Looking for some quick, simple ways to jump start chores and clean up with your kids? I’ve got you covered with printable prefilled picture chore charts and games, that are ready to go while also including blank, fully customizable versions.

I have four young kids (ages 9, 7, 3 and less than a year) and like many kids, cleaning up is not their favorite task… in fact cleaning up after themselves and each other is probably their least favorite task of any tasks to task, but being able to clean up is a life skill they need to learn, in addition to me just not being able to do it all and needing some help. So I created some Printable Picture Chore Charts and Clean Up Games to jump start us.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Historically, my kids have been so/so about cleaning up during the week, with lots of need for reminders and micromanaging to get things done.  (Especially with my 3 and 7 year olds.) I’d done better with setting Saturday expectations, with my kids needing to have their rooms clean, laundry sorted and the family room tidied up before activities or electronics time.   They could do it, (I’d say it was about a 45 minute task for me to do) and the three older ones working together would draw it out into a 4-5 hour ordeal, leaving us all feeling frustrated.

I started making up cleaning games to keep them motivated and on task, and to alleviate some of the stress. They worked wonders!  My kids still didn’t like cleaning, but knowing there was slight rewards and breaks built into our cleaning routine made a world of difference, especially for my 3 and 7 year olds.

At first we had the “Clean Up Cube” which was a dry erase dice (die?) that we would use to roll a chore.  I’d write the things that needed to be done in the different square on it, my kids would roll it, work on that task, the come back and roll again. Sometimes I’d fill the dry erase squares with numbers or color, and when they picked up that number or things, or all the items in the room of that color, they could roll again until the task was finished. Here’s a link to a dry erase cube on Amazon.

This worked and still honestly works well for us. It’s easy to use and make, flexible, and fun, but I wanted to expand it and I also wanted a little more consistency, especially for my 3 year old.

I started by making chore charts that broke the room down by the tasks I wanted accomplished… and drew icons for each of the chores, so my 3 year old could also look at the list and have a sense of what needed to be done.

But once I’d drawn out my 80+ icons my brain kicked into high gear, thinking of all the things I could do with these icons to keep my kids involved.

I started with some basic printable chore charts, with the chore and a small picture icon where my kids could check the boxes each day as the completed the tasks.  It was a good start to them understanding what needed to be done each day … but it was boring and we were back to the teeth pulling to actually get it done.

So I used my chore pictures to add a tiny spark of fun to the madness, and created a bunch of different picture chore chart games that I could use as needed to keep the ball rolling.

They were as follows:

Roll a Chore – Picture Clean Up Game – Buy/Download Here

Which includes a bunch of picture dice, broken down by room, that my kids can roll, do the task it lands on, then come back a roll again until the room is clean. (I also created a blank one so other caregivers can create their own custom versions)

Spin a Chore – Picture Cleaning Game – Buy/Download Here

Similar idea but this gave me the option of adding more than six chores per room. I made a simple picture spinner chore chart for bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, and the living room.  Using a brass brad I attached a paper clip to them and now they can flick the paperclip and do whatever chore it lands on, spin and repeat until the chores are finished. (I also created a blank one so other caregivers can create their own custom versions)

Chores Bingo – Kids Cleaning Game – Buy/Download Here

As straightforward as it sounds, 4×4 and 5×5 bingo cards for bedrooms, bathroom, living room and kitchen, but these have the added benefit of me being able to offer a small reward for each bingo achieved. For my three year old, that’s often letting him pick a book for each bingo, and us reading them together when his cleaning is done, for my older kids it can be letting them pick something to add to the afternoon snack, or getting 5 extra minutes of electronic time for each bingo, etc.  I also tried to make them so the 4×4 are good for daily use, and the 5×5 are a little deeper for more intense Saturday chores.

