Facebook Instagram Pinterest TeachersPayTeachers BlogLovin Home Image Map

January 23, 2013

Scratch-Its for Rewards

"Miss Pam, is it a sticker day or a prize box day?"

This is the question I hear most often from my kiddos.  They just love to dig through the prize box to take home a treasure at the end of our session.  But here's the dilemma:  I do not offer prizes every session (but I DO offer stickers) and I have no real system for determining which days are prize box days, except that I try to offer it once per month.  It often depends on how many prizes are left in the prize box and if I've had time to shop.  But, the kids are relentless in their asking, so I came up with a solution to develop a system.

My solution:  Sticker or Prize Box Scratch-Its!  Let me tell you how they work.




First, I made several different reward cards and printed them on card stock.  I've got snowmen, monsters...


 ...winter...

...fire station and camping.


Next, choose a card and write "sticker" or "prize" in each of the circles with a black pen.  Choose random locations for each, and make each card different in terms of placement of the "prize" words.

Fill in the circles using a white crayon.


I color over the words a couple of times, making sure there's a nice layer of crayon wax on top of the words.

Then, paint over the top of the crayon wax using acrylic paint.  I chose light blue, but you could use any color you'd like.  The paint tends to dry streaky, so I usually apply 2-3 coats, especially over the middle of the circle to be sure to cover the words.


Let the paint dry for at least an hour.  Then you're ready to go!  I let the kids chose their own reward card, write their name on it and keep it in their chart.

This solution is working really well for me.  I don't need to keep my prize box stocked enough for all the kids on my caseload to hit it in one week, and it's not my decision as to whether it's a prize day or sticker day.  No more needing to explain my rationale!  Whew!

Would you like to give this a try?  You can download my reward cards here.  If you do download them, let me know what you think.  Graphics for these cute little charts are from Scrappin Doodles and KPM Doodles.

Have fun!

Pam


9 comments:

  1. What a cute, cute idea!! Are the cards reusable or have you tried that yet?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried that yet. Maybe it could work, but my experience so far is that the words are never fully clean of wax/paint after being scratched. It might just be easier to print off new ones and start over rather than trying to clean them up.

      I used this idea with my girlfriends for their birthdays, too. I made birthday-themed cards with three circles and wrote "coffee date", "lunch date" and "happy hour" in the circles. I gave them instructions to scratch off one circle on the day of their birthday and then one each of the next two months on the same day (ex. the 22nd). They loved it!

      Delete
  2. Are your papers laminated before you use the crayon and paint on them or not? I can't tell. Thanks! Great idea! I will definitely use this idea in my therapy too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I didn't laminate them. I just used card stock. But laminating them is an interesting idea. Maybe you could reuse them then. I will have to try it! Thanks for the idea.

      Delete
  3. I absolutely love this idea!!! I am thinking about making something similar now with artic words. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You are so clever! Love the idea! Even if you aren't crafty, you could have the children put a sticker in the circles, then when the card is full, they can go to the prize box! thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, the sticker idea is a great one, too. I'll probably do that with my younger ones. Thanks for the idea, Carrie!

      Delete
  5. what a great idea! Definitely will try

    ReplyDelete