A Sticker Chart for a New Year
My focus for the year is to get more organized. This “organized” is all encompassing, including organizing the things in my home, my scheduling with a better routine, and my mindset as a mom. The “mindset as a mom” is a big one for me as I have often felt recently like I am always catching up instead of being ahead of the kids’ new transitions and phases. As a result, I am wanting to do more intentional parenting this year so that I can feel more on top of what my kids are going through and have a more smooth ride through each phase.
Lately, Sophie has been as curious as ever and testing more and more with each new day. It is sometimes hard to remember that just as I am learning everyday more of how to be a mom, she is learning how to go about life and how to grow and develop through different stages of life. And with that comes a lot of frustration and days filled with “No”. I was tired of having the same day over and over again and not doing anything to make a change.
Sophie has been very into stickers recently! She loves to make cards with stickers to send to her cousins and she loves to put stickers on her shirt. I decided to take this new interest and match it with something to encourage good behavior- A Sticker Chart! It is so simple to make and, so far, quite effective!
Here’s what I did…
- Choose your categories – Find a few tasks that your child can work on where you know they will be able to have some success. This is important for them to understand the concept of the sticker chart and to feel encouraged to continue good behavior after they get rewarded.
- Find a few pictures for each category that can be a visual for that behavior.
- Make the chart – You will need cardboard, a sharpie, a straightedge, and your printed photos. You can get creative here but I chose to use a simple grid! I also used the apps PicStitch and Fonta to create a collage and label for each category.
- Buy fun stickers that your child will love seeing up on the chart – Sophie is very into Frozen right now so she loves picking those for her chart.
- Put the chart somewhere that your child can see throughout the day! And, get ready to encourage the good behavior that comes with the excitement of seeing the stickers on the chart.
