As the days continue to warm up, the summer heat can decrease motivation, making us all a bit more tired (and irritable!). This week, we’ve uploaded a FREE printable and editable Choice Board as well as a FREE printable and editable Chore Chart to help increase motivation.
Choice Boards are a great tool for younger children, children with lower verbal skills, and/or children who have difficulty initiating a shift or change of activity. A choice board is a great resource to use when motivation is low, because it requires little effort from the child. When your child, or the child you are working with, seems to lack motivation, whether it’s because they are tired, ill, overstimulated, ect, a choice board is a quick, effective tool to help them shift.
You are welcome to download the Choice Board here, and edit it to fit your child’s own needs/wants. After printing the Choice Board, take some time to teach your child how to use it. Have all of the “choices” available and pair the actual item with the image/word on the Choice Board. Model, pointing to Legos on the choice board, then present the Lego blocks and play with them.
*Note: Although this is a good tool to use when your child is tired/overstimulated, the ideal time to teach the Choice Board will be when your child seems calm and playful. Presenting a new material may have aversive effects if the child does not understand how to use it yet.
Chore Charts are a great tool for school aged children, who are able to, or working on, independently managing a short schedule. Chore Charts can be helpful anytime of the year, and can be especially helpful during Summer Break. Chore Charts can help add structure to our sometimes seemingly unstructured summer schedules. Additionally, they provide a visual reminder of things that need to be done. The expectations are clear. Completion of the Chore Chart should receive, at the very least, verbal praise, “Good job! You did all your chores!” Eventually, the child may earn opportunities to go to the pool if they complete their chart 3 days in a row, or see a movie if they complete their chart for a full week. The reinforcer (thing they earn) would depend on what is motivating to the child and what the caregiver is able to provide.
In the Chore Chart created here we also left a blank space for chores that need to be done more sparingly, not necessarily daily. You could remove the blank space if that is not helpful, or you could keep it and occasionally add an extra chore (and work on flexibility!). Depending on the flexibility of the child, you may need to add an extra chore less often, or work together with the child to agree on one day of the week that they will do one extra chore. Be sure to talk to the child about the added chore and why it’s important, so that they are not surprised/frustrated when they see it on their chart.
Click the Links below to access a FREE printable and editable Choice Board as well as a FREE printable and editable Chore Chart.
ChoiceBoardTemplate
Chore Chart
