How to Create the Best Vision Board for You and Your Kids

Three years ago, my husband and I started making vision boards. We did this to help us follow through on our New Years Resolution. Last year, we decided that our 7-year-old was old enough to start setting goals with us. I’ll be the first to admit that we lacked a lot of knowledge on how to incorporate our kid in this grown-up activity. First of all, we got lazy and didn’t create a board. Secondly, we had no idea on how to explain to him in a kid-friendly way what goals were and how you go about achieving them. Lastly, we did an informal list of all the things that he wanted to accomplish for the year and kept it in the safest place we could find….my nightstand. In addition to that, the list was written on a packaging insert, which was the nearest ‘paper’ I could find.

What we did do right, was asked him three questions to help him build his list.

1. What would you like to learn this year?

2. What is something you had problems with last year that you want to do better with this year?

3. What is something fun you want to do this year?

Another thing we did right, was we checked his list with him once a month(if we remembered). I’d like to think we were pretty successful, as he only has two small goal left to complete and three or so weeks to complete them.

This year, when starting to prep for our vision board, I sat with our son and reviewed his checklist. This review was not as successful as I thought it would’ve been. Here’s what I found out:

1. He didn’t have a single clue as to what I was talking about.
2. He didn’t realize he had accomplished anything this year.
3. He didn’t even know what a vision board was.

In an attempt to rectify this poor goal setting, I wanted to plan this a little bit better. I searched on Google for the perfect vision board example I could find. What I did find was this awesome growth mindset journal. For a small fee, I purchased a digital copy and was able to immediately download and print it. The journal was filled with printable worksheets for young kids. Utilizing the journal as a guide, I was able to actually complete the perfect goal setting and vision prep for our family. Here’s how I did it!

My Wonderful 2018

I started off by talking with my son about his successes in 2018. We talked about any and all of his achievements at school and extracurricular activities that he could remember. One of his greatest success has been learning how to read. He struggled with this and was so proud of himself when I talked to him about noticing him reading billboards and signs as we travel. We talked about overcoming challenges and learning new skills. A challenge for him and a new skill was learning how to ride his bike without training wheels. We celebrated any and all of his successes with a high-five and a hug along with positive words. I found that celebrating kids accomplishments is the best way to get them motivated to do even better.

Here are some talking points:

1. A new thing I learned
2. A new activity I tried
3. Something that was hard at the start of the year but is easy now
4. Something I got better at
5. Something I haven’t learned how to do yet.

Opportunities

Next, we discussed missed opportunities throughout the year. This was a lot easy for my son to do once he was able to see what he had accomplished. We talked about things that he wanted to improve. Although he is no longer using training wheels, he stated that he wanted to work even harder to get better at riding bigger bikes. He was successful at learning how to swim but wanted to keep getting lessons to improve his swimming skills. Discussing missed opportunities is a perfect segway into setting up their new goals for the year.

My Wonderful 2019

Now that you’ve celebrated their successes and reviewed missed opportunities of the current year, you are now ready to start making plans for the new year. Create a think sheet that will act a guide in setting their goals. Here are some talking points:

1. Things I want to get better at
2. New things I want to try
3. 3 Things I want to learn about

I also discussed with my son different ways he can show kindness and make a difference in the world. Of course I had to rephrase once he started talking about cooking for the homeless. As admirable as this is, I needed his goal to be something he could accomplish on his own. So we discussed things he could do like holding the door open, picking up trash on one of his CubScout hikes, not littering, recycling at home and at school. Here’s a list that you can use a guide for talking points on how they can show kindness and make a difference in the world.

Create your vision board

Decide ahead of time what kind of vision board you want. The purpose of vision boards is so that the child have a constant reminder of what they’re working on. Everyone’s go to is the typical poster board and magazine cut outs. Don’t be afraid to be different. Here are some different vision board ideas I’m sorting through!

Poster Board

Here are some ideas on different kind of poster board designs that you can use as a guide.

Before and After

If their goal is to ride a bike without training wheels, take a picture of them on their bikes now and a picture after they have successfully learned how to ride their bike sans training wheel.

Digital Vision Board

If your kiddo has a phone, there’s an app for that! Check out different visuapps here.

Calendar Vision Board

Create a calendar that your kid can follow. You can find a template online or create one through your local photo printing spot. My idea is to have their goals set up throughout the calendar like appointments. For example, if they are doing an act of kindness once a month, have it listed on their calendar with a picture. If their goal to learn how to swim, schedule it on their calendar with a picture.

Which type of vision board are you going to do? Comment below or share your kid’s vision boards!