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Involving your child in household chores is a great way to encourage them to be helpful contributors. Physical activities are beneficial to kids and doing household chores can be considered as a form of exercise. And as we all know, exercising has a lot of health benefits to kids with ADHD.
Traditional chore charts have helped families track chores for years; but in today’s digital world, there are apps for everything, including tracking your child’s household chores.
Chore apps are a great way to manage your child’s daily tasks or chores and hold them responsible for completing them. Unlike written, boring, chore charts on the wall, apps can be an enjoyable way for your child to show responsibility for their tasks around the house.
Some apps even connect to a bank account, so you can give your child an allowance for completing the chores. In this article, I’ll review the benefits of using chore apps. I’ll also list the 11 best chore apps for kids and families, their ratings, cost, and how they work.
Benefits of Using Chore Tracking Apps
There are a number of benefits of using chore tracking apps, including:
Organization
Managing chores using a traditional chore chart can be hectic, mainly because we have so many things going on daily. Chore and behavior tracking apps help parents to stay organized with everything in one place.
Parents can also use the app to keep track of the child’s progress, grocery list, and even monthly allowances. Parents can also be as involved as they’d like, and can assign their child tasks to complete, and approve them once they're finished.
Financial literacy (if given allowance)
Unlike pen and paper chore charts, many chore apps give the option to compensate your child for the chores they complete. Many chore apps teach kids about money and encourage them to save money. With some apps, kids can even watch their savings expand through an allowance graph and earn real money.
This is a good opportunity for your child to learn about financial literacy; like how much money they have for leisure, how much to save, and what their balance is. If you have a child with ADHD or another developmental disability, this is a great way to help them begin to learn about money.
Better communication and consistency
Since the whole family can download the chore app and participate in the chores, it can help with communication. Parents can avoid nagging and reminding their children to complete the chores because the app can receive notifications on when and what needs to be completed.
It also helps with consistency, especially for children who have ADHD or other developmental disabilities as they may have more difficulty remembering to complete their tasks. Check out a list of other parental control apps you can try to manage your child's behavior and promote consistency.
More fun!
Traditional chore charts can be boring and lack the excitement that an app might provide. Most chore apps have fun user experiences where the child is motivated by a game or other rewards.
In addition to this, parents can oftentimes customize tasks and rewards, to make it the most fun for their child. Chores for kids have never been more fun!
This is especially important if you have a child with a developmental disability, such as ADHD. Children with ADHD may avoid tasks such as chores, due lack of interest and stimulation. Interactive video game apps like Joon, are a great alternative to chore charts because they engage and motivate the child.
Best Chore Apps for Kids and Families
1. Joon: Best for Quick Setup & Motivation
How it works: Joon is a kid-friendly game that motivates your child to focus and stay on top of their daily tasks and habits. Joon connects in-game mechanics with real-life tasks to keep them focused on a goal. It also helps them to get started and continue to achieve their tasks because they are motivated to progress in the game.
Joon is an ADHD app designed specifically for kids. It can also serve as a calendar app to help children stay organized and manage their time more effectively. The app allows children to set reminders for upcoming events, assignments, and tasks, and provides visual aids to help them understand how to prioritize and plan their time. The app also includes a rewards system that encourages children to complete their tasks and stay on schedule, which can help them develop better time management skills.
Parents manage the app and assign tasks to their children. As the child completes the real-life tasks, parents can approve them which allows their child to continue leveling up and unlocking new rewards in the game. Joon is considered to be one of the best apps for ADHD kids. The in-game dynamics and rewards are designed to cater to these children. Chores for kids with ADHD have never been easier.
Ideal age: 6-12
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store, Amazon Kindle
Cost: 7-day free trial followed by monthly or annual plan options.
2. Homey: Best for Teaching Responsibility
How it works: Homey enables families to share responsibilities and paid jobs for each member of the family. It’s also customizable and parents can manage each member's privileges, rewards, and allowance. Homey also teaches children about earning money as parents can transfer money from their bank accounts to the child. Kids can also use a savings jar, where they can easily save for their long and short-term goals, or parents can transfer their money from the chore app into a savings account.
