Skylanders-Inspired Chore Station

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WinTheDinnerBattle #CollectiveBias

Help motivate kids to do household chores with this hanging metal bucket Skylanders-Inspired Station, complete with coins and gems that can be cashed in for rewards!

If your kids are anything like mine then you know it’s about as difficult as pulling teeth to get them to clean their bedroom or vacuum the carpet.  I’ve tried a plethora of methods and systems to get them to do chores, but without success.Are you in the same boat, struggling to get your kids to take on some responsibility around the house? Please tell me I’m not alone in this!

It’s an uphill battle for sure, but one that I’m determined to win!  🙂  So, I have a trick up my sleeve today that I’m hoping will do the charm!  Sometimes motivating kids to get things done is about finding something that appeals to their interests.

So when I saw these fun Kid Cuisine Limited Edition meals with a free Skylanders Battlecast card inside, a little lightbulb went on in my head and I knew the kids’ new chore station needed to be Skylanders themed.

I found these boxed kids’ meals in the frozen section at Walmart.

 My kiddos just love playing Skylanders and talk often about their latest exciting characters and battles. They were ecstatic when I brought home these Kid Cuisine meals that include a free Skylanders Battlecast card!  We got the Stealth Elf this time and my kids can’t wait to collect all the characters!

When we opened the boxes, we found not only the coveted Skylanders card, but also some yummy, 100% natural chicken breast nuggets in fun shapes.  The nuggets have NO preservatives too!  It was a make the tummy happy kind of lunch!

Kid Cuisine Mac & Cheese is made with real cheese and also has NO preservatives.  So many reasons for kids to get excited about meal time, all in one box!

It even came with dessert!  The kids loved these gem cookies!I’m a huge fan of how easy these meals are for when I’m busy and need to give the kids something quick!

Guess what?! When you buy three Kid Cuisine meals you can earn $2 with the Ibotta offer found HERE.  Now you can stock up for less!

So, having won the battle over meal time, I decided to conquer the chore dilemma next.  I wanted to center the new system around the “victorious” theme, since my kiddos just love when they have a successful game of Skylanders, and, as a mom, I count any chores done as a major triumph!

I grabbed some scrap wood and put together what I hope is the last task system that I need to think about for a very long time!  I hung a mini bucket for each child on a screw hook and labeled the buckets with their vinyl initial.

To the side of the board, I placed a jar of play coins and another of faux gem stones.

I typed up a list of “possible chores” that I would be asking the kids to do every day and specified that each task would be worth 5 coins.  Ten coins equals a gem, so after they accomplish two tasks, they can trade in their coins for a gem.  I assigned the gems a dollar amount that they can cash in for, but they also have the option of trading it in for a certain number of minutes of free time playing video games or even a late bedtime, if they so choose.  Often times those special privileges are even more valuable than money! 🙂

The kids know I will be inspecting the specific room or area before they can add coins to their bucket. 🙂  I printed the chore and rewards sheet out and placed it in a plastic sleeve for reference.  I decided not to offer that as a printable just because it’s not an easy thing to generalize.

Scrap wood (mine measured 24″ x 5 1/2″)

Acrylic Paint and foam brush

Screw hooks

Mini metal buckets

Adhesive-backed Vinyl (or just stencil on the letters with paint)

Fake Coins and Gems

Jars for storing coins and gems

Here’s how to make this simple station: Start by giving your board a few coats of paint and allowing it to dry. Measure where you’d like your hooks and mark with a pencil before screwing them in.  The hooks will easily screw in by hand.  Use a craft machine to cut your vinyl (I used my Silhouette) and transfer your vinyl to your board.  Do the same for the kids’ initials, applying them to the mini metal buckets.  Fill your jars with the gems and coins and label with white stickers and markers or additional adhesive-backed vinyl.

We’re already having great success with our new Skylanders-Inspired Chore Station! The kids still aren’t totally excited to do chores (no surprise there), but they are feeling more motivated because they sure love adding the coins and gems to their buckets afterwards. 🙂  And they feel a great sense of accomplishment when they get to cash the gems in for well-earned rewards.

©2016 Activision Publishing, Inc. SKYLANDERS, SKYLANDERS BATTLECAST, and ACTIVISION are trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. © ConAgra Foods, Inc. All Rights Reserved.