Today I am sharing part 2 on how we assembled our DIY Kids Chore Charts. If you missed part 1 on how the system works go here.
SUPPLIES:
- Cardstock for printing
- Computer for finding images
- Printer
- popsicle sticks for prizes
- velcro sticky tabs (I used over 65 for my sons chart alone)
- laminator (or take it to staples)
- pencil
- sharpie
- ruler
First off determine what kind of theme you want. For my son's first chore chart, we chose a barn theme. We chose about 7 or 8 farm animals and decided their goal would be to make it into the barn. As my son has gotten older, his interests have changed and so we switched to a new theme, dinosaurs. He decided their goal would be to make it to the volcano. He also toyed with the idea of ocean creatures trying to make it back to the ocean. For my nieces, they love strawberry shortcake and princesses so we chose strawberry shortcakes home, and a princess castle as their goal destinations. Be creative, look at your child's interests. You could do sports theme, animal themes, cars, etc.
After deciding on a theme, we went to the internet where you can find lots of free images to use for personal use. I let my son go and select various types of dinos he wanted to use and I then uploaded and resized them in photoshop to print. (or you can use free editing software) We also found a volcano he loved that would be his goal area for his dinos. You will also want to choose an image to use on the front of your daily and weekly rewards so you can keep them straight. For our dino theme, we used a palm tree for daily rewards and a volcano for weekly rewards. If you don't want to print images...you can look at your local craft store and find die-cuts or stickers to use by mounting them on cardstock and continuing on the process.
For the girls charts, we did a similar process of finding figures they liked and wanted to use. For strawberry shortcakes daily rewards it was an image of a strawberry and weekly rewards it was the house.
Princesses had a crown for daily rewards and the castle for the weekly reward.
If you cannot find free images that will work with your theme, you can look at stock images or photos to purchase. This gets pricey though!
To make the grid chart, we got 12x12 sheets of paper and measured them out according to how many tasks we would need to fit. For my sons, I had to trim the side and attach it to the bottom to make it long enough to fit the designated amount of weekly chores I wanted to use.
My sister was able to fit hers on the 12x12 paper which worked great because she was them able to attach it to a file folder with the chore chart grid on one side, and the goal on the other. So long story short...you'll have to figure this out on your own based on your amount of chores! We found it easiest to just draw on the grid using a sharpie and a ruler. :)
After we had all our images selected, we put them on an 8.5 by 11 sheet of paper and resized them all to fit into the chart (grid chart where figures will move forward each day) we drew by hand. We had to make sure the figures would fit into the spaces on the page. We also printed out the volcano, castle, and house on an 8.5 by 11 sheet as well.
Once we had them all printed(figures, goal sheets, rewards), we cut them out. At this point you will write on the back of the weekly and daily rewards cards.
You will also want to determine what the chores on the chart will be. I typed mine up and printed them out so that I could change them out on the chart as necessary. (Some weeks my son may need to work on no tantrums...maybe some weeks eating his veggies at dinner!) After you have all your pieces ready to go you will laminate it all so it can stand the wear and tear of daily use.
For the daily and weekly rewards we taped them onto popsicle sticks to make them easy to fan out and select for the children. For the rest of the pieces we bought sticky velcro tabs to attach to the chores, figures, and their spots on the charts and goal sheets. We had to let the velcro set on the laminated charts or else the velcro will just rip off. Also, still be careful since the velcro is such a shiny surface you can easily rip off the velcro if your not careful. And there you have it, super fun customized cute chore/behavior charts.
Go check out Part 1 to learn how this system works.
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