Chores4Kids Card — Feature Guide & How‑To 🧹👧👦

Warning

This card is no longer being updated in this repository.

The project has been moved into the integration, so the integration + card are now bundled as one package instead of two.

✅ Please use: https://github.com/qlerup/chores4kids

This repo is kept for historical reference / older versions only.

If you find this project useful, you can support me on Ko-fi 💙

Important: This card requires the Chores4Kids integration (custom component). Install and configure the integration first (via HACS or by copying custom_components/chores4kids/). The card will not work without it.

A powerful, family‑friendly Home Assistant card to manage kids’ chores, points, and a reward shop — all in one place. It supports an Admin view (for parents) and a Kid view (for each child), plus repeat/auto‑assignment and an optional point shop with advanced actions.

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What the card does (at a glance) 🧭

• Two modes: admin (parent) 🧑‍💻 and kid (child) 🧒.
• Children management: add, rename, remove, view points & pending approvals 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦.
• Task lifecycle: Assigned → In progress → Awaiting approval → Approved 🔄.
• Repeat & auto‑assign: plan which days tasks auto‑assign to a child 📅.
• Icon picker: choose Material Design Icons for tasks 🎨.
• Scoreboard: optional ranking of children by points 🏆.
• Reward shop: create items, upload images, set prices, and even trigger HA actions on purchase 🛍️⚙️.
• Multi‑language i18n: English, Danish, and several others built‑in 🌍.

Requires the chores4kids integration: the card reads sensors and calls services in the chores4kids domain. The points and task data live in HA entities (no local storage hacks). Without the integration, there are no entities/services for the card to use.

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Entities & data it expects 🧱

• Child sensors (one per child), e.g. sensor.child_* with attributes:

  • child_id, name, slug, tasks (array), and state = current points.

• Tasks sensor: sensor.chores4kids_tasks → attributes.tasks (the full task list).

• Shop sensor: sensor.chores4kids_shop → attributes.items, attributes.purchases.

The card automatically discovers these in hass.states and keeps track of their entity_ids.

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Admin mode (parents) 🧑‍💻

1) Children management 👶➡️👦

• Add child: type a name and click Add child ➕.
• Rename and Delete from the children table.
• Points tools: Add points ➕ and Reset points 🔄 when needed.

2) Create & edit tasks 📝

• Fields: Title, Points, optional Description, Icon (mdi:...), and Assign child.
• Use Icon picker to search/choose icons quickly 🔎🎯.
• Save to add, or use Edit to update existing tasks.

3) Task overview & approvals ✅

• Recent tasks list shows what’s happening now (with a Show all (… pending) button).

• For each task you can Advance status, or Approve when a child marks it done.

• Quick sections:

  • Unassigned tasks → bulk Assign.
  • Tasks per child → see live status per kid.

4) Repeat & Auto‑assign 🔁📅

• Pick days (Mon–Sun) to mark a task as repeating.
• Choose Auto‑assign (repeat) and select the default child for those days.
• Hit Save plan. The card sends chores4kids.set_task_repeat behind the scenes.

If Auto‑assign is active, manual assign is disabled for that task (you’ll see a helpful hint).

5) Scoreboard 🏁

• Toggle Scoreboard (via card config) to show a ranked list of kids by current points.

6) Reward Shop (admin) 🛒🎁

• Open the Shop Admin and create items with Title, Price, optional Image (upload), and Icon.
• Toggle Active to control visibility for kids.
• History shows past purchases with date/time.

Advanced shop actions ⚙️⏱️

Design rewards that do something in your smart home after purchase:

• Add Steps like:

  • Action → entity_service (pick entity, op = turn_on / turn_off).
  • Delay → seconds/minutes/hours.

• The card saves actions with chores4kids.update_shop_item. On purchase it runs them in order (e.g., turn on a switch, wait 30m, turn it off).

Example: “Xbox time 30 min” 🎮

1. Action: entity_service → switch.xbox, op: turn_on.
2. Delay: 1800 seconds.
3. Action: entity_service → switch.xbox, op: turn_off.

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Kid mode (children) 🧒

• Shows a kid‑friendly card titled Chores4Kids – {name}.
• Kids can Start a task ▶️, then Complete task when done ✅.
• When a task is Awaiting approval, it shows a badge and disables re‑submit to prevent spam ⏳.
• Open Shop lets them browse Active rewards, see prices, and Buy (only if they have enough points) 🛍️.

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Services the card calls (under the hood) 🛠️

• Child admin: add_child, rename_child, remove_child, add_points, reset_points.
• Tasks: add_task, delete_task, set_task_icon, assign_task, set_task_status, approve_task, set_task_repeat.
• Shop: add_shop_item, update_shop_item, delete_shop_item, upload_shop_image, buy_shop_item.

You’ll see smooth UI updates as the card reads from hass.states after service calls.

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Card configuration (examples) ⚙️

Admin view (show scoreboard):

type: custom:chores4kids-dev-card
mode: admin
show_scoreboard: true

Kid view (for a specific child):

type: custom:chores4kids-dev-card
mode: kid
child: "Emma"

If the child list is empty in the editor, you can type the name manually (the card will still find the child sensor by its slug/name once available).

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Task lifecycle in practice 🔄

1. Assigned 📌 → The task is visible and linked to a child.
2. In progress 🔧 → Kid tapped Start.
3. Awaiting approval 📨 → Kid tapped Complete task.
4. Approved 🥳 → Parent approves, points are awarded. (If Auto recycle approved tasks is on, it’ll get ready for next round.)

Other states you may see include Unassigned and Rejected (if a parent denies completion).

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Internationalization 🌐

• Built‑in translations include English and Danish, plus additional languages present for key UI strings (e.g., Swedish, Norwegian, German, Spanish, Finnish, Italian). The card auto‑localizes based on hass language.

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Tips & good practices 💡

• Keep points modest and consistent so kids stay motivated 🎯.
• Use icons to make tasks instantly recognizable 🖼️.
• Pair repeat + auto‑assign for daily/weekly routines 🗓️.
• Start simple in the Shop, then add Advanced actions as you go 🧪.

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Troubleshooting 🧰

• Child not found? Make sure the child sensor exists (with child_id, name, slug) and matches the card’s child config.
• No tasks appearing? Check sensor.chores4kids_tasks and that tasks have the expected fields (title, points, status, etc.).
• Shop empty? Ensure items are Active; kids only see active items.

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That’s it! 🎉

Enjoy a playful, structured way to build great habits — and make rewards feel magical ✨🏡.