Summer Chores Rewards

I love summer.  I love the hot days and warm nights, sunkissed shoulders, playing in the water, park play dates, ice cream on the patio, eating fresh fruit and salad from the garden, pajama mornings, and most of all... having oodles of quality time with my sweet kiddos.  But for some reason, summer also seems to bring out the messy... toys scattered from this room to the next, outfit changes sprawled out on the floor, empty fruit bowls on the table... you know the scene, right?  I refer to it as the "kid tornado" and it was driving this OCD Mama a little crazy! Time for an intervention.
I feel like I should clarify here.  I'm a firm believer that kids need to be kids.  We have a rule in our house to play with one thing at a time and put it away before getting out something new.  Honestly this rule tends to go slightly unenforced because I don't like hindering their little imaginations.  Sometimes My Little Ponies just have to go on a picnic with Strawberry Shortcake atop the train table with dishes from the play kitchen... all while wearing Snow White dresses.  And sometimes imagination means pulling off the couch cushions and unfolding their baby blankets to create special forts in the family room.

But, I also believe kids should have responsibilities.  They need to learn the importance of taking care of their things and keeping a tidy home.  At this age, kids actually seem to enjoy doing chores... and they're capable of much more than we think!
I've tried a few different reward systems in the past.  Marble jars, sticker charts, chore sticks... all worked fairly well, but let's face it, kids get bored easily!  A couple months ago I spied some chore punch cards on Pinterest and decided to make my own for the girls to decorate.  They worked great and the girls really liked them, but I wanted to have their rewards more readily available (rather than having to make a dollar store run every time they filled up their cards) and also wanted to incorporate a consequence for negative behavior.  I really liked the idea of a "rewards store" I found via Pinterest (original source here) because it makes rewards more tangible and offers a visual reminder of what they are working toward.
I decided to put the two ideas together and create our own Summer Rewards System:

Here's how it works.  The girls each have 5 chores that they need to complete every day:

At the end of the day, we go over the list, and if each task has been completed, they earn one ticket - which goes into their "account."  I made a different color of tickets for each of them and ran them through the laminator for durability.

I also created some "Superstar Rewards" Punch Cards for when they do extra chores (i.e. folding laundry, setting the table, sweeping floors, etc) and for when I notice "superstar" behavior such as playing nicely, using extra good manners, and listening without reminders.  One full card = 1 ticket.

Friday is "pay day" when they get to spend their hard earned tickets that they earned throughout the week.  My girls looooove pay day.  I put stickers on each item in the store and attached a color coded key to the basket.  (I think my favorite part was watching them count out their tickets to see what they could buy!) They also have the option to save up some of their tickets for bigger rewards such as a gift card to the store or a special play place but since this is our first week, they were more than ready to use them all up.

Jadyn chose the Minnie coloring book and a pack of princess rings/earrings.  Kaylee chose a journal and chocolate pudding.  They also went in together on a pack of pop tarts to share. :-)

We're only a week in, but so far, so good on our new system.  The girls actually seem excited to get their chores done and having the house picked up at night without me having to hound them to do it!  They also know they can lose tickets out of their account for negative behavior - which has worked wonders on their attitudes.  Plus, they get an bonus math/currency lesson every Friday. Score! :-)