kid charts
she's a beautiful mom and friend and walks beside me in loving our church and city. welcome bea moraza as she shares a great idea for making family life all the better!
I just love the satisfaction of checking off a to-do list, and apparently, so does my three year old (Honor). A few months ago I decided to implement a “task chart” in order to give structure to Honor’s day, and in order to help me keep my sanity. A new addition to our family (now 6 month old Noble) sparked the change. With a new baby on the scene I needed something to help our days run more smoothly. I have to say it has worked out great for us. We went from chaos to controlled chaos; which is a significant improvement.
Honor enjoys the structure the task chart provides. He knows what to expect in his day. More importantly, it gives him a sense of responsibility and accomplishment, which being a 3 year old (who thinks he’s 13) is a big deal. Another bonus has been that it has eliminated the constant, “What can I do now, Mom!” In fact, he actually helps keep us on track throughout our day together.
Once I got the idea to create the task chart I began to search for the best system to use. I started looking online for charts to buy but couldn’t justify the price for the product. So, I decided to go the DIY route. I did a little research and found ideas that were simple and cost effective. So here goes …
Dollar Store Items:
Cookie sheets
Clear accent gems (found in their home décor section)
Craft Store Items:
Gorilla glue (any kind of super glue would work)
Magnets
Had on hand or borrowed items:
Chalkboard paint
Mod podge
Chalk
The cookie sheet serves as the magnetic board. I painted it with two coats of chalkboard paint. I initially had my husband drill two holes at the top because I thought I would hang it with ribbon. But I changed my mind and opted to use command strips.
For the images on the magnets I found some free printables online that worked perfect for the size of the flat marbles I used. The link is below:
http://cornerstoneconfessions.com/2012/06/kids-routine-chart-and-printables.html
I cut out the pictures that I wanted to use and mod podged them to the back of the clear beads (did this during a girls craft-night). Once that dried I super-glued the magnets to the back and weighed them down with a heavy book (did this during nap-time).
Finally, wrote Honor’s name on the chart and made two separate columns.
Ta-da!!!
I place about seven tasks for him to do in the mornings and switch them out during his nap. This keeps it from becoming too overwhelming for him. Honor looks forward to moving the magnets each day. He gets his chores done, his lessons get done, and once all of the magnets are moved to the “done” side he knows he can move on to fun stuff.
The chalkboard also works well on days that are not so
“routine.” For example, when we go on trips I can write out what we need to do and he gets to cross it off with the chalk.
The task chart would work well for any age. As I mentioned before, who doesn’t love checking off that “to-do” list?