small Matters Learning

Create a To-Do List for Kids with Google Sheets

3–4 minutes
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Turn a Google Sheet into an interactive tracker to help kids accomplish everything from daily chores to long-term school projects independently.

The What

The Why

Maybe we’re nothing alike, you and I. Maybe you’ve never walked into a dark bathroom and immediately turned your ankle on a kid’s soggy towel. Maybe said progeny hops up after every breakfast and puts their rinsed-off plate in the sink. Maybe your homeleavings never include math folder U-turns. Maybe you, yourself, don’t have memories of being a kid needing a million reminders because your mind was busy building worlds and forgot about the trash.

If however, some of these ring bells, may I begin by extending my commiserations. How many times, after all, can the human psyche endure reminding a tiny version of one’s self to flush the toilet, wash their hands, turn off the light? I’m not personally aware of any studies investigating the long-term effects of doing this every day multiplied by every kid multiplied by every pop to the loo, but I imagine the toll is quantifiable and the metric could be a ratio of preferred coffee temperature to actual coffee temperature.

Enter Google Sheets

If you’re tempted to think this is where our paths diverge, a word of encouragement: spreadsheets aren’t actually as complicated as they seem. I’ve been able to learn how to use them by trial and error and the UNDO button is always only a click away. To save you the trouble, however, I’m going to share a list of the steps below as well as a brief video tutorial on how to build a to-do list like you see above. One caveat: Although Google Sheets is a free app, you really do want a full size keyboard to construct and perform quick edits on one of these files after you make it. Your kids can use the sheet on a cheap tablet though.

The How

  1. Create or open your Google account and start a new Google Sheet in your Drive. Steps 2–7 in video below.
  2. Using one cell per item, type out a list of things your kid needs help remembering. Daily self care. Chores. School work. Steps of a big project. Whatev’s.
  3. Look back through items for where you can use fewer words, ESPECIALLY by swapping out words for emojis. Kids dig ‘em!
  4. Create a drop-down menu next to each item based on your kid’s needs. Because we use this daily, I use “Not Yet”, “Not Today”, and “Done” to create flexibility on the days when something doesn’t apply.
  5. Create conditional formatting on the cells containing the drop-down menu to give kids visual cues. For instance, my “Not Yet” is attention arresting red, my “Not Today” is neutral white, and my “Done” is green because is there a happier color? Of course not!
  6. If you want them to stay off your device, share this file to your kid’s email in “Can Edit” mode so they can open it on their own device and edit it by utilizing that drop-down function to give themselves “Done’s” or — as The Office obsessed parents in this house call them, “Dundies”.
  7. Check their list as often as necessary from any device — anywhere in the world! — because you can both be in this file at the same time. I check it on whatever device I’m using throughout the day. Then each night after bedtime, switch daily tasks back to “Not Yet” using drag down to save time.
  8. (optional) If you happen to have an Apple TV device, you can screen-share this list onto the BIG screen during morning or evening routines for added attention keeping.

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