We have enjoyed using a yearly theme and coordinating it into our incentive program. We use it to decorate our K4T room, printed materials, etc. But most importantly for our clubbers, we print "K4T currency" to correspond to the theme. They can spend this "hard earned money" in our special store which is open for shopping the final club night of each month. We print both $1's & $5's and give them a coordinated decorative envelope in which to keep their "money".
There are several ways to earn K4T money ...
1. Attendance - 1 Leopard dot for not only being present, but present with ALL materials. We call that PERFECT attendance.
2. Punctuality - Simple Game played at exactly 7:00 pm! This year we called it "The Big Game Hunt". At 7:00 pm someone "draws" 1 of 6 cards. There are 4 picture cards of snakes saying, "Sssssorry" and the other 2 pictures cards are of leopards. If the leopard is drawn EVERYONE present AT THAT TIME gets 1 Leopard Dot ($1).
3. Completed Lessons - 1 Leopard Dot for each completed lesson
4. Bonus Q&A's - 1 Leopard Dot for each lesson's completed Bonus Q&A's. (Note: Not 1 per Q&A, but 1 per lesson!)
5. Homework - At the beginning of each theme, we give them a paper outlining daily review of assigned lessons for each week. Our calendar has 7 weeks for each theme (Sept through July) Each day they are asked to either READ OUT LOUD or RECITE BY MEMORY the answers to the assigned questions a certain number of times. It should only take them about 5-10 minutes per day. If they do the do this work 5 days out of 7, they get 1 Leopard Dot. If they do the work 7 out of 7 days, they get 2 Leopard Dots. This has been a HUGE help to our clubbers in memorizing the material!
The following yearly themes have been used:
1. Northwoods - Moose Bucks for shopping at Bear Paw Trading Post
2. Swamp - Duck Bills for shopping at Swamp Swap Shop
3. Farm - Mooo-ooo-la for shopping at The Old Red Barn
4. Safari Adventure - Leopard Dots ($1) and Zebra Stripes ($5) for shopping at Oasis Outfitters
Each year we have incorporate this theme more and more into our program. For this year's theme, Safari Adventure, we have divided the clubbers into 4 groups (Lions, Zebras, Giraffes, & Elephants) Our teens helped write special "cheers" for each group. We will use this during our short game time each week. It has created a special excitement this fall!
If anyone is interested, we would be happy to share more details.