In an effort to help keep myself and my kids focused and productive throughout the day, I designed an
activity chart for each of my older children. My daughter chose a
butterfly theme and my son asked for a firefighter theme. I'm happy to share these resources with you. Today I will post the fire engine chart pages. Click the link to find the
butterfly chart pages in my previous post.
[Some of the information in this post has been copied from the previous post and will be repetitious if you have already read part 1. Just skim through.]
Part of the fun of this project is involving the kids as much as possible. Children [and adults too] tend to take more of an interest and ownership when they are involved in the process. Whether you're introducing a new food, welcoming a new family member, or learning a new schedule, try to find ways to include them. My kids may not like to eat zucchini...but when they planted, watered, harvested and cleaned their own zucchini, it became exciting and they had fun eating it - even though it's not their favorite vegetable.
My kids love coloring. I asked my kids to color in the pictures on a few pages and to help me think of activities we could list for them to accomplish. [I already had my own list in mind, but allowing them to talk about it with me and agree on our list was engaging for them, gave them an opportunity to analyze and negotiate their activities and enabled them to take ownership of our selection.] For older children [or if you're not a hopeless perfectionist like I tend to be] you could let them cut out their shapes too...and write out their objectives.
The objective we agreed on were: "get dressed", "make my bed", "exercise", "Bible time", "school time", "pick up toys", "help Mom & Dad" and "be kind and obey".
Use the chart for whatever projects you would like to. I've left them blank for you to add your own chores, daily activities, or school subjects - whatever you want.
To download the charts, simply click on each page and then right click the image. Select "Save Picture As..." and determine a destination and name for each file. Then save the file to your computer.
Print each page on cardstock paper. I chose two tones of a single color [red] for the fire trucks and the firetruck background pages and then I printed the remaining pages on white cardstock, with the exception of the calendar [or chart page, depending on your preference], which I printed on plain white paper.
Once the pages are printed, I suggest letting your children color first, then cutting out the shapes. My son colored in his large fire engine and the fireman seals & badges as well as the small fire department seals.
In the banner on the first page, write in your child's name or a title for your chart [or have your child write it]. And cut out the small fire department seals along the bold lines, leaving you with 50 1-inch squares. Cut out the large fire engine along the outer edge of the shape.
Cut out the small bold fire trucks along the outer edge of each shape. Attach
magnetic tape to the BACK of each bold fire truck.
Cut out the small faded fire engines along the outer edge of each shape and write out your objectives on the FRONT of your fire engines; one objective one each. Attach magnetic tape to the BACK side of each faded fire engine - being careful to align the magnets so that the polar attraction of all magnets line up with your bold fire engines' magnets, with both fire engines placed face up - bold on top of the faded.
I formatted the badges and seals so you can choose which to use as the pad to place your fire trucks on. You could use just one type or any combination of 8 per set of fire trucks. Have your child color each badge or seal you have chosen to use. [You could write in your family name or your child's name in the blank space on the Fire Chief badges...or have your child do this.] Then cut along the outer edge of each shape. Attach magnetic tape to the BACK side of each badge [or seal]; as you do this, consider how you would like your fire engines to be positioned and align your magnets accordingly, with your bold fire engines face up on top of your badges/seals [also face-up].
Determine what type of grid you would like to use for your chart. I have provided several options; a January 2011
calendar [You can download more styles and other months from my
Printable Calendars page.], a blank calendar, or a plain blank grid. You could trim these if you'd like to, or simply use them as they are.
I used
double-stick tape to adhere my chart pieces to the inner door of our "school armoire". You could use a magnetic board, poster board, wall, inner closet door...or even place your chart on the fridge - use your imagination! Here is a picture of how I have mine set up, but you could certainly place yours differently. My placement was not very well thought through. [I kinda got excited and just started taping.]
Tape or glue all your faded fire engines and the large [not the small squares from page 1] fire department seals/badges face up to your chosen surface. Leave the bold fire engines unattached, but place one on top of each seal/badge.
As your child accomplishes each task [or at the end of the day - whatever routine you choose] let him remove a bold fire truck from a seal/badge and place it on the task he has successfully completed. At the end of the day or week [depending on your chart] if he has achieved whatever goal you set [i.e., completing all objectives or completing a specific number of objectives etc.] award him with a tiny fire department seal square to be placed on the appropriate box on his grid.
In advance you should determine if you would like to give your child a goal to work toward. My husband and I decided that for every 30 fire fighter seals [or butterflies for the
butterfly chart] our children earn, they will be give a set amount of money to spend and be taken out for a special day with Mom or Dad. You can set your own award system for your family; maybe the kids earn collective "points" to get to plan a family activity, like a game night, pizza party, movie night etc. Rewards make it fun for the kids and give them something to work towards...it keeps them engaged which encourages their interest and consequently their participation. Plus, if you throw in a chore or two as objectives on their charts, their involvement in the program could end up being a load off of your shoulders too! :)
I hope you enjoy these activity charts and find them helpful in your own family, school or daycare! If you think of a fun & creative way to use them, would you let me know about it? I'd love to hear your ideas. You can leave a comment on this post or email me at
homeeducationjournal@hotmail.com. Thanks so much!
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