With summer here and my kids out of school, it felt like a great time to make a job board. Hooray for kids helping! I've been thinking now for several weeks about what I wanted from a job board.
Here's my criteria:
- Something that my kids can use all by themselves and will work for all of their ages. check
- Durable, must be able to take some abuse and last for more than one summer. check
- Adaptable, so that I can easily switch job assignments around. check
- Fit in with my decor, it will be hanging in my kitchen. check
- Teach my kids that satisfaction comes from a job well done. coming along...
The quote is: Nothing will work unless you do. ~ Maya Angelou
*My kids names are stenciled on the board in the same color as the quote where you see 'name' in the photos.
Please try to ignore my editing job!
Photo 1: Cut a board to the length that you need for the amount of hooks you want to use. This board is a pre-cut 6"x36" high quality pine craft board from Lowes that I cut down to 17" long. Mark and pre-drill the holes for the hooks. I drilled 6 holes on the bottom even though I'm only using 4 of them for now.
Photo 2: Paint the board however you like. I stained it with dark walnut first and then painted over it and distressed it.
Photo 3: Tip: If you want to spray paint the hooks, push them into a piece of cardboard first. (They are painted oil rubbed bronze.)
Photo 4: I used my Silhouette to cut out a stencil from contact paper. I read this tip at Shanty 2 Chic and it works like a charm! Click here for their tutorial. You could also use stamps like Layla at The Lettered Cottage used.
Photo 5: Stick the contact paper stencil to the board and paint over it. It doesn't take a lot of paint. Peel off the stencil when the paint is dry to the touch and then lightly sand over the quote when it's completely dry.
Photo 6: Spray with a clear acrylic sealer if you'd like and then screw the hooks in.
This is the first time I've stenciled a quote, so I made some mistakes, but even so, I love the look and had so much fun making it!
Each of my kids has their own hook for their jobs for the day. When they finish the job, they move the card to the hook below their name.
The jobs hanging from the hook on the left are extra jobs, things they can do for video game, computer, and movie time. Oh yes, at our house they get to earn it! However, there is no need to do extra jobs to play outside, make a craft, read, build Legos.......see how this works? ;)
The cards on the right are jobs that don't need to be done every day, but will be assigned as needed. There are also some fun cards like 'make a dessert with Mom', 'make a craft', etc. on that hook. Each week I'll switch the cards and they'll have a different room that they are assigned to clean.
The cards on the right are jobs that don't need to be done every day, but will be assigned as needed. There are also some fun cards like 'make a dessert with Mom', 'make a craft', etc. on that hook. Each week I'll switch the cards and they'll have a different room that they are assigned to clean.
It only takes a few minutes each night to take a look around the house, decide what needs to be done the next day, and re-hang the cards. Jobs that are theirs to do, but don't need to be done every day (like vacuuming their bedroom and folding their clothes) are left down on the finished hook on the days that they don't need to be done.
My four year old doesn't read yet, so I made picture cards for him. He can look at the picture and know what he needs to do without me telling him to--I can't tell you how nice this is! All of the clip art is free from Microsoft.
I used a table in Microsoft Publisher to make the cards, which were printed onto photo paper (card stock will work too) and laminated for durability. (Update: Regular printer paper may work the best when laminating the cards. I've learned that sometimes the lamination seal isn't as durable with thicker papers.) Click here for a great tip on laminating. The font is called 'Batik Regular'. There are also a few cards that are blank that can be written on with a dry erase marker for one-time jobs. If you don't want to make cards, you could also buy stringed [price] tags at an office supply store and write the jobs on them.
Update: I thought of as many jobs as I could come up with for tags
and then typed them into a printable template to share.
This template can be re-sized.
*Print the template as an 8 x10 or open it in an editing program and then insert a table over it.
Size it to the template then type in each job or add clip-art and print.
Another plus in using cards is that you can personalize them to each child. If you have a child that has a hard time remembering what they need to do to get ready for school in the morning, it might help them if you make a card for each task and then put them in order on the hook.
We've used this job board for a week now, and it's been wonderful! My four year old gets up in the morning and does his jobs without even being asked (gasp) because he can do it all on his own. I'm crossing my fingers that it will last!
*My Mom made a board similar to this one for our family when I was young that we used for years. I remember checking my tags to see what my jobs were each day and the feeling of relief I had when I moved the last tag to the bottom hook. It taught me the value of a job well done and I'm so grateful (anyway now, probably not so much back then) to my parents for taking the time to teach me how to work.
*My Mom made a board similar to this one for our family when I was young that we used for years. I remember checking my tags to see what my jobs were each day and the feeling of relief I had when I moved the last tag to the bottom hook. It taught me the value of a job well done and I'm so grateful (anyway now, probably not so much back then) to my parents for taking the time to teach me how to work.
Whew! That's a lot of information, but I didn't want to leave anything out.
If you have any questions, comments, or tips, I'd love to hear them!