Chore Cards – Picture Cleaning Card – Buy/Download Here

For my 80+ chore icons I made a printable 2×2 card deck, and these cards are so versatile! I can go through the deck and pull out each of the chores that need to be done for that day and then put them upside down, like a memory game, and let my kids flip a card, and do that chore before coming back for more.  I can deal them out a few cards to work on, or put them all face up and let them flip them upside down the chore is complete.  I can put them in bag and let the draw a chore, and you get the idea. They’ve been awesome.

Fold Up Cards – Picture Chore Charts and Daily Schedule with Pictures – Buy/Download Here

I did these mostly for my 3 year old, to give him a sense of all the things that need to be done and an order to do them in.  I also started using these to show him our morning plans.  He folds up the flaps as he completes the tasks until we’ve got the full chart finished. Then, since I was already halfway there I made fold up charts for the bedroom, bathroom, living room and kitchen as well.

Printable Weekly Cleaning Charts with Cards – Buy/Download Here

And last but not least, I made some standard cleaning charts where the kids could mark off the tasks as they completed them each day, again with pictures to keep a visual reminder.

Anyway, as I was in the process of making these I was as the park with some mom friends and one of them brought up her frustration with getting her kids to help around the house, and I knew this was my moment to shine, and maybe all this chore card madness could be helpful to more families than just my own.

I took some time to polish up my work and created a bunch of digital printables, and put them on Etsy, so other mama’s and care givers can also get a jump start on this chore madness. They all come with prefilled, ready to go versions, and blank version, ready to be customized with my icons or your own, as well as in color and black and white, and if you choose to use some of these I’d absolutely love to know your experience, and I’d also love to know if you use them and find that you wish something or other was added to the icon list 🙂

Last but not least, if you want them all, I’ve made a huge bundle with a great discount for all of the print and go and customizable games, charts, pictures and icons.

Big Printable Picture Chore Chart Bundle – Buy/Download here

My son turned 7 recently, and as many seven year olds, he’s completely obsessed with Minecraft, and wanted a Minecraft themed Birthday Party. Usually we just do family parties, because renting out a big place for all my kids classmates just isn’t in the budget, but my son really really really wanted a friend party, and honestly I can’t blame him.  I let him choose a handful of his closest friends to invite and then got my brain in gear trying to plan a fun, easy Minecraft party that wasn’t going to break the bank (one I hoped to pull off while also caring for my toddler and 3 month old baby). It felt like a tall order, but we made it happen and had a great time and I’m here to share what worked and what didn’t, and I hope to inspire a few of you with some ways to pull of your own fun Minecraft birthday parties.

 

*Word of Warning* Two hours was too long for a DIY birthday. The kids were done and no longer interested activities before it was over, and a pack of seven year olds can turn rabid fast. I’d suggest an 1-1.5 hour party instead.

 

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Minecraft Cake and Minecraft Cupcakes

First for me was figuring out a cake.

I love making my own cakes for my kids birthdays.  I’m not fantastic at it, but I enjoy it, it’s part of my love language, and I wanted to make a fun Minecraft cake for my son.  It didn’t work out quite as well as I’d envisioned, but my son still loved it, and I also wanted the kids at the party to be able to build their own Minecraft cupcakes for an activity, so I went all out.  The cupcakes were a huge hit, and if you have the time to melt and cut some chocolate I would 100% recommend this as a treat and activity.  You can view a longer post about my process and the do’s and don’t I discovered along the way in my post Easy DIY Minecraft Cupcakes and Party Activity.

Easy Minecraft Party Decorations

Next was Decorations.  I bought a small pack of Minecraft themed decorations and then used some streamers, balloons, bags and markers to make my own Nether Portal.  It only took a few minutes to put together and we didn’t tell the kids about it, just let them discover it on their own when they needed to wash their hands or go to the bathroom, but toward the end of the party we had the Ghasts come out for the kids to battle 🙂

You can read up more on the supplies and set up in my post Easy DIY Minecraft Party Decorations.

