How it Works

This planner helps parents, teachers, guardians, and caregivers to motivate readers’ day-to-day activities and responsibilities while introducing positive reinforcement, structured regimens, and healthy practices that set them up for success.  In this way, they’ll never be left wondering what’s next.  And they will love the cute, fun, silly, playful stickers that we’ve included with the planner, which show Bacci doing his own daily routines!

It’s very important to be safety-minded as you and the readers engage in these exercises.  We encourage the use of child-safe, environmentally-friendly glue, tape, or whatever means you prefer to affix the appropriate sticker to its correlating section.  Please be sure to closely supervise kids as they cut out the stickers with age-appropriate scissors.  If they’re old enough to cut them out themselves, it can help improve their hand-eye coordination.  Additionally, asking open-ended questions about the stickers throughout the process is helpful, too!

As you go through the day, be sure to check off the items that your reader has completed.  Reviewing the planner daily (or a minimum of once weekly) together is a fantastic way to bond with him/her/them.  This is an important opportunity to track progress and see improvements, victories, and accomplishments.

Positive Affirmations

Positive affirmations are a powerful tool for cheering on readers.  By adding them to the Bacci Coins, you and your children can review them together as you reflect on each week’s progress and achievements.  I invite you to check out our other products, which can supplement and enhance this experience.  My Positive Affirmations Workbook offers many ideas for these whenever you have trouble coming up with your own.  You can cut them out and paste them into the section that reads, “Please say and note the Positive Affirmations said.”  Positive affirmations work consciously and subconsciously to boost readers’ confidence and self-esteem and strengthen their resilience and determination.  You can encourage them to come up with their own, too!

Acts of Kindness

In this planner, you’ll find a section devoted to tracking daily acts of kindness.  It helps kids commit to doing good deeds for others.  Parents, guardians, teachers, and caregivers should ask gentle, age-appropriate, open-ended questions throughout the day.  There is also a page in this planner where you can document readers’ responses to these inquiries.  In fact, it can be used for all open-ended questions posed to readers throughout all of the activities outlined in this planner.  If any mental health concerns arise from those in your care, please immediately consult with a mental health professional, a pediatrician, and their parents or legal guardians, if that isn’t you.

Bacci Coins & Rewards

Included with this activity packet are several free Bacci Coins, which can be used as a positive reinforcement tool.  These include coins in denominations of $1, $15, $10, $20, $50, and $100.  I recommend the use of positive reinforcement to boost the effectiveness of this exercise.  The coins will need to be cut out by you or the reader.  Please be sure children who are old enough to do it themselves are using age-appropriate scissors under the close supervision of an adult.  You can dole out one Bacci Coin at a time whenever kids answer open-ended questions or execute their daily tasks and activities.

Bacci Coins are an excellent tool for learning about money and mathematics.  This tender is for educational purposes only, and as it is not a valid currency, it cannot be used to purchase goods or services in the real world.  However, it can be used for many other fun activities for your kid.

Collect the Bacci Coins readers have earned at the end of every week and create a list of rewards for which they can exchange this “funny money”.  Brainstorming these rewards together will provide you with valuable insight into what your child likes and is motivated by.  This is yet another scenario that is perfect for asking open-ended questions.  For instance, you could ask them why they chose these things as their reward.

I’ve included a sheet in this booklet where you can track readers’ vocabulary, as well as the Bacci Coins they’ve earned.  This enables you and your little ones to easily see the progress they’ve made and the amount of money they have to spend on their weekly prize.  Alternatively, they have the option to save up their Bacci Coins to purchase an even bigger prize at the end of the month.

This is a great way to teach addition and subtraction using visual tools.  And making the activity fun and exciting boosts the effectiveness of this lesson.  Additionally, when the importance of financial literacy is introduced at a young age, it sets a course for success in adulthood.  They’ll be well-prepared for everyday responsibilities, like paying bills and budgeting personal funds.  This also minimizes the fear and anxiety they may feel when their time comes to “fly the coop”.

I recommend reserving a day, time, and place where, every week, you and your child will explore the prizes that they have earned enough to purchase.  Of course, material objects are not the only way to reward them.  Incentives could also include quality time, words of affirmation, or whatever might be in line with your reader’s personality, so long as you both stay safe and have fun.

It’s important to keep in mind that every individual learns differently and at varying speeds.  So, please be gentle and patient with your reader throughout these exercises and projects.  Try to keep the atmosphere light, and remember that this is supposed to be fun.

You’ll also find a fun project that solves Bacci Coin storage within this digital download.  Readers can create their own “Bacci Positive Reinforcement Box” from cool, recycled or upcycled objects, like boxes, which they can decorate in any way they want.  You can suggest markers, crayons, paint, papier mache, a collage, or just let their imagination run wild with whatever art supplies you may have on hand.  It’s a great way for you to nurture their creativity and for them to feel your support.  Feel free to ask some age-appropriate, open-ended questions during this activity, as well.

I am so excited to see what you do with your custom Bacci Coins and Bacci Positive Reinforcement Box.  Teachers, parents, and legal guardians are welcome to post an image of their reader(s)’s finished product on our social media channels.  You’ll find us @baccikid and through #MyBacciBox.  I can’t wait for you to be a part of the Bacci & J’aime Community!

Sports & Exercise

Another section in the planner provides a space for tracking your child’s physical activity.  Bacci has provided sports stickers to help you encourage readers to try new forms of exercise.  It’s important to include kids in deciding which sports or activities to attempt.  Please be sure to keep their age and safety in mind while doing this, as well as to get their legal guardian’s consent.  After doing the sport that you and the reader have chosen together, place a sticker in the planner next to the corresponding activity.  Adult supervision and age-appropriate equipment are required for the safety of readers, and I ask that you be patient, mindful, and supportive throughout the activity.  Have fun moving your body!

Creativity Through Fashion

Even fashion sense is something we’ll explore in this daily planner.  Readers are asked to pull together their own outfits in the morning and pajamas for sleeping at night.  It also introduces the concept of sleep-focused mindfulness meditations to prepare the mind and body for sweet dreams.

For the Best Results

To get the most out of this planner, consistency is key.  It’s a commitment!  It’s also helpful to keep readers aware of any changes that may come up as you go along.  Additionally, it can be used as a behavior modification tool when teachers communicate with their students and parents, introduce healthy coping mechanisms for dealing with divorce or other significant life stressors, and strengthen the bond between children and the adults in their lives, from parents to grandparents, babysitters, and beyond.

As you’ll see, J’aime and Bacci remind readers and adults to maintain social distancing and mask requirements as they go through their daily routines to protect everyone’s health.  I hope you enjoy this educational adventure with my silly, adventurous, likable, loveable, empathetic, smart, caring, and curious kitty son, Bacci.  It’s a wonderful experience for all involved!  Please keep in mind that this exercise is for learning purposes only and is not intended to replace any form of mental health treatment.  It is only a suggestion for teaching children how to structure and embrace daily routines. For more information, please visit www.baccikid.com.

With love,

J