The Pirate Reward Box Review
Reviewed by David Savage
How do you reward children for doing something well or being good at school? Do you just give them a treat each time? Maybe you use a reward sticker chart? We were sent The Pirate Reward Box for review which is a fun take on traditional reward sticker charts (we have a few of these sticker charts).
The Pirate Reward Box (there is also The Fairy Reward Box available if pirates aren’t your thing) is a blue wooden box that looks like a pirate treasure chest (measures H18 x W18 X D11cm) and uses wooden stars as rewards that can be inserted in the slot on the top of the box. It can be personalised with a name pirate images with the sticker sheets provided (1x sheet of letters and 1x sheet of pirate images). It comes with 20 wooden silver stars in a drawstring organza bag. The lid is hinged so the stars can easily be removed or maybe a treat added to the box.
The idea is that when your child does something good or well, maybe did well at school or helped with little chores rather than give them a sticker on a chart you hand them a wooden star which they can place in the box themselves. You can them have a system where at the end of the day/week if they have so many stars they get a treat (packet of sweets, day out etc.). There are some great tips on The Reward Box website on how to use the reward box for different age groups.
The first thing we had to when we received it was personalise the box. There were enough sticker letters in various colours to personalise the box with both their names (there are 3 stickers for A, E, I and O and 2 stickers for every other letter). They then personalised it further themselves with the pirate themed stickers. Once finished it took the plain look off the box and the boys loved decorating it.
We have been primarily using it for toilet training purposes, so when the twins successful visit the toilet they get a star to place in the box. On a Saturday morning if there was 10 stars in the box we would visit one of their favourite places; LEGOLAND Discovery Centre or SEALIFE. If there were less than 10 they got a packet of sweets of their choosing.
It has been working very well and they love getting a star to put in the box and love being able to exchange them for a treat. The box is excellent quality but the stars themselves could be a little tougher as somehow they have managed to snap points of the star off 2 of the stars.
For me, and the twins, we find this much better than a sticker chart. It would make an excellent christening, birthday or Christmas gift. It is a great way to encourage children to complete tasks or manage good behaviour (stars could always be taken away for bad behaviour) and reward them for doing well.
With a retail price of £40 for the box, stars and personalisation stickers in could initially be viewed as too expensive but if it helps encourage your child to do their chores, homework or toilet use (just a few examples) then it is definitely worth the initial outlay so I would rate it 4½ out of 5, if slightly cheaper and better quality stars it would definitely be 5 out of 5 as the box itself is very good quality.
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £40
Available to buy in Pirate and Fairy design from The Reward Box here.
