Reward Charts for Children

Reward charts are a great way to encourage independence and cooperation and to establish good habits in young children. They work on the premise of positive reinforcement. The child completes tasks, and is rewarded by a small token on the chart. After a specified number of tokens are earned, the child is given a predetermined reward.

I talked to moms who use reward charts. Most people I talked to have used charts for chores and potty training. Most of these moms have rewarded their children when the entire chart is filled up. My friend Stacy uses a chart with her son, and for each token he earns, he receives 10 minutes of video game time.

Some ideas for rewards are:

• video game, computer, or TV time
• a trip to the dollar store or toy store
• getting a pet, which will ultimately become an item for the chart
• a special treat, like a trip to the ice cream store or the skate park

Making a chart is easy. I made this chart for my five-year-old son. I chose a space theme because he loves outer space.

For this project, you need the following:

• an old cookie sheet
• spray paint- I used Krylon paint, which dries in 10 minutes or less
• 1 sheet 12" x 12" patterned paper, more if cookie sheet is large
• 4-5 sheets 8 ½" x 11" cardstock
• assorted stamps, inks, markers, stickers, die cuts, or other embellishments
• tools: corner rounder, Crop-o-dile, 1 inch square punch
• 1 package adhesive-backed magnetic strips

Instructions:

1. Spray paint the cookie sheet. Allow it to dry.
2. Cut patterned paper ½" smaller than the flat part of the cookie sheet. Use a corner rounder to round the edges. Adhere to the cookie sheet.
3. Cut a strip of cardstock 1 ½" x 11". Use letter stickers, stamps, or die cuts to make a title. Round the edges if desired. Adhere to the cookie sheet.
4. Cut cardstock strips to 1" x 3". Adhere to the left-hand side of the cookie sheet.
5. Decorate as desired.
6. Use a Crop-o-dile tool to punch two holes along the top of the cookie sheet. Use a length of ribbon to create a hanger. Alternatively, you could use magnets along the back of the sheet and hang it on your refrigerator.

To make the tokens, I created 50 stamped 1" squares, called "inchies." To make them:

1. Cut strips of cardstock, 1 ½" wide .
2. Stamp your design as many times as you can along the strip. It does not matter if your stamp is larger than 1"; just stamp the part of the image you want. For mine, I liked the robot's face and upper body.
3. Use a 1" square punch to punch the part of the image you would like for your token. I used a Fiskars punch, which is designed especially for this purpose. You can use any punch, however: just flip it over so you can see where you are punching.
   
   
   
   
4. Color in your images as desired. I used markers to color mine in.
5. Cut a small piece of magnetic strip and adhere to the back of each token.

For the tasks, I chose a coordinating sheet of cardstock, stamped them, and wrote in the tasks. I then used the magnetic strip on the backs.

We have been using this chart for about a week in our home. So far, it has improved my son's cooperation. He really enjoys getting the robot tokens, and for him, it is enough of a reward, at the moment. After he masters this set of skills, he is going to get a pet goldfish.

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