The school bells are ringing and your kids are singing lots of stories of their recess adventures, spelling bee successes and tales from the bus ride home, right as they come bounding through the door announcing their arrival from their long day at school. If your kids are anything like mine, these stories are sometimes accompanied by tears and sometimes lots of cheers! Those moments are great opportunities for praise and letting our kiddos know how proud of them we are! Today, Melanie from Find it, Make it, Love it is sharing a fun, new way we can praise our kiddos that they are sure to love and say ummmm, ummmm good to! Enjoy!
Hey there! It’s Melanie from Find it, Make it, Love it. My blog partner and sis-in-law Steffany and I are so excited to be part of this fun Back to School series! We are loving all the great inspiration for making back to school a little more exciting. It’s always a little heart breaking to see the summer fun come to an end, but it’s also so nice to get back into a regular routine. In addition to regular routine, there are so many great things about school: friends, recess, field trips, personal pencil boxes, and learning of course!
We love to reward academic accomplishments – big and small – and man do kids love to be rewarded and praised for doing good work, so we have decided to start a new tradition using the letter of the day……………
Introducing the “Praise Plate!”
How does it work? Well, any time one of the kids accomplishes something really great they get to eat on the “Praise Plate.” 100% on a spelling test, receiving a school award, getting a good grade on a book report, or simply improving in an area they may be struggling with. It can be whatever we choose! We make a big deal out of that child’s accomplishment which helps encourage not just that child, but all the kids to do their best. That’s the whole goal right? For kids to do their very best! It may get used every day or maybe just once a week-you decide the terms of use. 🙂
Let’s get started!
- Glass plate (we got ours at Walmart for under $2!)
- Fabric (we chose Riley Blake Sasparilla multi-alphabet HERE, and Riley Blake Tonal dots HERE.)
- Mod Podge
- Scissors
- Spray Sealer
First give the back side of the plate a good coat of Mod Podge.
Next, lay the fabric face down over the mod podged plate.
Smooth and press the fabric down all around making sure to press out any bubbles.
Then go along the edges and add more mod podge if needed. We want the edges to stick really well.
Now cut off the extra fabric following the edge of the plate.
Paint the back side of the fabric with a coat of Mod Podge. Lay face down to dry.
If the plate were just for decoration, this would be the last step; but since we will be using it we sprayed it with a couple coats of outdoor sealer to really protect it.
Despite being sealed with Mod Podge and the outdoor sealer, we still recommend hand washing only and being careful not to let the plate soak in water.
Isn’t it cute?!
This one is a triple ‘P’ threat: Polka dot Praise Plate!
Our kids start school this week and they are pretty excited to get to eat on the “Praise Plate!” I’m excited to see them accomplish great things this school year! I’m also excited for a cleaner house for at least a few hours in the day ;)! Ha-ha! Miss the kids, not the messes right?! Here’s to a fabulous year of learning and growing!
What a great idea! I love this fun plate, and I know my sons would love to be able to munch their dinner or their yummy after school snacks on a super awesome plate just like this! Thank you Melanie for sharing this great project that is perfect for our kiddos and their new school year, new challenges and new successes!
For more great projects by Melanie and Steffany, make sure to check them out at Find it, Make it, Love it! These ladies are crazy talented and so adorable too! Want to see some of that awesome talent? Check out a few of the projects they have shared here at The Ribbon Retreat…
What is your favorite way of celebrating your kiddo’s school successes?