Kid-Friendly Tools for Raising Helpers

Here’s a list of the most useful tools for Kids. Encourage children to start helping with household chores with these real tools for raising helpers!

Teach kids how to build interdependence at home with children’s tools for the house, yard, garage, and garden. Children are more likely to help with household chores and responsibilities when they have kid-friendly tools. Kids want to help because it’s part of their natural instincts. Human babies are born to observe others’ actions and eventually imitate what they see in the family. It’s how we are wired to learn. This is evident when toddlers and preschoolers reach for a broom, carry a watering can, or ask to stir the batter or water the garden before they turn two years old.

The early messages we send our children can help their work ethic grow. Giving children real tools they can safely use at home and in the garden turns their natural urges into helpful actions. The key is to choose tools that fit their size and skill level, like the tools for helpers recommended below. Providing children with tools shows that they are not only capable of helping but also expected to help with household chores. Small hand rakes, child-size brooms, mops and vacuums, and real, not toy, kitchen tools that everyone in the house uses make a big difference.

With guidance, support, clear expectations, and a lot of patience, young children, such as toddlers and preschoolers, can participate in everyday tasks alongside older children, teens, and adults in ways that feel safe, helpful, and even fun! My daughter demonstrates this beautifully in the photos included with this helpful children’s tool guide. She’s learned that everyone in our family helps out, and she copies simple behaviors she observes. This natural urge to act out what they see people doing around them is also evident in young children’s dramatic or imaginative play. Learn how to get children to start helping with the chores in 15 Ways to Raise a Helper.

get kids to start helping with the chores with tools for raising helpers! — *In these photos, my daughter is using her old wheelbarrow and our old Electrolux vacuum.*

Related: How to Teach Kids Good Manners

Best Children’s Tools for Raising Kids That Help with the Chores

Children want to be just like their caregivers, doing chores, working, and using tools. So give children the tools they need to become the helpers they were born to be!

Giving your children their own tools encourages them to help with the household, yard, and garden chores. Both Montessori and Waldorf teachers and educators recommend that children use natural materials whenever possible. The tools for kids listed below are all of the highest quality and, whenever possible, made with natural materials.

I have to admit, good kid-friendly tools for children can be hard to find. They are often not made to last very long, but they have been getting much more useful over the years. However, if we want our children to become independent members of the family, develop positive work habits, and help with household chores, they need tools for kids that actually work!

Children also need a lot of guidance and support when learning to complete their chores and meet their commitments. This means that most tools need to be used with guidance and supervision, or not at all. Visual Routine Cards and Home & School Tools for Kids can also be a big help in showing children the chores they need to do and when to do them. Set them up and help children learn to use them to manage their rhythms and routines. You might also be interested in my signature program, Organizing Life with Kids!

How Does Using Real Tools for Kids Benefit Child Development?

Kids are much more likely to start helping around the house, yard, and garden when they have tools. Tools are magical objects to children. They see us using them and want to use them too. How many times have you heard a child say, “I wanna try,” or “Me do it?” When you give a child a simple tool, it is as if you are saying, “You are good enough to help, your work is valued, and you are worthy of contributing.”

Home life skills are among the most important yet often forgotten developmental domains in early childhood. This is why these skills are taught in preschool and kindergarten activities within Waldorf and Montessori education. Learning to use tools under a caregiver’s supervision can help children become self-confident and independent members of their family (or classroom) and ultimately of society at large.

As parents, one of our most important roles is to guide and support our children as they learn to complete simple household tasks, so they can eventually carry these skills out into the world when they leave the house. When we give our children the gift of simple tools, they can learn basic home life skills, such as cleaning the house, helping with yard work, fixing or building things in the garage, and growing food, which are essential to their overall development and success in life.

Using kid-friendly household, yard, and garden tools also supports children in developing hand-eye coordination, fine and gross-motor skills, problem-solving, and logical thinking. Help your children develop the self-confidence and independence they need to start helping with the chores with these natural tools recommended by Waldorf and Montessori teachers. Learn more about raising helpful children in How to Raise a Helper.

The Best Real Household Tools for Kids

Here’s a list of real kid-friendly household tools that are ideal for children:

1. DIY Chemical-Free Cleaning Kit for Kids:

Kids love to have their own supplies to help around the house. Having a cleaning kit makes them want to clean. My concern has always been the toxic chemicals in common cleaning supplies. This DIY cleaning kit is safe for children!

