Bucket-O-Fun ~ A New Chore "Chart"

This is not my idea.  Sugardoodle posted a picture of a magazine on facebook that had this idea submitted.  I don't remember the name of the magazine and I can't find the post to share.  The general idea is to use ping pong balls to write out individual chores for your children and place in a beautiful container to keep on display.  Knowing that a display of ping pong balls in my house would quickly become a disaster, and knowing my history of putting off projects until I had everything exactly perfect I decided to do it my way...

Introducing.....

The Bucket-O-Fun!

1.  I ordered a gross of ping pong balls from Amazon.  I found it was much cheaper to buy 144 balls than a dozen here in town.  

2.I used my wonderful new set of colorful Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Markers, 24 Assorted Markers and started to come up with every possible chore I could think of.  Each ball had one chore or task.  Some tasks took very little time and some took up to 20 minutes.  I even threw some non chores in there to keep it fun, like sing your favorite song, dance for 30 seconds, read a book for 5 minutes, take a 2 minute break or trade chores with someone else.

3.  I used the fanciest empty ice cream bucket we owned and tossed all the balls in.  It was important that my container have a lid so I would be less likely to spill it. 

4. Then I introduced this "fun new game" to the children.  I am not even exagerating when I tell you that they LOVED it!  The next day I found them playing "the game" on their own!

5. Each child has a container with their name on it to keep their completed task balls.  In our case, we used 1 gallon zip lock bags tacked to our bulletin board.

6.  The rules to the Bucket-O-Fun game are simple.  

-You must do the chore or task on the ball you draw, no peaking.

-Mom has veto power if she feels a child drew a ball that was above their capibilities or wasn't a good chore at the moment.

-Who ever gets the most balls at the end of a designated time period or when the balls are all gone is the winner and gets to have the grand prize.  The grand prize is usually just some silly toy or treat I have in my silly toy and treat drawer.

-All balls can be traded in for rewards when all are done.  Usually its one ball = one m&m or 2 balls = 1 hershey kiss....or whatever leftover candy is in the freezer.

I don't have the kids play this game every day or they would quickly get bored of it and it wouldn't be as effective.  I pull it out every week or so and the kids still love it.

I have MANY balls left over.  I keep a few and a sharpie within easy reach so I can add a chore anytime one pops in my head.

Good Luck!