DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Chore Chart or Potty Training Chart

A big thanks to Crystal for suggesting these templates!

I've provided two different templates to choose from.  One is an outer space theme (rocket ship, stars and planet) and the other is an ocean theme (dolphin, starfish and island).

I've done the directions using the ocean template, but they work identically for the space theme.

Basically, the child needs to complete tasks to hop the dolphin over the 7 starfish to make it to the island.  Each time she does this, she gets to place a sticker in one of the blanks below (there are 14 blanks in all).

You can make the starfish mean a variety of things...  Here are just a few ideas:
 

Chore Chart:

• make each starfish represent a different chore.
• hang the chart on the refrigerator so that you can place magnets onto the starfish as the chores are completed.
• You'll notice I made 4 stars one color and 3 stars another color.  
  • This way you can use all 7 stars or you can say "the pink ones are the chores and the orange ones are free".
  • This makes the chart work for 7, 4, and 3 sets of chores (younger children will likely have fewer chores).
• When the child has filled all of the bottom 14 blanks with stickers you can clip it off the bottom and treat it as a "coupon".  
  • Take them to the toy story or hobby shop and let them use their coupon to purchase a treat or make their allowance dependent on handing in a completed coupon (instead of every 2 weeks, they'd get it each time they complete the coupon)
  • Or write the "value" of the coupon on the back before you start the chart so they know what they are working toward
  • If you've designated the starfish as "daily" chores, the chart will last 2 weeks.  (so don't make the coupon worth too terribly much).
  • If you've designated the starfish as weekly chores, the chart will last 14 weeks.  You can give a pretty good prize for 14 successful weeks!

Potty Training Chart:

• You could make each starfish represent a trip to the potty and only allow the child to place a sticker if they've been successful the entire day.  However, I recommend against this (unless perhaps, your child is nearing the end of the potty training process).  I believe the children will be more motivated if they get to place a sticker each time.
• My suggestion is to have the three pink starfish be "free" and have the orange starfish = "successful potty", "wipe", "flush" and "wash hands" (you can help the child remember to do each and/or help them do each step).  
  • When you go to hop your fingers over the chart to help the dolphin get to the island, ask... "Did we remember to use the toilet?  Did we remember to wipe?  Did we remember to flush?  Did we remember to wash our hands?"
  • This helps to reinforce the ENTIRE process.
  • How do I say this politely?  Use plain stickers for pee and sparkly or felt stickers for poop.  This also helps you keep track of how regular your child's bowel movements are (especially if you have a couple of parents, a nanny and/or grandparents all helping with the potty training)

Chore Chart Game:

• another alternative is to chop the bottom (coupon) right off the chart and turn the top half into a game.
• Make each star represent a big chore (maybe your child has to help with the laundry once a week).
• You'll need sets of two different colored stickers (say GREEN and RED).
• Each week they do the chore, let them put a green sticker on the starfish.
• If they miss a week, you get to cover the green sticker with a red one (they "back up" on the game board and they have to re-stick a green one on the red one when they've done the chore again.).
• If you have two siblings who enjoy competing you can make this a "race" to see which reaches the island first.

Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Ocean Template              (color)   or   (B&W)

Outer Space Template    (color)   or   (B&W)

Print friendly version of these instructions