We, Andrew Cotton and Catherine Dumbravo of Rancho Mission Viejo, Calif., have invented a device and process for tracking children's education and behavior as well as creating incentives for the children to reach their daily goals and long term successes. The device is a stylized board that will have moving parts on separate tracks, where some parts can be moved laterally, forward and backward during a day in a life of a child, as symbols for rewards or criticisms regarding certain behaviors. Some other parts can be revolved on an axle to eventually reveal a hidden image that indicates a larger reward is due for outstanding achievement. The process is the means for moving the parts on the board, either forward or backward on a track or on the revolving axle, to monitor and reward the child's activities and behaviors.
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The board is stylized with a theme depending on the targeted demographic. For instance, in one embodiment, the theme relates to characters in a garden inhabited by a Royal Bee and Worker Bees as depicted in the accompanying drawings. In another embodiment, the characters are located at sea with roving pirates and sailors. In another embodiment, the characters are located in outer space with floating astronauts. And in another embodiment, the characters are located in Medieval Times with knights and princesses. Other embodiments can also be implemented on the stylized board.
Each theme depicts the same two principal characters, Phil, a fox, and Sophia, a rabbit, but in different settings. There are four sections on each stylized board identified as “Opportunities,” “Choices,” “Long Term Successes,” and “Daily Goals.” The “Opportunities” section is used to monitor and reward performance of a set of ten acts identified as: “Mornings,” “Listen,” “Eat,” “Punctual,” “Manners,” “Respect,” “Grateful,” “Learn,” “Clean,” and “Bedtime.” Upon performance of each of the ten acts during a given day in the life of a child, a raised piece is moved laterally from left to right, across a track in the “Choices” section, by the child's parent to record performance of the act. Provided that if a child errs, even after completing one of the ten acts, then the raised piece is moved backward, from left to right. The child's goal is also to complete at least eight of the ten acts where the piece has been moved to the right side of the track on a given day. At the end of the day, the pieces are reset and moved back to the left side of the track. When the child meets his or her goal in a given day, then in the “Long Term Success” section of the board one of seven pieces mounted on axles is revolved to reveal part of a hidden picture, where the hidden picture is part of the theme. After seven days of successfully completing the performance acts, meaning performance of at least eight of the acts, then the entire hidden picture is revealed. The revealing of the entire hidden picture justifies giving the child a reward. After the hidden picture is revealed, the pieces are reset to again conceal the hidden picture.
In the “Daily Goals” section, an outstanding act by a child is recorded by moving a special piece laterally from right to left across a track, entitling the child to an even more significant reward. After the reward is given, the piece is reset to the left side of the track.
The present method of pre-school children's behavior tracking, is very simplistic typically involving boards that permit the use of erasable markers, stickers, or magnets to record a child's performance. The purpose of tracking performance is to allow a parent to recall what the child has accomplished during the day and then display performance to the child so that he or she can achieve a level of satisfaction.
In the current state of the art, the typical boards only track whether tasks have been completed and allow either a designation of rewardable or punishable behavior. The prior art does not have a story telling element that is present in this invention. Here the child has an incentive to see the progress of the story developing on the board as he or she performs the identified acts.
The stylized board, known as “Better me Boards”™ can either be kept on a flat surface or it can be hung on a wall. The stylized board includes a front and a back. The front part of the stylized board is used to track performance of educational goals, completion of chores, good behaviors, or a combination of the foregoing. The back of the board contains the rules and instructions for engaging in the process.
The stylized board's display is three dimensional. The front of the board has an artistic design which is presents a story line. There are moving parts or characters that are placed on either a track for lateral movement or are placed on an axle for revolving movement.
Applicants' device contains a stylized board 14 on
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The “Long Term Success 15” section contains a hidden image 17 under seven rotatably connected panels. At the end of each calendar day, where at least eight of the ten raised, slidably connected markers 21 is in the second position of rest on the right side 24 of the path 23 in the “Choices 13” section then the child has achieved a success, and one of the seven rotatably connected panels for instance 402 on
The “Daily Goals 18” section is used to reward the child's performance of a significantly creative act unrelated to the ten acts in the “Opportunities 1” section, by the child's parent laterally moving a raised character 19 from a first position of rest 25, across a track 26 to a second position of rest 20. After the child is rewarded in the “Daily Goals” section, the character 19 is moved back from the second position of rest 20, across the track 26 to the first position of rest 25.
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In one embodiment Phil and Sophia are collecting honey and then selling the collected honey on a stand. The board has a list of ten “Opportunities” identified as “Mornings,” “Listen,” “Eat,” “Punctual,” “Manners,” “Respect,” “Grateful,” “Learn,” “Clean,” and “Bedtime.” In another embodiment a parent-user can create and insert other opportunities. When the child successfully completes an “Opportunity,” there is a means for a raised worker bee in the “Choices” section to be moved laterally on a track from a grassy area to a flower. There are ten flowers and ten worker bees. There is a means for worker bees to be moved on a mechanical track. If the child has a misstep the worker bee can be moved backwards. The means for moving the worker bee include a lever connected to the track which can be operated by hand, by switch on the board activating an electric motor, or remotely activating the switch for the electric motor.
If the child completes an outstanding act for which the parent wishes to provide an additional reward, there is a section of the board entitled “Daily Goals.” In this example, the “Daily Goals” section includes an image with three garden flowers and a honey pot. There is a “Royal Bee” which represents a particularly outstanding act. There is a means for moving the “Royal Bee” over the three garden flowers, until she eventually makes it to the honey pot. There is also a means for moving the “Royal Bee” on a mechanical track. The means for moving the “Royal Bee” include a lever connected to the track which can be operated by hand, by switch on the board activating an electric motor, or remotely activating the switch for the electric motor.
There is another section on the board entitled “Long-Term Success.” There is a hidden image with revolving pieces. In this example, the hidden image is a honey stand. If eight out of the ten worker bees remain on their flowers at the end of the day, there is a means for removing one of the pieces of a hidden image to reveal part of a picture. After seven successful days, the entire honey stand image is revealed. The means for removing the pieces of the hidden image include having the removable pieces attached by Velco™ or similar fastening material to the board so as to allow for repeated or alternating removal and re-attachment.
All of the sections designated as “Opportunities,” “Daily Goals,” “Choices,” and “Long Term Successes” and the ten acts designated as “Mornings,” “Listen,” “Eat,” “Punctual,” “Manners,” “Respect,” “Grateful,” “Learn,” “Clean,” and “Bedtime” can be removed and replaced with equivalent words in Spanish. Translation to other languages is also possible.
A separate treasure chest contains prizes to reward the child's performance of a significantly creative act unrelated to the ten acts in the “Daily Goals” section.
The process of using the device, involves moving the pieces to reward or criticize the child's behavior or completion of certain goals. The pieces in the “Opportunity” and “Daily Goals” sections of the board move along a track. The pieces in the “Long Term Success” are able to revolve so as to reveal the image on the underside. The rules for the process of using the device or playing the game
Various embodiments described above may be combined with each other in connection with the claimed device. Further, the order of steps in the claimed method may be changed. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to a person of ordinary skill in the art. It is intended that the specification and embodiments be considered as exemplary only.
Applicants claim priority of a provisional application, No. 62/628,052, filed Feb. 8, 2018.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62628052 | Feb 2018 | US |