While summer is carefree and fun, lately I’ve been feeling like most of my days are not so carefree. Or so fun. I’ve been spending most of my days yelling things like: “Enough fighting! Pick up those toys! Let go of your sister’s hair! Yes you ARE wearing that! Addison can “be” that princess if she wants to! Just put it on! Don’t make me ask you again! I thought I said to let go of her haaaaaiiirrrrrrr!!!” You get the point. We needed a little extra motivation around here. So…I made these fun Star Behavior Charts for the girls. There is a pocket for goals the girls are working on (these change weekly) and a pocket for rewards they get at the end of each week if they have most of their stars. I decided they get a pass on two stars since perfection is a bit much for a 3 & 5 year old.
I made two charts because sometimes the girls will be working on different goals and… well… because a fight over the one star chart would have completely defeated the purpose. :) The stars I cut from a bulletin board border I had from my teacher days and then I just drew a grid, laminated everything (I so love to laminate), and then cut the laminate to make a pocket for goals and rewards. The great thing with the rewards is that they are things we would have done anyway…a trip to SeaWorld, movie night with popcorn, the park, ice cream, etc. The girls decide what they want and then work for it all week. It’s nice each time I feel like screaming to simply state “if you keep this up you won’t get a star on your chart.” Kids calm down and I don’t worry about losing my vocal cords.
These are their charts after the first week (you can see that on Tuesday the fighting continued despite the charts…). Overall though, things went well and at the end of the week we had a fun family movie night with popcorn. They got all of their stars on week two so we spent last Saturday at SeaWorld. This week the girls are working towards a toy (a green monkey stuffed animal Ellie has had her eye on – to be exact). :)
A few days after enjoying their star charts, the girls decided they wanted to make one for me. I drew them a grid and they got to work decorating the chart. I asked Ellie what I needed to work on and she just said “it’s going to be REALLY hard mom.”
Oh you so went into your happy place with this one, didn’t you? Girl, you were made for this job!
Your charts turned out darling…and so You! I can see you still have the school teacher in you.
What a good plan to change the goals. And to let the kids choose the reward at the first of the week, so they know what they are working for….very cool.
Tell Ellie I will help her with some things mom can work on ;)
I think Martha Stewart has found her replacement!!! Very Cute!
Ok, CUTEST CHARTS EVER!!! I have been making charts for Pierson for about 3 years now, but they have never come close to being that cute! Now I’m going to have to re- think my chart making. And I can’t wait to hear what Ellie and Addie come up with for your chart!
I bet your girls just love them! I need to try something like this again. You just have to stick with it.
They are way cute, I hope they keep working!
I love this idea. My kids are driving me NUTS fighting lately…so I might have to copy this if you don’t mind.
OK – you have too much time on your hands sister. I am lucky to wash Claire’s hair at night and shave my legs once a week (er month)! You are Super Mom and I think you need more kids STAT! But come and visit me first and use some of your time to organize my life please. Starting with the kitchen pantry.
haha, that is too funny what your daughter said!
can’t wait to meet them!
Those are so cute. I really need a couple, but I am not as creative as you so… can I just put an order in! While you are at it, could you please build a Sea World in UT so I could got there on reward day too! ;o)
PS What did you think about SYTYCD? I LOVED it! She was my fav, how about you?
what are your jobs, mamma bear?
So cute! I have been thinking I needed to do something like this. . . I might have to copy you :) Way to go!!! Your kids are darling by the way! I am glad to see that my kids aren’t the only ones that act the way they do :)
Erin!!!! They were adorable :)
I love your charts and thanks for the great idea – I’m also slightly obsessed with laminating and I’ll be indulging my inner laminating freak.
i was SO made for all this cute organising :)
Searching for great behavior chart ideas for our 4 yr old daughter (also named Ellie!) and came upon your post. LOVE your charts! What material did you use for the “jobs” to allow for interchangeable tasks? And how did you adhere the velcro to the laminated chart for the stars to stick to? Thanks!
Hi JoLynn – The jobs are just written on paper and laminated. I didn’t mix them up too much at the time because my girls were so little when I made these charts. The stars had velcro on them and so does the actual chart. Velcro comes with two sides so I stuck one side on the stars and one side on the chart. Hope that helps! My girls loved these – they worked really well! :)
What size paper did you use for your charts?
I too would like to know what size card you used, I’m thinking A3, this is a perfect design as I have just gone out today and bought Velcro dots as had the same idea in mind, just couldn’t quite figure out what my chart would look like. I have just invested in a laminated but not yet used it, so I will be going mad this afternoon. Thank you for the story, you are awesome !
I am just wondering what your thoughts are on having rewards at the end of the day for earning maybe four out of the 5 stars, maybe all. I can see my son struggling to wait for the end of the week goal and giving up. I am thinking that he could earn something small each day for achieving his goals and upping the ante as he grows stronger in some of his goals.
I think that’s a great idea Amanda! You should definitely tweak things to make them work for you and your son! :) xo
I love this chart1 will make one for my 3 years old daughter!
Hi! I was wondering if the different color stars mean anything different? And what the goal line along the bottom means?
Thanks!
Kelly
I’m just coming across this, and hoping it might be a solution to some challenging behaviours we’ve been experiencing with our 3 year old! I noticed you started when your daughter was 3. Did you find that waiting until the end of the week made it difficult for her to stay motivated? I’m wondering if starting with a smaller, daily reward (ie. screen time, a food treat, activity of choice with mom and dad before bed) would work, and then transition to weekly?
Hi Aileen! Sorry I’m just seeing this! This is a post from way back. :) Yes! If your little one is only three I would definitely do a daily reward! Or even a small reward every 5-6 hours. Whatever seems realistic!