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Hi everyone!
My name is Sarah and I blog over at Becoming Martha, but today, I am so excited to be guest posting here at Wait ‘Til Your Father Gets Home. (Isn’t Meredith awesome?!) Anyway, as part of her back to school series, I thought I would show you my back to school countdown that I am doing with my daughter.
I created these cards using GIMP (which is a free program similar to Photoshop – you can find tons of tutorials on how to use it over on Becoming Martha) and then printed them onto cardstock. I also wrote a little message to go on the back of each card. So, the point is that each day for one week, my daughter will see how many days are left until school, read the message I wrote her, perform a back to school task, and receive a small treat (not always candy treats!). It’s a little way to get them excited for back to school while making the sometimes boring tasks a little bit more fun.
If you want to make one, here’s what you will need:
- a frame (I use one that I had taken a cork board out of) and fabric to wrap around it.
- wooden shapes to decorate frame (I used an owl and a C)
- printables for the front of the countdown cards (make your own or download mine).
- letters for the backs of the cards (again, start from scratch or download mine and use as a guide).
- twine or thin rope
- clothespins (plain or decorated – washi tape would be so cute, but of course, I don’t have any yet)
- treats (I used fancy paper, a sparkly pencil, stickers, an edible treat, keychain, and an ice cream date)
Here’s a hint… make sure your two year old doesn’t get a hold of the keychain before you take pictures and give the gift, or you will end up with a dirty puppy keychain and will be forced to go buy a new one to put on your other daughters backpack.
My tasks/treat combos were:
- Record your favorite summer memory with fancy paper and a sparkly pencil.
- Help Mom fill the school snack cupboard and pick out your favorite lunch for the first day.
- Decorate your memory box with new stickers to keep all of your special work from this school year.
- Estimate how many times you will write your name on your new school supplies, and after you do it, see who had the closest estimate. The winner gets a special treat.
- Bake cookies for your new teacher, and try one first to make sure they’re yummy.
- Pack your backpack for the first day of school, and add a new keychain to make it Grade 2 ready!
- Pick out your favorite back to school outfit, and then, put on your favorite summer outfit and go for an ice cream date with Mom.
(Head to my blog to download the letters I used, they may help you create your own.)
My daughter loves reading the new messages everyday, and can’t wait to see what she will get tomorrow. It’s neat that it’s not all about getting sweets and treats, but it’s giving them useful items that they incorporate in the “task”, and the tasks get them a little in the mindset for school.
Thanks again to Meredith for having me over here, and I would love it if y’all stopped over to my little corner of the web so I can meet you! I hope you enjoyed my visit as much as I did!
Very fun idea! I love all the tasks you came up with too 🙂
Sarah – that is ADORABLE! You can tell you are a teacher! I would never have come up with something like that! Amazing! I bet C loves it!!
Very cute idea. Just wanted to thank you, Meredith, for stopping by today and leaving me a sweet comment about the King Ranch Chicken Casserole. I hope you have a great week!
Blessings,
Nici
Congratulations! I featured your printable on my blog! Please stop by to pick up your “I’ve Been Featured” button at http://bestlifemistake.blogspot.com/2013/08/free-back-to-school-printables.html
Thanks,
Amy @ Some of the Best Things in Life are Mistakes