Living Room Chores For Kids By Age 

Young girl in cleaning gloves in living room.

Your living room is the biggest room in your house. It's also where everybody drops everything. Shoes, backpacks, juice cups, half a puzzle, three remotes and a sock nobody will claim.

There's so much to clean!

The good news: the kids can help with just about all of it. Enlist them, and your living room will be spotless in a jiffy. Or at least before the next round of company.

Here's a guide to living room chores for kids by age, from toddlers tossing toys in a bin to teens cleaning out the fireplace. Kids can do the chores for their age group and every group below it. (For chores all over the house, see Chores for Kids by Age.)

Living Room Chores for Kids at a Glance

Age

2 to 3


4 to 5


6 to 8


9 to 12



13 to 17

Living room chores

Put toys in bins, pick up books, turn off the TV

Put away games with all their pieces, shelve books, wipe the play table, dust low furniture, wipe baseboards

Shake small rugs, empty wastebaskets, dust shelves and lampshades, vacuum with help, wipe smudges, water plants

Vacuum floors and furniture, clean screens and remotes, wipe light switches and doorknobs, clean windows and blinds

Dust the ceiling fan and light fixtures, polish wood furniture, vacuum under furniture, clean out the fireplace

Living Room Chores for Kids Ages 2 to 3

Toddlers love to help, and they love to put things in other things. Use that.

  • Put toys in bins or drawers
  • Pick up stray books and magazines
  • Turn off the TV, if the button's within reach
  • Put their shoes in the shoe basket
  • Hand you the couch cushions so you can put them back

Keep bins open-topped and low, and label them with pictures. A toddler can't read "Blocks," but they know what a block looks like.

Living Room Chores for Kids Ages 4 to 5

Preschoolers can finish a job, as long as the job is small and you tell them exactly what done looks like.

  • Put away toys and games, with all their pieces in the right boxes or bins
  • Put books back on the bookshelves
  • Sponge down the play table
  • Dust low furniture with a sock on their hand
  • Wipe baseboards with a damp cloth
  • Fluff and straighten the couch pillows
  • Fold a throw blanket (roughly)

"All their pieces" is the hard part. Teach them to check under the couch before the game goes back on the shelf. That's where the missing Candy Land card has been all along.

Living Room Chores for Kids Ages 6 to 8

Now kids can handle real cleaning tools and work through a short checklist on their own.

  • Shake out small area rugs (big ones are a job for two)
  • Empty the wastebaskets
  • Dust furniture and shelves
  • Dust lampshades with a lint roller or a soft brush
  • Vacuum, with your help if the vacuum is too tall or heavy for them
  • Wipe smudges off walls and doors with a damp cloth
  • Water the houseplants
  • Take indoor plants outside for a gentle shower with the hose (on a warm day)
  • Gather up everything in the room that doesn't belong there and return it

Living Room Chores for Kids Ages 9 to 12

Preteens can clean the whole living room with a checklist, and do it right once you've shown them how.

Screens get special handling. Turn off and unplug the TV or computer, and wipe the screen with a dry microfiber cloth. For a stubborn smudge, dampen the cloth with a little water. Never spray anything directly on the screen, and never use window cleaner. It can strip the coating.

Living Room Chores for Kids Ages 13 to 17

Teenagers can deep clean the living room top to bottom. Sometimes they'll even do it without being asked. Sometimes.

  • Dust the ceiling fan
  • Organize the coat closet
  • Clean and polish wood furniture
  • Clean the ceiling light fixtures and the lamps
  • Dust and vacuum corners and crevices, working from high to low
  • Move the furniture and vacuum underneath it
  • Vacuum the drapes
  • Deep clean the carpet and upholstery. (Teens can make the call to the carpet cleaner for you.)
  • Clean out the fireplace and the fireplace tools

The pillowcase trick for ceiling fans: turn off the fan and let it stop. Then slide an old pillowcase over each blade and pull it back toward you. The dust stays inside the pillowcase instead of raining down on the couch. Use a sturdy step stool, not a chair.

Fireplace ashes stay hot for days. Teens should shovel cold ashes into a metal can with a tight lid and set it outside, at least 10 feet from the house. Never use a paper bag or a cardboard box, and never use the household vacuum.

The 10-Minute Living Room Reset

The living room doesn't get messy all at once. It gets messy one backpack at a time. So the fix is a quick reset every night, before bed or before screens go on.

  1. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Everyone works until it goes off.
  2. Everyone grabs their own stuff first. Shoes, backpacks, jackets, cups, chargers. If it's yours, it leaves the room with you.
  3. Toys go back in their bins.
  4. Cushions go back on the couch, pillows get fluffed and the blanket gets folded.
  5. Remotes go in one spot. A basket or a tray. Not the couch cushions.
  6. Dishes go to the kitchen.
  7. One assigned job each, like wiping the coffee table, emptying the wastebasket or shaking out the rug.

Picking up your own stuff doesn't count as a chore. That's just being a member of the household. The assigned job is the chore. (Here's how many chores to give each child: Chores for Kids by Age.)

Make the Living Room Easy for Kids to Clean

Kids can't put things away if there's nowhere to put them.

  • Low, open bins for toys, with picture labels for little kids.
  • A basket for each child by the stairs or the door. Their stuff goes in their basket, and the basket goes to their room at the end of the day.
  • A shoe basket or bench by the door.
  • A remote tray.
  • A caddy of kid-safe supplies: microfiber cloths, a duster, a spray bottle of water and a lint roller. Keep the real cleaning products up high.

Living Room Safety for Kids

  • Anchor the TV and furniture. Strap TVs, bookcases and dressers to the wall so climbing kids can't pull them over.
  • Check the remotes' battery doors while kids are cleaning them. Button batteries and coin cells are dangerous if swallowed. If a child swallows one, go to the emergency room right away.
  • Kids under 9 use water or mild soap, not disinfectants. Older kids can use disinfecting wipes, then wash their hands.
  • Adults or teens handle the fireplace, and only once the ashes are cold.
  • Step stools, not chairs, for anything high.


Frequently Asked Questions

What living room chores can a toddler do?

Toddlers ages 2 to 3 can put toys in bins, pick up books, put their shoes in the shoe basket and turn off the TV.

What living room chores can a 10-year-old do?

A 10-year-old can vacuum the floors and the furniture, wipe light switches and doorknobs, clean screens and remotes, and clean the windows and blinds.

How do I get my kids to clean up the living room?

Do a 10-minute reset every night with a timer. Everyone grabs their own stuff first, then does one assigned job. Make it part of the routine before bed or before screens.

How do you clean a TV screen safely?

Turn it off, then wipe it with a dry microfiber cloth. Use a slightly damp cloth for smudges. Don't spray the screen, and don't use window cleaner.

Can kids clean the fireplace?

Teens can, once the ashes are completely cold. They shovel the ashes into a metal can with a tight lid and set it outside, at least 10 feet from the house.

The Best Part

Once everyone knows their living room chores, the biggest room in the house stops being the biggest job. And the next time company calls to say they're 10 minutes away, you'll have a team.

Keep Going

The living room's clean. Here's where the kids can help next:

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