Bedtime Game

Having the kids tucked soundly in bed at night is a glorious thing.

But bedtime is most definitely NOT my favorite time of the day.

The kids are riled up and hyper, I'm exhausted, and trying to get them all ready for bed seems to take forever.

To help move this notoriously slow-moving routine, I came up with a very simple and fun way to get the kids motivated to get ready for bed.

Here's what I did:

1. I cut out a bunch of squares from red & blue paper. I was originally going to do circles. But squares are so much easier to cut with a handy-dandy paper cutter. Or even just a pair of scissors! :)

2. Next, I started taping them onto the wall in the boys' bedroom, alternating red & blue:

3. I already had this laminated lion picture that I used a couple years ago in our Learning Binder. So I taped him up onto the wall as well. You can use a picture or cutout of anything. And it doesn't have to be laminated.

Here's how it works!
It's really very simple. Each of the kids gets a chance to move the lion along the spaces. They earn their moves by doing the following:

• Going potty & brushing teeth = 1 move.
• Putting toys away from the floor = 1 move.
• Sitting reverently for scriptures and prayer = 1 move.
• Not getting out of bed once lights are out = 1 move (in the morning).

I want this to be a positive reinforcement type of motivation. So if they don't stay in their bed then they just don't get to move the lion in the morning. If I find that is not working, then I may try moving the lion back a space every time they get out of their bed, we'll see.

When the lion makes his way to the end of all the squares, then the kids earn a lollipop! Since I have 3 kids who are working on this (LM age 7. LB age 4. LL age 2.) it shouldn't take too long to get the lion to the end.

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