2. Mini Brush and Dustpan Set:

Ask children to help with chores and clean up their little messes with this cute little hand broom and dustpan set. It works excellently for spilled snacks and oh-oh mamas!

3. Whisk Broom for kids:

We love this small whisk hand broom for little hands, made with traditional natural fibers. Includes a metal ring for easy storage.

4. Child’s Wooden Dustpan:

This wooden dustpan is perfect for your little helper. The solid construction helps little ones sweep dirt into it quickly.

5. Natural Broom for Kids:

Here’s a natural corn broom with a solid wood handle. Help children feel as useful as a grown-up to motivate them to start helping with the chores with this natural corn broom!

6. Child’s String Mop:

The perfect string mop for kids that even toddlers can use! Use this mop to clean up around the house. Featuring a solid wood red handle like the natural broom listed above, and a 100% cotton mop head that will last.

7. Natural Duster:

My daughter loves using this natural dusting tool! She is always making off with it to dust something, and I am happy to let her. It is made with 100% pure, premium-quality lambswool that contains natural lanolin that attracts and holds dust like a magnet!

Its light, fluffy dusting head is excellent for dusting picture frames, knick-knacks, and other delicate items without using cleaning chemicals. In addition, it is the perfect way to invite toddlers and preschoolers to help with the chores.

9. Swiffer Sweeper Wet & Dry Floor Mop:

These are awesome for kids! When we were on vacation last summer, the home we stayed in had a Swiffer wet-dry-mop available for guests. My daughter threw herself on the floor and had a fit whenever I tried to use it until I let her clean the floor with it. Yes, Really! I couldn’t believe it, but I wasn’t going to argue. I was more than happy to hand it over and let her have a go.

10. Stick Vacuum With Detachable Handheld Vacuum:

The Electrolux and similar lightweight vacuums are my favorite tools for quickly sweeping hardwood and kitchen floors. This device is my daughter’s favorite tool for helping Mama vacuum the house. All I have to do is get out my vacuum, and she goes and does the same. Monkey see monkey do–awesome!

As you can see in the photos below, we have an older model of this vacuum, and it does a darn good job! My daughter also likes to use it to clean up when she makes a mess. It has a 2-in-1 detachable handheld vacuum that she can use AND clean out all by herself after she finishes vacuuming! Thanks for teaching her how to do that, Dad. 🙂

best tools for kids - tools for raising helpers!

Real Children’s Tools for Helping in the Yard & Garden

Here are a few helpful tools children can use to help do chores in the yard and garden:

1. Soft Jersey Gardening Gloves:

These stretchable, breathable cotton gardening gloves feature a coordinating knit wrist to help keep dirt out and keep hands clean.

2. Mini Haws Watering Can:

Here is a miniature, well-balanced version of the classic Haws watering can, perfect for kids. My daughter LOVES watering and uses this for both indoor and outdoor plants.

However, I recommend gluing the removable brass-faced spout in place, or your child may lose it, as mine did! You can see it missing from her watering can in the photo collage featured above.

3. 5 Piece Children’s Garden Hand Tool Set:

Here’s a gardening kit for kids with hand tools that toddlers and preschoolers can use to help in the garden. It contains a spoon, a fork, a trowel, a rake, and a shovel. The tools are metal with wood handles and are fully functional. Older children can start using adult hand tools as soon as their hands fit around the handles and can use them effectively.

4. Standing Garden Tool Set for Kids:

This kid-sized set of sturdy standing gardening tools includes a shovel, a rake, a hoe, and a leaf rake. Each metal tool is attached to a solid wood handle so kids can help!

5. Push Broom:

The perfect-sized working push broom for your little helper to start sweeping up around the house, yard, and garage with Mom and Dad or Grandma and Grandpa!

6. Wheelbarrow for Kids:

Here is another one of my daughter’s favorite tools. This cute little classic red wheelbarrow by Radio Flyer is as functional as it is fun. It is a perfect wheelbarrow for little ones to haul their toys around or help with chores in the yard or garden. My daughter enjoys both activities wholeheartedly.

You can see her in the photograph below, helping with the chores, using her children’s wheelbarrow to move wood from Grandma’s truck to the woodpile in the backyard. She also enjoys using it to move her blocks to the back patio when she wants to build outside, to stroller her stuffed animals during her forays into imaginative play, and for several other creative uses.

