I made a clip chart! Lia had been driving us crazy. Rightfully so she had been struggling with her behavior and I am assuming an understanding of all the changes in her world.
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I wanted to create a positive reinforcement behavior system for her. One thing this girl responds well too is positive reinforcement.
After some research and discussion of the multiple strategies with my preschool teacher friends- I landed on a clip chart. I loved how the clip chart is a visual representation with multiple levels of behavior.
My absolutely favorite thing about a clip chart is the connection Lia has built between moving the clips up and down and her role in her behavior. By allowing her to be the one to physically move the clips based on the consequences (good or bad) she has began to learn she is in control of her decisions.
You can find various clip charts for purchase, but would I really be me if I didn’t make it myself? Absolutely not!
The best part of making it myself- I was able to personalize the behavior levels to phrases we use in our home and it doesn’t have to cost a thing- just use cardstock you have laying around!
A clip chart is also a great tool if you have multiple kids- one chart, various clips and boom the whole gang is involved!
Now, let’s get to it!
Supplies:
- Colorful Cardstock: The choices in colors, prints, and sizes I will leave up to you.
- White cardstock
- Cricut Explore Air 2: I love being able to use the drawing ability- less work for me!
- Light Grip Mat (Blue One)
- Glue Stick
- Twine/Yarn/String: your choice to hang
- Hot Glue Gun
- Glue Stick
- Clothespins
Directions:
1.Choose how many levels you want on your behavior chart.
I picked 5; one starting point and the ability to go up twice and down twice.
2.Design Your chart
You can find my free design on Design Space here to just create or customize as you wish!
I started by adding the scalloped rectangles and choosing the colors I wanted for each level. Second I added a rectangle which I made white and measured it to to fit inside the scalloped rectangle.
I love the drawing option my Explore Air 2 has to offer and how easy it is to create projects with my machine. I selected a font that I could have drawn by my machine to make this tutorial even faster to put together.
After I found a font I liked I sized it and positioned it to my liking inside the white rectangles.
After creating the text I selected and the white rectangle and attached both pieces. This made sure the text was drawn on the white rectangles as I needed.
3.Cut Your Parts
I love how the Explore Air 2 makes it so easy to prep your mats ahead of time.
Your machine will let you know exactly when to switch between your pen colors.
4.Put Your Chart Together
I started off by glueing the white rectangles to the colored cardstock. Remember to make sure you have them paired correctly.
Once your pieces are ready grab your glue guns! Complete disclaimer- you could do 3 long strips of your twins or string all the way down the middle.
I initially planned to put just one string per center connecting them down and learned it made my sign lopsided. So to correct my mistake I cut enough strands to hang on all the sections- that fixed my problem.
I recommend you just cut 3 long strands and hang them down.
5.Clothespins & Hang
The clothespins prep is a piece of cake! All you need to do is grab your clothespin and write each child’s name on it. AND HANG UP!
