Creative Homeschooling is...Thinking Out-of-the-Box!

Jun. 21, 2005

How to Make a Chore Board for Cheap!

Last week I was asked how to make a Chore Board that I referred to in one of my articles. Once we incorporated this type of chore system in our house, there was a significant decrease in episodes of wailing and nashing of teeth. Materials Needed: - Peg Board (can be found at hardware store) - Wooden Dowels (the size must fit snugly into peg board holes) - Carpenters Glue - Durable cardbord or plastic that can be cut (we used left over peel and stick vinyl floor tiles) - Hole Punch The chore board is simply a row of dowels (one row for each child) that are stuck into the peg board with the chores hanging from each dowel. The very first dowel of each row, should have a chore peice with the photograph (glued to it) of the child to indicate that is his row of chores. You will need to cut the dowels to aproximately 1 inch peices. Then, apply glue to the end of dowel, and stick the dowel peices into the pegs making a horizontal row for each child (you may need to tap in with a hammer); be sure to skip ever other hole to allow enough width for each hanging chore peice. The chore peices need to be cut into aprx. 2 in x 1 in. rectangles with a durable cardboard or vinyl substance (see above). Punch a hole on top of rectangle that is large enough to accomodate the dowel size. Each chore should be on one side of the chore peice. This can be done by either writing it, drawing a picture or both. For example, you  can write "top dishes" and draw a picture of a set of dishes to indicate the chore is to unload the top dishwasher, the word "bed" with a picture of a bed to indicate making their bed. Make as many chores as needed. When the day begins,  the chores are all exposed, hanging on the dowels. As the children complete the  chores, they simply flip them over to the back side to indicate that chore was completed. This system will do away with having to tell your children to do the same thing every day and the parent can visually see what has been done. For pre-school aged children that can't read, pictures such as a dog dish, bed or garbage can may be substituted for words. You can even cut pictures out of a magezine and glue them on the chore peices. There are certain weekly chores that get rotated between my boys at the beginning of each week. For instance, one gets the dog chore peice and the other gets the garbage chore peice to hang on his row for the week, When the first day of the week comes around, they simply switch those peices. No more confusion about who's turn it is to feed the dog this week! Example of some chore peices that we use: Bed, Dishes, Feed Dog (picture of our dog glued on), top dishes, bottom dishes, vacuum living room, bed, garbage, Extra Chore, dust, main bathroom, etc. Happy Helpers Help Make a Happy Family! Jennie von Eggers Co-Author of Times Tales www.TimesTales.com "Sign up for our FREE Creative Learning Newsletter!"

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