My school is collecting box tops, and there's a contest among the classes to try to bring in the most. First grade has been lagging behind (we're not even in the top three!), so I came up with something that has really incentivized my students to bring in box tops. And that thing is . . .
a PIGGY BANK! I told my kids that whoever brings in box tops gets to put them in our piggy bank. (They asked me what our pig's name was, so I had to name him on the spot. I decided to call him Wilbur, although none of the kids got the reference!) I got this piggy bank a few years ago at Target, for no other reason than that I thought it was adorable. I think Target still sells them, although maybe not in this color anymore. (I've seen fantastically cute piggy banks at Home Goods as well.)
Anyways, my kids are DYING to drop box tops into Wilbur, and since I came up with the idea on Monday, four kids have brought in entire sandwich bags of boxtops. (I know four kids doesn't sound like that many, but it's a huge jump from ZERO, which is where we were before. I had been subsidizing our class's box top contribution thus far.) True, it's a little bit more work using the piggy bank, because then I need to pry the cover off the hole in the bottom, take a few moments to get out all the box tops (some of them have been surprisingly difficult to pull out), and then squeeze the cover back over the opening before putting all the box tops in the envelope they're supposed to be turned in with. But it's either that or being the class that isn't contributing, so I do it!
Learn from me, however: you need to trim the edges of the larger box tops (or those that haven't really been trimmed at all) before the kids drop them in, otherwise they're difficult to get out through the hole in the bottom.
If we're going to win this thing though, I'm going to have to figure out something else to get those box tops in. Maybe I'll give kids a trip to the treasure box for every ten box tops they bring in? Something to think about . . .
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