Purple Box

Shoebox covered in purple wrapping paper filled with small toys as rewards for kids

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Fun Rewards for Kids

What: Reward box for kids
When: 12 months and up
Why: Motivate kids, offer them choices
Where: Your home

My kids still talk about the purple box, even though I hid it months ago. Our purple box, a shoebox with both the lid and box wrapped in purple wrapping paper, made its debut for potty training my eldest child more than five years ago. He had zero interest in the potty, but a large interest in wooden trains.

Shoe box with open lid covered in purple wrapping paper and filled with small toys as rewards for kids — *Our purple box is a shoebox covered in wrapping paper and filled with a random assortment of toys.*

I created the purple box to help motivate him, but it clearly still works today for other tasks as well. I filled the box with different small items I knew my kids would love. For my eldest son, I stocked it with wooden trains. For my youngest, I added toy cars and farm equipment. For my daughter, I had doll clothes. I also tossed in an assortment of random items like stamps, stickers, plastic jewelry, and even a screaming stuffed pig.

random assortment of toys in our purple reward shoe box — *I tossed all sorts of stuff in our reward box.*

Once my kids filled up their chart with stickers, they could choose their own reward from the purple box. The box lived in the bathroom at the time, and they could look but not take something any time they liked. Now, we might reinstate the purple box for cleaning up rewards.