Encouraging Kids to Collect Box Tops for Education

Last week, I told you about how Box Tops for Education can be used with Homeschool groups, but even if you don’t have an eligible group in your area, you can still be collecting these little cardboard squares to build up your community. There are over 80,000 K-8th grade schools participating in the Box Tops for Education program, so hopefully, there is a program near you!

Box Tops for Education has become a wonderful opportunity to teach character education to my kids. I love having the kids do service projects. Some seasons are easier than others to get the kids engaged, and this project is one that the kids can work on without much help from you!

All you need to do is go shopping for the same foods you typically purchase (and keep your eye out for Bonus Box Tops on select Walmart products!) and then let the kids take charge.

Bug is really getting excited about Box Tops for Education. He’s got an eagle eye for the little labels, and loves to cut them out for me. Taking the garbage and recycling out is typically his chore to do anyways, and cutting the tops adds just a minute or two to his routine.

I made some reward charts to encourage him to stay diligent with collecting the box tops. He gets to fill one space for every box top he collects, and I told him when he fills in his entire chart, he can decide which program (either the co-op or one of the local schools) to send his Box Tops into. I printed his reward chart on cardstock to make it sturdy, and taped the ziplock to collect the Box Tops to the back of the page. We keep his chart on the fridge so it’s easy to get a hold of every time he goes to take out the trash.

Collecting Box Tops for Education is such a simple way to teach your children to give back to their communities. Every Box Top they collect is 10 cents for a school or co-op, and 10 cents here and there add up quickly if everyone is collecting the labels! Box Tops come on many different products, so you are sure to have at least a few in your pantry already!

Get your kids started collecting them today, and download some of our free reward charts to get them started!