Easy Minecraft Party Games

Texas usually stays warm throughout October and knowing my house is a bit tight I planned a bunch of outdoor activities… but then my son got sick the day of his party so we had to postpone and by the time I rescheduled it, it was fairly cold outside, I think the kids still had fun, but I also think I should have planned a few more inside activities.

We did Minecraft training with plastic bow and arrows, and strength and balance training with moving boxes around the yard, as well as different relay races with the boxes, such as the first team to move them across the yard and stack four on top of each other. The tallest tower, the straightest line, the strongest fort etc.

We did a treasure hunt, were the kids had to find two diamonds and a stick to “Craft a sword”.  For this we hid little glass beads around the yard for them to hunt for and a few small sticks.  Once they found theirs they brought them to my husband and his “Crafting Table” and exchanged them for a Minecraft Blow Up Sword.  (the swords were my semi splurge/party gift, and I got them off Amazon here).

Once they all had their swords it was time to put their skills to the test.  They had a few minutes to gather all the boxes and build a strong fort before the “Enderman” came to attack.  We had this cardboard head from Halloween, (I couldn’t find the exact one on Amazon, but I found a “Creeper” head that I think would work just as well, and I think you could cut holes in just about any box and make one pretty easily.)

Anyway, my dressed up husband terrorized the fort and we let the kids attack him with their blow up swords.  They had a lot of fun, but turns out 7 year old can be pretty blood thristy when given the opportunity. … so be ready to fun and for a bit of mayhem should you choose to pursue this activity.

… after letting the kids chase and beat my husband we needed to take the energy down so we came inside and had pizza and they decorated and ate their cupcakes. It was a perfect transition activity and the kids loved getting to choose their cake base “Mudbrick” (Chocolate) or “Sandstone” (Vanilla) then they each got a smear of brown and green frosting and three little cups of chocolates in different hues of brown and green to make their own creations with. We’d planned to show off what we made, but they proved to be too delicious, and were eaten before they had a chance to be displayed. (I made one after the fact for pictures so you can get an idea of what they could be) – Details on how I made the pieces here.

When they were finished would have been a good time to open gifts, but we decided to wait until after the party to open the gifts for personal reason.

So we went back outside and did a few more relay and yard games… unfortunately the kids were kind of done at this point.  We had a pin the eyes on the Minecraft Enderman games, but they weren’t interested in playing, so my husband and I ended up tag teaming to keep everyone out of trouble while waiting for the clock to run down. Thankfully I had one last show stopper of an activity planned.

Personal Minecraft Pinatas

This had the kids full attention, and it was fun, easy and a great way to get through that final stretch of time without too much chaos. I also used it as a way to hand out some party bags.

I was going to buy green bags and just draw the “Creeper” face on them, but ran out of time and ended up buying the bags on Amazon, you can find a link to the ones I got here.

I filled them with a few pieces of candy, a glow stick, and some Minecraft shaped glasses that I got from the Walmart party section.

Then we moved the swings to the side of our playset (since we didn’t have a big tree available) threw a rope over the the top with a carabiner clip, clipped a party bag to it, and let the kids (one at a time) have at the paper bag with their blow up swords until it ripped and fell down. I think toward the end we found a stick to use to speed up the process a little, but we were also all entertained by the amount of time, effort and creativity that went into the kids trying to get the bag down with their lack luster weapons. #noregrets (we were trying to run down the clock until pick up and this was an awesome way to do it)

All in all we had an amazing time, and my sons loved it, and I hope their friends did too 🙂

Party Price Run Down:

Cake and Cupcakes total: $45

5 cake box mixes x $1.50

3 things of frosting (two chocolate, one green vanilla) x $2

4 bags of chocolate candy melts x $4

 

Decorations Total: $13.50

20 White Balloons – $1.50

Two colors of Purple Streamers – $1.50 each, $3 total

Minecraft Banner and Hanging Decorations – $9

 