Ideal age: 8-14
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Cost: $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year
3. Gohenry: Best for Allowance
How it works: GoHenry is an app that comes with a kid's debit card. The app has an allowance manager, parental boundaries, and more. It supports children in learning how to spend, save, give, and invest their allowance. Your child will be able to complete “Money Missions” (videos, quizzes, etc) and accelerate their learning.
Ideal age: 12-18
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Cost: $3.99 per month
4. OurHome: Best for All Household Tasks
How it works: OurHome is an app that supports families get organized. Kids are motivated to do chores and take responsibility and parents can reward them for their effort through the app. For example, families have access to a shared grocery list and a family calendar that helps to keep everyone coordinated.
Ideal age: 6+
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Cost: Free
5. S'moresUp: Best for Community
How it works: The S’moresUp app is AI-Powered with that helps each family member take more responsibility for tasks and chores. The app is highly customizable, and users can connect their calendars to schedule family events, events, and more. S’moresUp also has a parent community where users discuss parenting tips and tricks. Let us be the bad cop of the family!
Ideal age: 6+
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Cost: $0- $4.99 per month
6. Cozi Family Organizer: Best All-in-One
How it works: Cozi is an all-in-one family organizer app that helps keep appointments and activities all in one place. Some features include tracking school events and virtual class schedules, managing a shared grocery list, and getting the whole family to participate in chores.
Ideal age: 4+
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Cost: $29.99 annually
7. Chores & Allowance Bot: Best for Recurring Chores
How it works: The Chores & Allowance Bot helps children to avoid losing and misplacing paper money. Additionally, parents don't have to keep track of allowances and chores by hand. Children also learn about saving, spending, and earning money towards goals through completing their chores and good behavior. Parents can set up recurring chores in the app and send reminders to the child.
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Ideal age: 4+
Cost: $2.99 monthly, $19.99 annually, or $15.99 semiannually
8. BusyKid: Best for Older Children
How it works: BusyKid helps children develop basic, yet very important, money management routines that will be needed as they grow older, including the use of a debit card. Parents are able to monitor spending and give the child the freedom to spend and save.
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Ideal age: 13+
Cost: $3.99 per month or $38.99 annually
9. Math for Money: Best for Learning Math
How it works: Math For Money gives children the opportunity of learning positive money habits by teaching them how to earn and manage their money. Parents set a “pocket money” amount that’s released each week as the child solves math challenges.
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Ideal age: 6-14
Cost: $2.99 per month or $29.99 annually
10. Kachinga: Best for Spending Controls
How it works: Kachinga is a mobile app and spend card that’s designed to help parents empower their kids to learn how to manage money in a digital world. Children have access to a debit card as the parents use the app to send money, set flexible spending controls, track chores, and receive instant alerts. Work together to view balances, set savings goals, manage chores and get real-world money experience.
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Ideal age: 4+
Cost: Free for 1 month, $36 annually per child
11. Dragon Family: Best for Younger Children
How it works: The Dragon Family app helps parents distribute household tasks to all family members in a fun and engaging way. Kids are taught responsibility and organizational skills by completing the tasks assigned to them. The app also has an easy-to-use household to-do tracker for the whole family and personalized to-do lists with a special reward system; helping to motivate your child to complete the tasks and gain rewards.
Where to download: AppStore, Google Play Store
Ideal age: 5-9
Cost: $2.99 per month, $39.99 annually, or lifetime access for $59.99
Takeaway
If you’re having trouble motivating your child to participate in chores, chore apps can be a fun way to change up the routine. With a variety of chore apps available, you can decide on what type of rewards to give your child, and when they should complete them.
If your child has trouble beginning and sticking with their tasks, consider having them download the Joon app. Video game technology helps your child stay motivated and focused, while you can manage the tasks you assign them, and help them to level up.
About
Dr. Randy Kulman, PhD
