Age appropriate Chores for kids in Ramadan

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I recently mentioned giving kids some age appropriate chores in Ramadan when I wrote this article about a few mom hacks that can help moms worship stress free through the month.

If you have little kids in the house, getting them busy with little chores through the day is a fantastic way to fill their power bucket as well as give them some positive attention. I am sure you know how kids tend to always think up craziness when we are in the kitchen or looking busy.

My youngest thinks one of the best way to distract me is to go ‘wash’ the laundry… in the wash basin. Her favourite is to mop the floor… with milk. Then there are my older kids. One wants to talk non stop or ask questions from yester-years. The other one wants to craft and glue all day long.

I have found that the best way to counteract this behaviour is to give them some activity to do of their own. We have come up with the ‘one hour of chore time’ idea and have found that it works. The basic plan was that we will all work for one whole hour without distractions. No books, toys or crafts allowed. The kids all get their own special chore which they must do to the best of their ability. That last bit is the fun part!

Now my youngest is 2years old and we have been doing this for sometime so I can guarantee that this fun little game will work for even your little tot too. Just keep in mind to not expect perfection. Our primary purpose is not to get the job done but to keep the child busy and happily out of our way.

I am sharing below a list of things that I have tried with my children. This list is based on my experience and my household. I am sure you can think of some more to add or a few to delete from this based on your situation.

Another tip is to always remember to give specific instructions. Don’t say ‘clean the table’. Say ‘can you remove all the toys off the table and put them in the toy bin’. Also, keep a running commentary of how well they are doing it if your child is below five years old. Older kids get irritated if you disturb their work but younger ones need encouragement and engagement. 🙂

10 Age appropriate chores for kids in Ramadan

1. Clean the tables. Kids from as young as 5 years old can clean a table to perfection. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a dining table, because I let my toddlers clean our side tables too. I also like to give them a cleaning wipe to wipe the table after their done. For some reason, they love working with a cleaning wipe! Older kids need instructions on how to tackle the bigger table so give them ideas or steps to clean it in. Kids can very easily help carry things to the table or back to the kitchen after everyone has eaten.
2. Fill pitchers. Older kids (5yrs and above) are perfect for filling water bottles to replace those in fridge or to place pitchers of water for the meals.
3. Fetch things for the table. They can get vegetables or fruits. Younger kids can help you fetch things at their level from the fridge or pantry while preparing for iftaar. If you have more than one child who is under five then I’d advise to let both of them do this together. This job is considered fun by kids and I’ve frequently found them to be squabbling over who wants to do this. So better is to assign ‘one kid- one item’ rule for this.
4. Set the Iftaar table. They can cut, peel or pick fruits and veggies. Picking grapes or pomegranates, peeling bananas, removing seeds from melons and dates; kids love doing that. Of course, they will eat some of it but they are helping you! They also love to show off at the table and say that they have prepared the salad or decorated a dish. If you have older kids you can ask them to cut some of the fruits too. You can also teach them to prepare fine assembled meals like salads.
5. Call people to prayer and lay the Mussalla . This is another of my children’s favourite chore. They love laying the prayer mats (in the wrong direction) and then call everyone for prayer.
6. Make the beds. When it comes to cleaning the rooms, you can ask your child to help you make the beds. I recently discovered this with my youngest (2yr old) daughter that she can really make a bed. All my kids so far had only loved to jump on the bed when I was making it. It made me wonder why she enjoyed making her bed. I noticed that it was because her siblings were doing it. Toddlers love to imitate adults. Again, don’t expect perfection and always give them specific directions as to how it is to be done. I tell them to do it in three steps. Stuff on the floor, pull the sheets tight and replace the pillow and snugglies.
7. Put away toys. This is the hardest to get done but if you make a game out of it, it is actually possible for the kids to put the toys away. We play the I spy game. I say ‘I spy blocks’ when I want them to remove blocks and they have to keep repeating that till all are gone in their box. We then move to another. We also like to couple it with remove it and surprise mommy. ‘Mom look no kitchen stuff!’
8. Arrange shoes. All kids love shoes! I have found that I have the choice to either let them play with it all day long or I can ask them to arrange it (sometimes all day long!) This is another of those don’t expect perfection jobs. My husband always knows which of the two toddlers was on Shoe duty.
9. Helping in kitchen. If you have older kids, they can very easily help in the kitchen. I let my children help with preparing for parties too. Iftar time in Ramadan, as we all know is a one big party time. You can read this post for different ways they can help.
10. Read to youngsters. I grew up reading to my younger siblings. My parents trained us from s very young age that one of our responsibility as an older child was to help the youngsters learn to read. This is especially true for teaching Arabic and the Quran. I found that while teaching them, I got to practice my lessons too. My eldest now has the responsibility to teach his little sisters the Arabic alphabets and small Duas. He loves to be the ‘teacher’ and they love following him around. Kids make a game out of everything. They love ‘playing’ this way while I get my time to worship. We are all reading at the same time this way.

Apart from the chores mentioned above, kids can water plants, mop floors( if you give them a moist mop), dust objects (not recommended if your child has allergies), sort laundry before the wash and after for putting away. They also love to carry groceries and help you with the shopping.

I have mentioned the chores that are appropriate for Ramadan here but you can find that if the kids regularly do these during the month, soon it becomes part of their daily activities.

Multicultural Kid Blogs is proud to be hosting its second annual Ramadan for Kids blog hop, where bloggers come together to share ideas for teaching kids about and honoring Ramadan. Don’t forget to check out our series from last year and follow our Ramadan board on Pinterest for even more ideas and link up your own posts below!

Participating Blogs

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