Food: $59

6 Pizzas (Way too many, I think with three adults and 10 kids we ate two) – $7 x 6 = $42

I package Water Bottles – $3

2 packages Capri Suns – $5

3 packages Fruit Cups – $9

 

Games: $33

Boxes, scoured from Facebook Marketplace – $10

Minecraft Swords (16 pack) – $20

Colored Stones – $1.50

Bows and Arrows (free for me) but – $1.50/set (from Dollar Tree)

Minecraft Box Head (free for me) but $10 on Amazon

 

Goodie Bags: $31

Minecraft Paper bags (16 pack) – $10

Candy mix – $10

Minecraft Glasses (12 pairs) – $9

Glowsticks (12) – $2

 

Total Cost: $181.50 (Mostly from Food)

This Cheap DIY Minecraft Nether Portal and Ghasts was such a hit at our house.  It was fun, it was easy, inexpensive and I loved hearing the little exclamations of surprise as the kids found it (Since having a hallway of hidden ghosts… I mean Nether World Ghasts) was… well hidden.

They got to discover it when they needed to use the bathroom or wash their hands, and at then end of the party the kids got to go in with their blow up diamond swords and attack.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Total Cost: $4.50

Supplies Needed:

• Two different shades of purple party streamers ($1.50/each at Dollar Tree, or this Purple Foil Curtain from Amazon would work well too)
• 20 white balloons ($1.50/bag at Dollar Tree)
• Red Marker (I’d suggest a permanent marker)
• Black Marker (I’d suggest a permanent marker)
• White Plastic Shopping Bags
• Scissors
• Tape
• Thread

On a door or hall entryway hang the purple streamers so they cover the opening, like a beaded curtain. If you’re feeling extra crafty you can grab some cardboard or paper and make a sign over the top that says “Nether Portal”.  We did this going down our hallway.

Get your plastic bags (white ideally) and cut them in half, then with the solidly white half cut slits up the the back side, not quite to to the top to make them kind of look like tentacles.

Blow up your balloons, and use your sharpies to draw a “Ghast” face on the balloons, then tape your plastic bag tentacles on the opposite side that you drew the face.

Finish by taping a bit of thread to the top of your balloon and your ceiling at different heights so they appear to be floating.

Our Nether Portal was huge hit, and at the end of the party we had them break free from the Nether and kids got to attack them with their blow up swords.  The plastic bags made perfect tentacles because they were nearly as light as the balloon so there was still lots of floating action, and they were my favorite party decorations.

You can view moree easy ideas from our DIY Minecraft party here

Minecraft is such a fun cube-ular building game, and I knew I wanted to bring some of the games creativity into my son’s birthday party, and I couldn’t think of a better idea that letting the kids frost and decorate their own Minecraft style cupcakes as a party activity.

Disclosure: I want to give you a heads up that this blog does use affiliate links (which means I make a percentage of the sale if you buy something) and this post might be sponsored or contain affiliate links. In either case please know all opinions are my own.

Supplies Needed:

• Cake Recipe or Box Cake Mix and necessary ingredients
• Square or Rectangle Baking Pan (I used the Wilton one linked)
• Frosting (Chocolate and Green Vanilla)
• Melting Chocolate (Dark Chocolate, White Chocolate and Green Candy Melt Chocolates) – I linked all these chocolate to Amazon, but they seem a lot more expensive there.  I think I paid about $4 per chocolate melt buying them at Walmart.  We had ten people at the party I use only one of each color and had plenty with lots of leftovers.
• Foil or Wax Paper
• Pizza Cutter

I started with buying a bunch of chocolate melts and make them into different shades by added different amounts of white and dark chocolate to colored candy melts.  I ended up using dark chocolate, white chocolate, green candy melt chocolates and two shades of blue (in case they wanted to make water). If I were to do it again, I’d skip the blue and just do a few shades of brown and a few shades of green. The kids seemed to prefer those colors anyway.

