I know these have been done to death, but I needed to find something that would work with my kids and I think this just might be it.The paper charts we were using before would get convienently lost. Then I would hear, “what day do I do the dishes?”, “I didn’t know I had to empty the garbage”, “no, I don’t do that on tuesday, I do it on wednesday”. Really!
My kids are older (the youngest is almost 7), so I don’t need a cutsie chart any more. I made the chart using different fonts for each child: Modern No. 20, Wingdings, Kristen, Lucida Calligraphy, Bradley Hand, Bookmark Old style, Comic Sans. And different colors for each child too: Red, Lime, Orange, Aqua, Plum, Light Blue, Black.
Before I could put it all together, I sprayed the whole frame black because I didn’t like the gold trim around the inside of the frame. It took 4 coats of paint to make the gold disappear.
While the paint was drying, I cut the scrapbook paper to size, to be used as the mat.
Then I cut the chore chart a little smaller than the scrapbook paper.
Glued the 2 pieces of paper together and then slipped it into the frame.
I used the Command strips to hang the chart where the kids would have to walk past it at least 20 times a day.
And I made sure to use the level while hanging it. The Command strips are very forgiving though. If you’re off a little, it’s easy to adjust by just realigning the hook and loop a little.
It hangs on a wall in the mudroom (nope, I haven’t finished the room yet). The dry erase marker just sits on top of the frame.
As they do their chores for the day, they mark them off the chart. You can use the dry erase marker directly on the glass. It wipes right off and is ready for the next week. Now if I get asked if they can play, I ask them if their boxes are all marked off for that day. It’s that easy! And I hope it works.
