This is going to be an amazing summer for our family…I can just feel it!!! To help us have a successful summer, I came up with a system using punch cards to motivate my kids. Once my kids saw the cards, they were SUPER excited!! They were begging me for DAYS to start earning punches for their Summer Punch Cards but the rule was no punches until school was out for the summer. So you can imagine the excitement when the first day of summer finally arrived and they could start earning punch cards. They went crazy getting their jobs done! It was AMAZING!! Here are a few tips on starting your own summer punch cards…including links to download 3 different punch card designs at the end of this post!!
Get input from the kids
One of the best parts about our Summer Punch Cards is the kids helped create it. I sat down with each of them one on one. We used a mind mapping app to help them plan out their summer, which the boys thought was totally cool…but I’ll have to save mind mapping for another post. While I visited with each of them, I asked them what they thought their jobs should be for the summer, we talked about summer goals, and we talked about what they wanted to learn and do over the summer. Each of them loved the one on one time with mom. I also had them suggest ways they thought they could earn punches for their cards and what would be good rewards for turning in full punch cards.
Make a list of ways to earn punches
After talking to each child, I made a list of things they can do to earn punches (based on their suggestions) and hung it on the wall in my kitchen. Here are a few things we came up with:
- Complete a daily job (examples: read 20 minutes, clean your bedroom)
- Complete a weekly job (examples: mow the lawn, weed the garden)
- Write a book review
- Reach a weekly goal
- Reach a summer goal (worth 1 full punch card)
- Earn a merit badge (for my boy scout)
- Earn a rank advancement (for my scouts)
- Complete a cub scout adventure (for my cub scouts)
- Learn a song on the piano
- Volunteer service (example: cleaning up breakfast without being asked)
- Make good decisions
- Babysit
- Exercise
Make a list of rewards
I also typed up my kids ideas for rewards and hung that on the wall. We had a wide variety of rewards which I think will work extra well because they are things my kids want. If the kids have other ideas during the summer, I left space on the paper to write them in. Here are some things they came up with:
- Trip to the park
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Visit the Planetarium
- Trampoline park
- 1 hour of tech time
- Ice cream cone from their favorite restaurant
- Get out of doing a job
- $2 toward a purchase at their favorite hobby store
- Your own carton of ice cream
My kids have been going at it for a week and LOVE the punch cards. Rewards have already been given out to some while others are saving their full cards for something in the future. Hopefully this will be a successful and fun summer!!
Click the links below to download a FREE Summer Punch Card printable, available in 3 different colors!