I followed the instructions on the packaged for stirring and melting and then I used a spatula to spread my melted chocolate over a piece of foil (parchment paper would probably work better, but I was halfway through melting my chocolate when I realized I was out) in any case foil ended up working fine.

Let your chocolate cool and harden.

If you happen to have a ruler I think you could make these work a little better by ruling them out so the squares are even… but I’m kind of a “Good Enough” type of person, so I just eyeballed the lines and then used a pizza cutter cut/scored the chocolate into squares.

Once you’ve scored or cut your chocolate into squares, carefully bend the foil and peel them off.  I stored them in some plastic bags until the party (and our party got delayed a few weeks, even with the delay the chocolates held up great in their bags until it was party time)

The little squares were perfect for cupcake decorating.

I did some big and some little because I wanted colored squares for the kids to decorate their cupcakes with, but also some big ones for the cake.  In hindsight I wish had made them all small squares and I think my cake would have looked better with lots of little squares rather than a few big squares… but again, good enough, and my son loved it as it was, so I guess no regrets? Certainly not enough to remake or redecorate it.

For the party cupcakes, I make up two box cake mixes in a rectangle pan – one chocolate (to be “Mud Bricks”) and one vanilla (to be “Sandstone”) and cut them into square/cube pieces.

When it came time to decorate I let each child choose their “Mud Brick” or “Sandstone” base, gave them each a smear of brown chocolate frosting and green vanilla frosting on their plates, as well as little cupcake wrappers filled with my square chocolate melts to decorate with, and let them have at it.

They loved it, and it was a fun time filler and transition from a very chaotic activity to a more chill one.  We planned to show off our creations before eating them, but they proved to be too delicious and ended up getting snacked on before our display, but I made a few after the fact to give an idea of how they looked.  I’d give this one a 10/10 rating because I had fun preparing it, the kids loved it, and it was a fun creative way to play with food and transition eagerly between party activities. 

Check out more of my Easy DIY Minecraft Party Ideas here 🙂 

 

 

I realize that it’s hardly September, but Halloween is one of our favorite holidays at this house and I think it’s already on all of our minds… and if I’m already thinking about it and planning for it, I see no reason not to share the fun with you using these 5 minute easy graveyard halloween themed cupcakes.

This past Monday my youngest son and I took a trip to Dollar Tree and they had all of their fun Halloween stuff already out. As you might have guessed that got my wheels spinning and after loaded up a cart full of spooky fun we came home and got to work creating.

Three year old loved helping me with this, and he’s quite the semi decent baker, and at the very least an incredibly eager helper, especially when it comes to desserts so he was all in with this little project.  Thankfully I had kids and ease in mind with it, and we had a great time together.

Disclosure: This post may be sponsored or contain affiliate links (which means I make a small percentage of the sale if you buy something).

Graveyard Halloween Themed Cupcakes

Supplies Needed:

• Cupcakes (I used a box mix)
• Chocolate Frosting
• Oreos
• Plastic Skeleton Pieces (I used a Dollar Tree Skeleton Garland that we pulled apart and washed, but I know they tend to sell out early in the season, so I’ve got this linked to something similar on Amazon)

Step 1:

Make (or buy) your cupcakes

Step 2:

Open your oreos and separate them into two bowls, one with chocolate cookie part, and the other with the inner frosting/filling part.

Then take the part with the cookies and grab a cup or glass and grind those puppies into dust, or as close to cookie dust as you can manage.

Step 3:

Frost your cupcakes with a thin, flat layer of frosting, then press them into the oreo cookie dust to make it look like dirt is on top of your cupcakes

Step 4:

Cut up, or take apart your plastic skeleton pieces, clean them, and press them on top of your cupcakes.

Done and Done, they looked cute and spooky, and I was able to manage making them with a three year old a newborn, which was about the level of involvement I can handle right now.