Eleven-year-olds live in two worlds. One day they want to be treated like teenagers, the next they want you to tuck them in. Chores are one of the few places where you can give them exactly what they're asking for, real responsibility, in a way that's safe and measurable. "You're old enough to do your own laundry now" lands very differently from "go tidy your room".
Here's what an eleven-year-old can take on, what the pediatric guidance says, and a free printable chart to start with.
What an 11 year old can handle
This is where the professional lists move from "helping" to "running":
- The American Academy of Pediatrics lists everything from the younger ages for 11 to 12 year olds, "as well as clean the kitchen, change bedsheets, unload the dishwasher, do and fold laundry, scrub toilets and clean the bathroom, wash the car, cook a simple meal with supervision, and watch younger sibling(s) with an adult present at home" (HealthyChildren.org, AAP).
- The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says 10 to 11 year olds can change their sheets, clean the kitchen or bathrooms and do yard work (AACAP Facts for Families No. 125).
The pattern is clear: at eleven, children can own a whole area, like their laundry, the kitchen after dinner or one bathroom, not just a task inside it.
The list: chores for an 11 year old
Their own responsibilities
- Do their own laundry: sort, wash, dry, fold, put away
- Change their sheets every other week
- Keep their room tidy
- Pack the school bag and manage their homework
Kitchen
- Clean the kitchen after dinner (counters, table, sink)
- Load and unload the dishwasher
- Cook a simple meal once a week with you nearby
- Put the groceries away
Cleaning
- Clean the bathroom: sink, mirror, toilet, floor
- Vacuum
- Take out the trash and recycling
Family and outdoors
- Walk the dog
- Yard work: raking, weeding, watering
- Watch a younger sibling for a short time while you're at home
You'll find these chores on the printable chart at the top of this page. Download it as is or customize it first.
One big job beats five small ones
For eleven-year-olds, the most effective setup is usually a few small daily chores plus one real area they own:
- Their laundry, every week, start to finish
- The kitchen after dinner, every day
- One bathroom, every weekend
Owning an area teaches planning (when will I do it?), standards (what does clean look like?) and consequences (no clean jersey for Saturday's game). That's worth more than a long list of small tasks. Keep the total at five or six, and follow the AAP's advice: avoid overloading, be consistent, and use praise rather than scolding.
A sample week for an 11 year old
Here's how that can look in an ordinary school week with homework most nights and a practice or club or two. Every job comes from the list above, and laundry is the area they own.
- Every day, a few minutes each: pack the school bag the night before, keep the room tidy enough to find things, and unload the dishwasher before dinner.
- On trash day: take out the trash and recycling the evening before pickup.
- Wednesday: vacuum one or two rooms. It's a short job, so it fits on a busy night.
- Saturday: their laundry, start to finish, while they do something else between loads.
That's six jobs, with the biggest one on the weekend when there's time. Once laundry runs without reminders, swap the vacuuming for the weekly simple meal on Sunday, cooked with you nearby. Adding one new job only after the last one has become routine keeps the list from growing into a fight.
Teaching the new skills
The jobs that come in at 11 and 12 need proper teaching once:
- Laundry: do the first load together. Sorting, temperature, detergent amount, what not to put in the dryer. Then watch them do one. Then hand it over.
- Bathroom: a short checklist on the cabinet door, one mild all-purpose cleaner, and a toilet brush. Keep strong products and anything that shouldn't be mixed out of reach.
- Cooking: start with meals that need little heat, like pasta or scrambled eggs, with you in the kitchen. The AAP's wording is "with supervision".
A 2022 study of 207 children aged 5 to 13 found that children who did more family-care chores, like making a meal for someone else, had better working memory and self-control scores after accounting for age. It was a parent survey and can't show cause and effect, but it fits what these jobs ask of an eleven-year-old (Tepper, Howell and Bennett, 2022).
Safety notes at 11
- Lawn mowers: the AAP recommends at least 12 for a walk-behind mower and 16 for a ride-on mower (HealthyChildren.org). At 11, stick to raking, weeding and watering.
- Watching siblings: the AAP's guidance for this age is with an adult present at home.
- The stove: simple cooking with someone nearby, not alone.
Chores for 11 year olds to earn money
Eleven is a good age to start connecting work and money, because kids often have something specific they're saving for. Options that work:
- Everyday chores unpaid, bigger jobs paid. Their laundry and the dinner clean-up are part of family life. Washing the car, a big yard job or clearing out the garage can earn money.
- Points that turn into rewards. Chores earn points that your child trades for privileges or pocket money you've agreed on.
For a sense of scale, Greenlight reported that kids aged 9 to 11 using its app received about $8.58 a week in allowance in 2025 (Greenlight). That's company data, not a national figure. See allowance for chores for amounts and ground rules.
When they push back
Eleven-year-olds are good at spotting a weak argument, so it helps to have a few calm answers ready.
- "Why do I have to?" Keep it short: "Because you live here, and everyone who lives here helps. I have my jobs, you have yours." Then stop talking. A long speech gives them something to argue with.
- "That's not fair, she does less!" Put everyone's jobs where they can be seen. A younger sibling has fewer and smaller jobs because they're younger, and your eleven-year-old had that list too a few years back. For shared jobs like the dishwasher or the trash, rotate them weekly so nobody is stuck with the worst one.
- "I'll do it later." Later is fine, never isn't. Agree on a time ("by seven") and hold to it, instead of repeating the request every ten minutes.
- "Can I swap with my brother?" Usually, yes. If both kids agree and the job gets done, let them trade. Negotiating a fair swap is a skill in itself.
- A sloppy result. Check it against the standard you agreed on, point out what's missing once, and let them finish it.
For more on getting chores done without nagging, see how to get kids to do chores.
How Raccoon fits in
Raccoon Kids lets you set up chores with a coin value. Your child checks them off, can attach a photo of the clean kitchen or the folded laundry, and you approve from anywhere. Coins become rewards you choose. The app's age-based presets use the same research as this page, so an eleven-year-old's jobs are quick to set up.
The printable chart works on its own. If you'd rather not be the one reminding, try Raccoon for free.
Other ages
See chores for 10 year olds, chores for 12 year olds, or the full chore chart by age.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics, Age-Appropriate Chores for Children, HealthyChildren.org, adapted from Caring for Your School-Age Child: Ages 5 to 12, updated February 2024.
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Chores and Children, Facts for Families No. 125, updated June 2018.
- American Academy of Pediatrics, Lawn Mower Safety: Information for Families, HealthyChildren.org.
- Tepper, D. L., Howell, T. J. and Bennett, P. C. (2022). Executive functions and household chores: Does engagement in chores predict children's cognition? Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 69(5), 585 to 598.
- Greenlight, Average weekly allowance by age, company data for 2025.