This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines. All opinions are 100% mine.
My son has a new obsession with Nickelodeon’s Blaze and the Monster Machines on Nick Jr. It’s an obsession that I am actually okay with. The animated show stars the fastest Monster Machine in Axle City, Blaze, and his 8-year-old driver, AJ. Together, they face their greatest rival Crusher, a big truck, but an even bigger baby who’s always trying to cheat his way to victory.
The reason that I’m happy that Nickelodeon’s Blaze has become Aiden’s new favorite TV show is because it’s the first TV show for preschoolers to comprehensively cover areas of science, technology, engineering and math! It’s actually educational! Each episode introduces different STEM concepts, such as buoyancy and trajectory. We had a great chat the other day about buoyancy and I was trying to explain it. Then he watched Blaze and the Monster Machines and it just happened to be an episode about buoyancy! It was so much easier for him to understand it when it was presented in the context of his favorite show.
Aiden has been begging for the Blaze and the Monster Machines DVD’s and toys! He saw an ad with the toys on it and now he can’t stop talking about them. We have moved away from buying our kids toys and instead we require them to earn the toys they desire. We created a chore store in which they can earn tickets for the chores they complete. Each chore has a ticket value assigned and they can do as many chores as they want. If we assign them a chore they must complete it and they earn the tickets for that chore as well. They keep their tickets in a mason jar with their name on it.
I have a laundry basket filled with toys, books, movies and candy. Each item has a “price” on it stating how many tickets they need in order to “buy” it from the chore store. When Aiden started begging for the Blaze and the Monster Machines movies and toys I decided it was the perfect addition to our chore store! I put a Blaze and the Monster Machines movie in the chore store first. He was doing chores like a madman trying to earn his movie and his hard work and determination was rewarded with the movie he desired!
Now I found out that Toys R Us and ToysRUs.com have the Blaze and the Monster Machines toys!! I’m definitely going to be adding these to our chore store and I know my house will be spotless once I do! They will be great motivators for my kids to get their chores done. Not only that but it also teaches children the value of hard work and responsibility. Much like you and I earn a paycheck for our hard work, we teach our kids from a young age to earn their rewards. It’s a great life lesson!
How do you teach your kids the value of hard work and earning things they desire?
Wow, I like how it’s so educational touching on the concepts of science, technology, engineering and math. These subjects aren’t even taught to our local schools for eight-year-olds here. Aiden is a smart kid to appreciate that kind of movie.
I like that idea the chore store very nice. I have never rewarded chores it’s a must in my house but I can let up a little and have a small reward for the chores that are done above and beyond.
Wow, I have to let my son check out this show! IT’s so hard to find quality educational shows on TV that are fun and make kids want to learn. Especially with math and science! He’s home this week, so we will be sure to check it out.
It is really a great show. I love that it focuses on STEM.
Oh my gosh, this is the sweetest idea! I love that there’s a chart and everything your kid can follow. Laughing a little at no toys in bed, guess he tried that one hey? Hide them all under the covers making it look like it was a clean room/bed? 🙂 I bet he felt awesome getting that reward after all the tickets he saved up!
Tricky kids. You have to check everywhere.
I like the idea of letting the kids earn their toys. They become more responsible that way. I used to do this with my kids when they were younger and we all had so much fun. Of course I was the happiest because they helped me with the chores.
Yes, and it helps them take care of their things more when they had to work for them.
That sounds like such a good show that I would have to check it out more for my nephews! Your actually had me at the Monster truck and think it is good that children learn responsibility and also do chores from an early age!
It is a great way to teach them responsibility.
I bet he is so excited to do his chores now! I know I always did better with my chores when I had an incentive to do them. The ticket system is a great way for him to earn the rewards.
It is a great motivator for sure.
This is truly a great idea. I need some sort of reward system in my house to help my child earn his privileges. Sometimes it is so easy to just give them what they want, but then what do they learn from it? Definitely making a chore store.
That is what it all comes down to. They don’t learn the value of money, and how it relates to working for something you want.
What a great idea! I personally do not give any incentive or reward for doing chores. I’m probably the only one out there, but cleaning up and doing your part around the house is what you do. However, if I were to give a reward, this would be a great way to implement that. Thanks for sharing.
These days with all this technology surrouding us, kids forget to be kids sometimes, think that they are entitled to all kind of things, no wonder so many brats out there (I see them every day). I always applaude great ideas like this when it comes teaching the kids the value of hard work and earning privileges. We really need more shows like this honestly.