If you follow me on Instagram (I’m jeannettg), you may have seen some unusual photos come through your feed last week.
You know, like a bowl of dog water.
A while back,when I first discovered the fabulousness that was Instagram, I made my non-reading boy a chore chart using photos of tasks I wanted him to complete.
It was a great idea, and he really took to it well.
But after a while, I needed to add a few more tasks to it and I needed to make one for Lucy.
But it was one of those things…I’ll do it later…tomorrow…okay, this afternoon…and on and on for months.
Which is ridiculous because it doesn’t take but an hour to snap the pics and throw them into a chart.
Want to know how to make one?
First, take pictures of the things you want your kids to do.
Like, feeding the cat you have since added to your household.
Because I am in no way, shape, or form feeding the cat.
I don’t even like the thing.
And straightening up the toys in your room.
This kitchen playset has been one of the best things we have ever given the kids.
The girls play with it daily.
Jilly plays with it appropriately and quietly for long periods of time.
Something she does with very few other toys.
But it also means kitchen pieces and fake food are strewn about their room.
And I’m really tired of picking them up.
I don’t know if brushing your teeth is really a “chore” per se, but it’s something that I am daily sending them back upstairs to do.
I thought maybe a sticker would help motivate them.
Because certainly my nagging isn’t doing the job.
Since Lucy is so young, she can’t do quite as many chores as her brother can, but I needed to fill in her chart a little to make it not look so bare.
So I added in simple tasks like picking up the throw pillows and putting them back on the couch.
Because they are always, always, always, ALWAYS on the floor in some manner of disarray.
And a three year old can at least get them up off the floor.
And straightening up the playroom was added to the list for both kids.
For obvious reasons.
Now, if you’d rather not bombard your insta followers with chore photos, you can set your PHONE SETTINGS to airplane mode. Snap your pictures, add filters, and hit submit just like you normally would.
It will give you an error message saying that picture didn’t upload, but it will still save to your camera roll with the filters. That way, you have instagramy looking pictures without actually having them in your feed.
Just be sure to take your phone off airplane mode when you are done.
Then I plopped the pictures into PowerPoint. For me, it’s just easier, but you could also do this in Word or even Photoshop or another photo editing thingy.
For some reason, I found PowerPoint easiest to make the pictures the sizes I wanted and use simple text boxes for the words.
Then I inserted a table with the correct number of rows and 7 columns (one for each day of the week). (In a PC it’s in the Insert pull down menu…table…and then enter the numbers. You can grab the sides and corners of the table to stretch it to the right size.)
Look at that.
Chalkboard paint.
Washi tape.
And Instagrams.
It’s like a walking advertisement for Pinterest.
I just need a recipe for an ooey gooey chocolate caramel million calorie thing, and a photo of a model in next to nothing for inspiration and I’d be golden.
But truly…the kids can see what needs done easily and they get goofy little stickers in exchange for their chores.
When I get the “but what do I need to do???” I just point to the chore chart.
I really like having this visual chore chart for my kids.
Do you do a chore chart? What does yours look like?
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Awesome!! “It’s like a walking advertisement for Pinterest?” You kill me.
P.s. Someone *super* smart must have given you that airplane mode tip….. :)
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You forgot burlap. Lol.
I do! I do! And I am soooo happy when I see other people who do, too. Mine are older, so we use myjobchart.com, which they like bc it gives them reason to get on the computer for a minute or two :). I have a huge chalkboard with their responsibilities (everyone’s are the same), divided by morning, afternoon, bedtime, and the responsibility for the day. They always refer to it to see if they’ve done everything….because everything must be done in order to turn on that pesky tv or to check it off online.
I’ve had to tweak here and there but it’s working for us :)
I love this! My (one and only right now) child is just under a year, but I really hope I remember this when he’s old enough to “get” it. SUCH a great idea.
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Thanks for the reminder that my 3yo can start doing some chores!! I’m all over this this weekend!
and that my friend, is brilliant! thanks for sharing the idea. : )
Hahaha – walking ad for Pinterest! And then someone mentioned burlap. Priceless.
We do we do! I love our chore JARS! Take a looksie at what I did to keep the chores rollin around our household:
http://littlewillowtree.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/a-no-worries-post-on-a-craft-gone-wrong/
I love your idea… so clever. Kids need visuals sometimes. Pictures are great so they can imprint on your kids’ brains to remind them of what to do, how to do it, and what it is supposed to look like! Good job!
Whoops! Wrong link! Ugh… I need sleep. Ok, here is the link to our chore jars!
http://littlewillowtree.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/decoupage-fabric-chore-jars-tutorial/
This is a cute idea! I hope it works :)
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I love your charts and the PowerPoint tips! I giggled with your “walking Pinterest ad”, the added burlap comment and thought, “and mason jars?” and Ashley Marie gave us her chore jar link!
My children are all older now and they felt that a picture chore chart was “too cutesy”, so my new chore chore is very simple with just words in a nice font and fits my kitchen color scheme. It’ll be interesting to see what new ideas you’ll use when you get that stage with your non-readers then!
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This is now my weekend project. Ive been exhausted from reminding the kids to get things done. The poctures work great for older kids too. Also love the sign in the bathroom. Thanks for sharing
I read your article through Simple Mom. Such a great idea! I have been making picture chore charts for my kids with clip art and it’s a struggle to find pics that the kids can understand what they mean. I never thought of taking my own pictures! Great idea! Thanks!
Do you print out a new one each week? Just wondering b/c my husband and I made chore charts and laminated them, thinking I would just peel the stickers off at the end of every week. That was such a pain. After a couple months of that, I decided to just draw smiley faces with a wet erase marker. It’s not as visually appealing, but I’d hate to be printing out new chore charts every week.
This was exactly what I was going to do this week. I have it done except for….everything. Well, I took the pics last weekend and I’ve yet to make the chart. I’m so bad at charts. Thanks for the reminder. Yours looks wonderful!
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Have come across from Simple Mom. I too was struggling to find clip art for my daughter’s morning routine chart so I hand drew some pictures for it. She was so unimpressed with my artwork but I know she will just love this! Thank you for sharing
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