7. All-Terrain Cargo Wagon For Kids:

I think Grandma loves this all-terrain cargo wagon as much as my daughter does. She is always borrowing it to haul something around in the yard and garden! We also love the all-terrain steel-and-wood wagon. Both are aesthetically pleasing and have many uses beyond the yard and garden, making them well worth the purchase price.

My daughter has the first wagon. It is all wood with removable sidewalls that come in handy. I also really love the second option because the wagon is metal with non-removable wooden sides. The suitable wagon for you depends on your needs and which features make the most sense for your family.

These excellent all-terrain little red wagons are perfect for hauling toys, tools, heavy plants, and equipment, bringing groceries in from the farmers’ market, going on trips to the park or beach, picking berries, or visiting the pumpkin patch!

Building & Construction Tools for Kids:

Here are a few kid-friendly construction tools for kids to help build things around the house and home:

1. Children’s Safety Goggles or Safety Glasses for Kids:

Safety goggles and safety glasses are not just for building and construction. They are also perfect for science projects and other activities, ensuring eyes are well-protected.

My daughter uses these for science projects, cooking, art, and woodworking. So if you have kids who are creative and love to be hands-on, I recommend one or both of these.

2. Hearing Protection for Kids:

This set of hearing protection earmuffs for children is fully adjustable to fit little ones comfortably while still fitting snug over the ears for superior protection against loud noises that can cause hearing damage. Even the lawnmower is too loud for young ears. This pair is so great, they even work for me!

Little ears are so sensitive. These are great for when the kids want to be outside with you while working with loud equipment such as lawnmowers, blowers, hammers, and skill or chop saws. We don’t allow our daughter to go outside with Dad or Grandma when they are working with loud equipment unless she wears these. If she doesn’t put them on or keep them on, she is sent back inside.

3. Children’s Work Gloves:

Protect your children’s hands while they’re working and playing with a pair of synthetic leather or work gloves for kids!

4. Children’s Tool Belt:

This genuine working adjustable tool belt for kids can be used for real work, helping with chores, DIY projects, and pretend play. Alternatively, get this same tool belt along with a kid-friendly tool set.

5. Real Tool Set for Kids or Children’s Tool Kit:

Give your children the gift of a basic toolset. This toolset for kids is designed for young children with smaller hands, while this toolset for kids contains everything a child might need for building and woodworking projects, including a fabric tool belt. Please note: These real tool sets for kids are not toys and should always be used under adult supervision.

6. Small Electric Cordless Drill:

While this drill is not intended for children, it is an actual electric, cordless drill that a well-supervised older child can safely use to learn how and practice drilling holes and screwing bolts.

Best Tools for Kids: Children’s Tools for Raising Helpers

When we encourage children to use real tools alongside us, we connect with them and teach them the skills they need to survive in life. When we slow down to let them try, make mistakes, and try again, something meaningful happens. Children start to see themselves as useful helpers, problem solvers, and valued members of the family or classroom.

It might take longer to guide them than it does for you on your own. Mistakes are likely to be made. The table may not be perfectly wiped, the garden rows may be a little crooked, but the pride on a child’s face is worth it every time. In time, these small acts of helping grow into habits of responsibility, confidence, and caring for others. As my daughter so beautifully demonstrates throughout this series of articles about raising helpers.

Eventually, without being asked, they’ll pick up a tool and begin working. Not because they have to, but because they want to. So, if you would like your Children to help with household, yard, and garden chores, get them kid-friendly tools for the home, yard, garage, and garden. Then guide them to use them by your side. Children want to be just like their caregivers, working and using tools. So give children the tools they need to become the helpers they were born to be!

Help your children develop the self-confidence and independence they need to start helping with the chores with the gift of real tools for children recommended by Waldorf and Montessori educators. For more information about raising children who help with household chores, don’t forget to pop over to have a look at the other articles in this series about raising helpful children below:

Raising Helpful Children Series:

Learn more about Nell Regan Kartychok, author and photographer of this list of kid-friendly tools HERE, and Rhythms of Play HERE!

Kid-Friendly Tools for Raising Helpers

Here’s a list of the most useful tools for Kids. Encourage children to start helping with household chores with these real tools for raising helpers!

Best Children’s Tools for Raising Kids That Help with the Chores

How Does Using Real Tools for Kids Benefit Child Development?

The Best Real Household Tools for Kids