Magnetic Chore Chart

Getting my older girls to do their chores is something that is no small feat.  I've tried incentives, check lists, daily schedules and lots of other things and nothing seems to work.  It's a major source of frustration for me.  I'm the sort of person who likes everything to be organized, so it bothers me when I see messes and disarray all over the place.

Over the past couple of months it's become evident that a new approach was needed.  Bryan and I have discussed the need to figure out what will work.  Essentially we needed something that is bright and attractive that screams "Pay attention to me!" in a fun and upbeat way.   Recently I was told that I needed to figure out what makes our girls tick and then leverage that to get them to do what they're supposed to do.  Consequences don't seem to phase the girls so that obviously doesn't work.  So we have decided that a chore chart that carries some sort of incentive or reward might be worth exploring.  I've seen a few different chore charts that interested me but usually there's only one or two elements that look like they'd work for us.

After a particularly trying week last week I realized that we really have to do something now if we don't want to have a miserable summer of me having to constantly tell my kids what to do and when to do it only to have them sporadically listen.  Do I sound frustrated?  I am.

I came up with the idea of a magnetic chore chart that would live in the kitchen.  I wanted magnets because I don't like the idea of having push pins with a toddler in the house.  So then I had to figure out how to accomplish a durable magnetic chore chart that would allow both girls to move their chores from a to do list to a completed list.  I wanted something visual so that I can take a quick glance and see what still needs to be done.

I decided that my oversized flower punch would be prefect for making cute little chore tags.  I wanted something that looked pretty so I used some pretty scrapbooking papers.  I don't have beautiful handwriting, so I opted to print the chores on clear mailing labels and cut them to fit on the flowers.   I then laminated them (for durability) and put adhesive magnet tape on the backs of the flowers.  I used more scrapbooking paper to create a name tag for each of the girls and tags for the "To do" and "Completed" sides of the chart.  I was torn on how to divide the chart in two.  I'm not a fan of permanently altering things so I decided that attaching grosgrain ribbon to a strip of adhesive magnet tape would do the trick.  I hate fraying ribbon so I added a bit of fray check to the ends of the ribbon to prevent unsightly fraying.  The magnet boards are lightweight enough that I can hang them with command adhesive strips.  Because we want to incorporate an incentive for doing their chores, I made a magnet clip that will hold a monthly reward chart.  The clip is simply a clothes pin painted to coordinate with the pretty papers I used for the chart.  I attached a bit of magnetic tape to the back of the clothespin.

So far the girls are responding well to the new system.  I suspect they'll be a bit more motivated once the reward charts arrive and they know what they can choose from as a reward for doing their chores.