January is usually the month that adults begin to set self-improvement goals for themselves.
Whether it is personal changes or career goals we all take a look at ourselves and decide we have room for improvement.

Children also like to set goals for improvement and when they can successfully met those goals then self esteem really starts blooming.
Here is a craft idea that can be tailored to a New Year's resolution for your child.

The first step would be to talk with your child and ask them what they would like to change about him/her or to improve upon.
Examples could be getting higher grades on spelling tests, making their own bed everyday, or successfully completing chores without being told twice.

I think it is important to set a reasonable target so your child can succeed and thus feel like they have accomplished the objective.

The next step would be to discuss strategies to take in order that the goal is reached.
When my son was in the 3rd grade he decided he wanted to make a letter grade higher on his spelling tests.

Together we mapped out a plan of study so he could accomplish his desire. In order to let him see his progress we integrated this craft idea with his self-improvement task so he would have a daily reminder of his aspiration.

He cut out a figure from paper and decorated it as himself. We then took a tiny calendar and glued it on the paper doll and held it to our refrigerator with a magnet. Each day he would mark off a day after studying his words. Each Friday he would place a star over the date to mark successes or an "X" if he was not. He did a great job in obtaining his goal and was very successful in not only getting a letter grade higher on his scores but got a score of 100 on most of his tests.

Supplies
• Crayons or markers
• Yarn
• Scissors
• Glue
• Pattern (included in this article)


• Calendar. We were fortunate enough to find a tiny calendar but your child could easily make one for each month of his/her goal.


Directions

Fold a piece of paper in half and trace the pattern on the paper.

Cut out the figure.

Decorate with craft supplies of your choice.

Write goal on paper person.

Glue calendar on the paper person

Use a magnet to hang it on the refrigerator.

Down load this pdf file for the pattern above if you want to use this pattern. New Years Resolution Paper Doll Pattern