Pin it!

 You may remember that for the past two months, we've been working with Little Crafter to teach him about the fruit of the Spirit.  We've already learned about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness, and this week we learned about gentleness.  It's so sweet to hear him list them all, and the best part is that he really is learning what they mean.  If we're out somewhere and he's being impatient, I can say to him, "Buddy, you need to be patient.  What's patience?"  To which he responds, "Wating nic-e-ly."  And then he usually tries to do it.  Hubby and I were talking the other day about ways to reinforce when we do notice him displaying those qualities besides just saying, "Oh, that was so kind of you." We want to make a big deal out of it so that he realizes he's doing exactly what we've been learning about.

Sooooo...we decided to make some special reward pins.  I'm so used to clicking "Pin it!" every time I see something I like online now, why not do it in real life?  Each pin represents one specific "fruit" and is a different shape/color combination so he can recognize it.  Now, when he displays one of those particular qualities and we notice, he'll get to wear that pin to tell the world, "I showed kindness," or whatever it was.  Here's how we made them.

REWARD PINS
Materials: 9 wooden shapes, acrylic paint, paintbrushes, Sharpie marker[s], pin backs, hot glue gun

Step 1: Paint a base coat on each pin.  Little Crafter did this part and boy did he have fun!  Except that he wanted to make them all blue.


STEP 2: When dry, use Sharpie to write one "fruit" quality on each pin, or whatever quality you're reinforcing.

STEP 3: Glue a pin back on each one with hot glue.

STEP 4: Reward your little one!

We obviously made ours to reinforce these 9 particular qualities, but you could use them for anything you're working on.  You could make one as a potty training reward that he/she gets to wear after using the potty instead of a diaper, or you could use it to say "I shared," or "I was obedient" or anything at all.

The first one Little Crafter got to wear was Kindness.  Why?  Well, see for yourself...

He and Daddy had been out to the library and came back with these...

I sure do love those boys!