I've been stewing an idea for a summer "incentive" chart and wondering how to draw swirly lines and how many steps I would need to get us through the summer, when inspiration hit. Okay, my husband hit - as usual (and not in the "he only hits me when I deserve it" creepy kind of way from Natural Born Killers that I'm still too afraid to watch) - he said, "oh, you mean like an old Chutes and Ladders game board?" Genius! Chutes and Ladders 
turned out to be way too rectilinear and in fear of his head growing *too* large, plus the idea of having to hit a chute and slide back to the beginning after working so hard to get ahead defeating the purpose, I thought Candy Land would be the perfect path for our summer to follow. I found this image of the original board online, and thought it was exactly what I was looking for. I edited it up a bit, replacing the dancing kids with ours, and adding our prizes along side the yummy candy spots.
turned out to be way too rectilinear and in fear of his head growing *too* large, plus the idea of having to hit a chute and slide back to the beginning after working so hard to get ahead defeating the purpose, I thought Candy Land would be the perfect path for our summer to follow. I found this image of the original board online, and thought it was exactly what I was looking for. I edited it up a bit, replacing the dancing kids with ours, and adding our prizes along side the yummy candy spots.We have a Lego fanatic 
in our house which translates to giant abandoned piles of the little plastic shards around our house like the churned earth tailings that are left after gold mining. This Lego fanatic is now old enough to handle cleaning it all up himself, but could use the help of a goal or two. We are also working on speaking nicely to each other, not interrupting, focusing and a myriad of other typical child / parent issues that could be smoother.
in our house which translates to giant abandoned piles of the little plastic shards around our house like the churned earth tailings that are left after gold mining. This Lego fanatic is now old enough to handle cleaning it all up himself, but could use the help of a goal or two. We are also working on speaking nicely to each other, not interrupting, focusing and a myriad of other typical child / parent issues that could be smoother.
The apparently now defunct Didj is a *huge* obsession with our kids, still, and during one of Leapster's ginormous sales, I scooped up a bunch of 75% off games and cases and covers and have them in a basket as the incentives. These along with a movie out, an ice cream shop visit and the "big, big surprise" (which means I couldn't think of the final goal) will hopefully entice the kiddos into perfection. No, I'm not holding my breath, but it will give us a goal! The kids will move their markers along the customized Candyland gameboard every day as they clean up, or do something without being asked, or will have to move backwards if they slip up. Hopefully it will be fun, and we'll all be cleaner and nicer by the time school starts.*update* sorry for the spelling mistakes. I really did fix them once - somehow they were lost in cyberspace - thank God for spell check!
Such a genius idea! Thanks for sharing this
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