Hello!
I'm sure I'm not the only mother out there that struggles to get her kids motivated around the house or in my case just to get out of the house in the morning. Lately it seems to be becoming more and more apparent that I'm fighting a losing battle. And for someone that likes to be on the winning side of things I knew we had to make a change.
Enter in the Chore Chart. Now I should mention before we get underway that not one single thing on this chore chart is new to them. These are simply just day to day tasks that have become a stress in the flow of our everyday lives. I know that's maybe not how a conventional chore chart works but I'm hoping that if we can get the everyday routine sorted out then we can build up to more.
The boys are 6 and 4 right now and even though Griffin is quickly learning to read, I thought it might be easier to begin with a picture chart system for Sawyer's sake. I found a great one on
Susan Fitch's blog - it has four pages of possible chore illustrated pictures that can be cut out for your current needs. LOVE IT! This way as the boys grow I can add to the list easily.
For the setup of the chore chart I wanted something fairly simple that would make sense to both boys. I knew I wanted the whole week included and I wanted it magnetized so I could easily change up the tasks when needed and the boys could "check off" the tasks without the need for pen and paper.
My husband cut two piece of thin sheet metal approximately 12" x 18" and folded the edges back to make everything safe. An alternative I found along my Pinterest travels was a large cookie sheet.
I divided the chart into 7 rows and 9 columns, leaving a larger space at the top of the chart for the chore illustrations and their names. I found the best solution for marking out the squares was to use colored Sharpie pens but I think Washi Tape would have been a fantastic alternative! After marking out the chart I printed and cut out the chore illustrations I needed for each boy onto Whisper White card stock and glued them into place over its assigned column using Tear & Tape adhesive. I organized the columns so that the chores ran from morning to night order.
Then came the fun part! I cut the first letters of each weekday from the Little Letter Thinlits and glued those down the first column. I then cut out the letters to spell each boys name and the word "chores" and glued those along the top edge of the chart.
To make the Task Completed markers I stamped a small image (different for each boy) from the Dear Hearts Photopolymer set onto Whisper White card stock, colored it in with Blendabilties markers, and punched the images out with a 1-1/4" circle punch. I then glued each circle onto small magnets I picked up at the Dollar Tree with a hot glue gun.
To finish the charts off I stamped each boy one of the images from the Dear Heart set that reminded me of them and colored them to match their hair color. I added the round frame around each and punched them out before gluing into place in the upper left hand corner of the chart.
We hung the charts just off our kitchen so they can be a constant reminder and easy to check. We'll see how it goes! We've promised them a week of completed tasks will lead to an ice cream out; it's something we very rarely do so I think it will be a great incentive and motivator!
Sorry for the poor picture quality - the metal is so reflective I just couldn't get a good angle to shoot from!
We've only just begun using the charts so we'll see how we're managing in a couple weeks time. This could go exactly as I have pictured or I might be leading us down the path of even more stress...I'll keep you updated. Until then...pray for me (LOL).
Have you used chore charts in the past? I'd love to hear your ideas on how to keep the kids motivated!
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