Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Cheap and Easy Project

I have a project that is so easy a five year old can do it.

Even a five year old that has only been five for less than two weeks.

Of course, I helped make everything straight.

And if I didn't have the help of a five year old it would have literally have taken under ten minutes.

And best of all it was under $3.00.

Not bad for something that is cute and custom and functional.

We decided to make it into a job chart.  But if you don't do job charts this project is still for you.  I'll tell you why at the end.

A trip to the Dollar Store got us a sturdy piece of black foam board, a 2-sided sheet of wall clings and a package of 25 colorful library pockets.  We had leftovers of the clings and pockets which is why this project comes in at under $3.00.
We simply arranged the pockets and clings onto the board in a way that we liked.  See that bottle of water on the floor?  There are downfalls to having a 5 year old do your school work.  It was promptly knocked over within 2 minutes.  Luckily the project was spared.  My pants were not so lucky.  

The clings totally rocked!  You can peel them off and stick them back down easily.  Dollar Tree has lots to choose from.  If you click on the picture to make it bigger you will see how super cute these little animals are too.
It helps to have moral support when you are doing any type of project.  

And yes, all three of my kids were still in their pajamas at 2:45 p.m.  Don't judge.

The final product was a job chart for my classroom.  I printed the title on the computer and added more of the wall clings to it.  I will label the pockets with the classroom jobs and then go with one of two options to identify who is responsible for the tasks.  The first and easiest option is to just write their names on the top of an index card (turned sideways) and slide them in and out of the pockets to change them around.  The second option is to take a picture of each of my friends wearing safari hats and cut out their little hat-wearing noggins and attach them to a popsicle stick.  I don't switch jobs often so I'm leaning towards that route.

Want another great project idea using the same supplies?

A trivia game board!  Arrange the pockets into a 5 x 5 array and label them with points or dollar values (think Jeopardy). You can them make each column be a category and write out your questions on index cards and slide them in. It makes a great review for any subject.

8 comments:

tami said...

I just have to go to the Dollar Store and get those clings to go with my safari theme! I hope my Dollar Store has them!! I don't know what to make because I just have one helper a day that does everything. Any ideas? I love, love, the way your project turned out! TOO cute!! Thanks for the great inspiration!

Gladys said...

I loooove this project! I now have to go to Dollar Tree to get what I need! Thanks for sharing your genius idea! =)

TAMI said...

I AM STILL LOOKING FOR THESE SAFARI CLINGS! I HAVE CHECKED TWO DOLLAR TREES IN MY AREA BUT NO LUCK! I AM ON A MISSION BECAUSE THEY ARE SO CUTE!

Mr. Catania said...

Jodi, your idea is awesome! I love how you have your son help and show us all how easy it can be (I know I would probably have trouble anyways). I am excited to see what other great ideas you have.

P.S. I found cardboard book bins at Ikea for 99cents for a 4-pack!! I was able to get one for each student and it cost me under 6 bucks! After reading your book, I was thinking I would have students keep most of their materials on my back counter in the book bins so that their desks stay organized and since we switch class for math/sci, another student does not "play" with things in someone else's desk!

I am also on a hunt for the 24-pack soda cardboard trays to use in the students desks. I think it will keep things so clean and easy to move if desks need to be changed. Any suggestions on where I can get my hands on 24 trays?

cdr2009 said...

Great idea! Did you get the library pockets at Dollar Tree?

Alex said...

This is a-ma-zing! I'm so glad to hear other people are doing the safari theme too--I'm stoked about using it this year, and I was trying to figure out how I wanted to do my jobs chart...and now I know! Thanks!!

Rhonda said...

I love it! I'm so glad I found your blog!

Lillie said...

Cute job chart. Do you plan to hang it on a wall? If so, how to you plan to mount it? I could see it being too thick for staples. Just picking your brain!