Chore chart maker, print a weekly chart that fits your home.

A chore chart maker turns a list of jobs and a list of people into a weekly sheet you can stick on the fridge. This one makes two kinds. A tick chart gives each person their own page, with the chores down the side and the days across the top, so a child ticks a box when a job is done. A who does what chart is one page for the whole home, with a name written in every box so nobody has to ask whose turn it is. Both print on A4 or US Letter, in colour or black and white.

How to use it

1. Optional: pick Start from a list to load a set of chores, then change them. Or type your own under Chores, one on each line. Up to 25 chores fit.
2. Type everyone under People, one on each line. Up to 12 people.
3. Choose a Chart type. For the tick chart, tick Add a reward line if you want a line for a reward and a signature.
4. For the who does what chart, choose how to Fill in the names: a different person each day, the same person all week, or blank boxes for you to write in.
5. Set Week of to a date to put dates on the columns. Use Weeks to print several weeks in one go. Pick Week starts on, Colour and Paper.
6. Press Save the PDF, or Copy link to get a link that reopens the same chart.

How the rotation works

With A different person each day, chore number k on day d goes to the person at position (k + d) divided by the number of people, remainder. Take three people, Ava, Noah and Mia, and four chores. On Monday, chore 1 goes to Ava, chore 2 to Noah, chore 3 to Mia and chore 4 back to Ava. On Tuesday every chore moves along by one: chore 1 goes to Noah, chore 2 to Mia, chore 3 to Ava and chore 4 to Noah. After three days, each person has done each chore exactly once.

A week has seven days, and seven does not divide by three, so in a single week one person does a chore three times and the others twice. The rotation carries on from the end of one week to the start of the next, so printing several weeks evens it out: over 21 days, which is three weeks, each person does each chore seven times.

With Same person all week, swap each week, chore k goes to person (k + week) divided by the number of people, remainder. The same three people and four chores give chore 1 to Ava in week one and to Noah in week two. That suits jobs that take a whole week, such as the bins.

Picking chores that work

• Write chores as short actions: "Set the table", not "Table".
• Keep the list short enough for the age of the person. A row that is never ticked teaches nothing.
• Put the daily jobs on the tick chart, and the weekly jobs, such as the bins, on the rota.
• Print the next weeks ahead of time. Several weeks come out as separate pages, each with its own dates.

Colour or black and white

In colour, the rota gives each person a soft colour, and a legend below the chart shows who is which, so a quick glance shows whose turn it is. In black and white, the boxes stay white and the headings turn grey, which costs little ink. The names are always written in the boxes, so the colours help but are never the only clue.

Common problems

• The chart says to add people. The rota needs at least one name to fill in. Choose blank boxes if you want to write names by hand.
• A long chore is cut short. Long chores wrap to two lines. Past that they are cut with dots, so shorten the wording.
• No dates show. Dates only appear when Week of has a date.

Need a place for the dates themselves? Make a printable calendar. For a plain list, try the to-do list. Planning a full week? Use the weekly planner.