Easy "To-Do" Chart Magnets DIY

Georgia will be in first grade next year and over the course of the last year in kindergarten she's become accustomed to a pretty scheduled day--and really likes it.  And in all my years in education I'll tell you that for the most part--all kids like some structure and consistency and scheduling; no matter what they tell you.  They like it.  It feels safe, and expected, and calm, and anticipatory.

I fully embrace the loveliness of summer with its lazy mornings, pool days, ice-cream truck treats on the lawn, and late nights playing in the yard….but I also know that we need a little structure, albeit loose, to these days or we all start to climb the walls a little bit.

I've seen a lot of ideas for 'chore charts,' and so many of them are really cute, but they also require quite a bit of work and DIYing.  I'm not afraid of that but because I knew Georgia would be handling this chart in that she would move her items from the 'to-do' list to the 'done' list it needed to be pretty durable and not fussy.

I used the Beautfiul Mess app to create my 'pictures' on my phone because they have great backgrounds, fonts, and little doodles, e-mailed them all to myself (you could also post them all to Instagram and save yourself a step), and then printed them using Sticky 9; a website that turns your instagram pictures into magnets.  Sticky 9 will let you upload pictures from your computer--which I did--or it can pull directly from your Instagram account.  I chose the bigger option for my magnets--they come in two sizes.

The gist of this is pretty simple.  There are a bunch of things we CAN get done in a day and some things that I want done in a day.  It's your choice.  When she completes the things I really want her to get done (making her bed, brushing her teeth, picking up clothes off the floor, practicing piano, doing a summer smart page, and reading two books) she can earn something I know she really likes to do.  If she completes more things she can earn more down-time activities.  And I'm pretty loose about it.  This isn't meant to strong-arm our summer days.  Just to give us a loose outline and make sure it's not noon and we've done nothing but watch Peppa Pig (which is hands down my new favorite kids show).

And now--we're off to the pool!  Enjoy this Tuesday!