When The Toys Are Not Picked Up

What do you do when the toys aren't picked up? I found this great idea on Pinterest from Just Another Day In Paradise.

We call it the chore box. They have regular chores they have to do daily but the idea with this bin is that when they leave their toys lying around even after being asked to pick them up they lose them. Into the bin they go until they 'ransom' them with extra chores. 

I made a list of chores, cut them into strips, laminated them, made a simple pocket labelled "Uh Oh Chores" and taped it to the bin. These chores are things like wipe down kitchen cupboard fronts, run around the house 3 times, clean around the kitchen trash can, wipe down bathroom sink and countertop, and other such things.

It works pretty well when I put the effort in to use it. It's probably time to crack down again. I like that it's a simple, straightforward consequence, easy to use and very helpful to me!

I apologize for the dark pictures. :(

Want to make chores more fun? There's an app for that.

Chore Cards byAppDads.com

This wonderful gem of an idea is what I use for organizing kids chores. It makes it easy for me to assign them and the kids LOVE that they get to use my iPod to scan the QR code on each chore as they finish.

The app comes with chores loaded in it and you can pick the ones you want included for each kid. You just keep track of things in the app and manually swipe them over to the 'pocket' on the bottom right or you can print the cards out. They fit perfectly on Avery business card paper. I had some from a long time ago just hanging around so I used them, but you could use regular card stock.

The cards it comes with are definitely little kiddish and are missing quite a few of the ones I wanted so I made up custom ones right in the app. All you need is whatever picture you want to use on the custom card.  We use a combination of the two. They have boy tigers and girl tigers and they are pretty cute. 

  

I quickly made these simple card holders from coloured paper and cut up hockey card holders and they're working out great. The top one holds the extra chores, the other two Petunia and Ironman's chores for the day. They have before school, after school and done slots. They put the ones they've scanned in the done slot white side facing out. 

The funny thing about the AppDads site is they don't give you any ideas about how to use the cards once they're printed. I would like to know where they keep them or if they're up in some kind of chart in their homes.