Saturday, September 8, 2007

I'm Bringing Back the Treasure Box!!! Hip Hip Hooray!!!!

Okay, here is a new activity that we are going to incorporate into our routine. We are bringing back the Treasure Box - but a little differently.

In the past, we had a Treasure Box, and everything in it had a price (5 tickets, 10 tickets, 15 tickets, etc. - mult. of 5) The girls earned their tickets by completing tasks, and certain behaviors:

One Ticket
  • Help set table
  • Help clean up food and dishes
  • Clean up toys without being told
  • Only need to be given instructions once
  • Do good work in school
  • Complete daily chores
  • Do not ask for anything while shopping

Two Tickets

  • Get ready without being told (get dressed, make bed, brush teeth)
  • Mommy or daddy get a compliment on your behavior from an adult
  • Say something nice to everyone in the family to make their day brighter
  • Memorize a new memory verse or Bible book group
  • Complete weekly chores

Three Tickets

  • Go through entire day without arguing with mommy or daddy or fighting with sister
  • For Alea, read a book (10 or more pages) to mommy or daddy
  • For Kasi, learn to write a new word, and it's meaning

They would also lose a ticket for arguing, fighting, saying something mean, leaving toys out after being told to pick up, telling a lie, or using a whiny voice.

At the end of the week, they could go shopping in the treasure box with their tickets. They had the option of buying a bunch of cheap stuff or saving up for big items. It was really a great lesson.

It worked pretty well.......until the sibling fighting really kicked in. It got too hard to keep up with the tickets they were losing. I abandoned it until their attitudes got better.

So, that's the history. Here is the new plan.

I am adapting an 'activity box' from a boredom box idea submitted to Family Fun magazine by Suzette Garvey of Grand Rapids, MI (thanks Suzette!). We are going to have different colored cards in the box for different categories, kind of like in Trivial Pursuit. I will have different activities for them to complete on each card. For example, on a Geography card, I may tell them to go locate Belize on the globe, and using our books and/or the Internet find one interesting fact to tell me. For math, I may ask them how many sides is in a hexagon, and find something in the house that has the same number of sides. I will put easier stuff on the lined side (that is my 5 year old's side) and harder stuff on the blank side (my 8 year old's side). I even got some books with mazes, puzzles, facts, and brain teasers for their activities to make them more interesting.

They will earn tickets for correctly completing activities. Then they get to shop from the treasure box. I know it is going to take a lot of planning, but I think it will be worth it. I told the girls that it may take me a week or two to get it up and running, and they are super excited. I'll let you know how it turns out. And, hey, if anyone has ideas to throw into our activity box, I would love to hear them.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Natalie! I happened by here following a link from Lindsay's blog! I stopped and commented because I found a kindred spirit....I loved the treasure box story.

When my oldest 3 where elementary students (they are 32, nearly 30, and 29 now!) I wanted to come up with an incentive plan, too. I thought it would be fun to have my own "game show" so I cut out little "doors" on a piece of poster board and sealed them with stickers. On the flap I had numbers, some smaller, some large. I glued individual cards behind each flap and on each one was written something I knew they really wanted to do, have breakfast at the local diner alone with dad, call a friend long distance, choose the movie for family night, etc. They earned their "money" to purchase a door by doing chores, cooperating with schoolwork, etc. It was a huge hit.

You have lots of creative ideas here...I will be back to browse!

koinonia community said...

Cool idea thatmom! And thanks for stopping by.