Daily | 5 |
| Put toys away | With you | 5 min | Daily | 5 |
| Feed the pet | With you | 5 min | Daily | 5 |
| Get dressed by themselves | With you | 5 min | Daily | 5 |
| Hang up their coat and put shoes away | With you | 2 min | Daily | 5 |
| Refill the pet's water bowl | With you | 2 min | Daily | 5 |
| Wash fruit and vegetables | With you | 5 min | Daily | 5 |
| Water the plants | With you | 5 min | Weekly | 5 |
On their own means most children this age manage it alone; With you means they start it with a grown-up alongside. Points are on a 5-for-a-small-job scale.
Start together at 3
- Put toys away (alone from about 4)
- Hang up their coat and put shoes away (alone from about 4)
- Wash fruit and vegetables (alone from about 5)
- Water the plants (alone from about 5)
- Refill the pet's water bowl (alone from about 5)
- Feed the pet (alone from about 6)
- Brush their teeth morning and night (alone from about 7)
- Get dressed by themselves (alone from about 5)
Most 3-year-olds can do alone
- Put dirty clothes in the hamper
Time, added up
- Doing every job on this page once
- 34 minutes
- Longest single job
- 5 minutes
- Shortest single job
- 1 minutes
⚠️ Safety notes for these jobs: Feed the pet: A grown-up measures at first: overfeeding is easy. Keep human food the pet must not eat out of the way. Brush their teeth morning and night: Most children need a grown-up to check or finish brushing until around 7 or 8. Ask your dentist what fits your child.
A day of jobs at 3
- Daily jobs
- 1 or 2, done together
- Weekly jobs
- none yet
- Time
- about 5 minutes a day
What these jobs teach
- finishing what you start
- sorting by type
- looking after belongings
- a coming-home routine
- knowing where things live
- kitchen hygiene
- curiosity about food
- helping with meals
In TaskFamily these become jobs on your 3-year-old's own screen, with points, repeat days and the Trust Ladder to move each job from "check every time" to spot checks.
Free for one household. Premium is $5.99 a month or $49 a year for the whole family, never per child.
Keep reading
Ages and times are typical, not rules: children develop at different speeds, and you know yours best. The chore library is TaskFamily's own. The guide text is drafted with AI from these numbers and checked automatically before it is published.