Three and four is where a chart starts genuinely working, as long as the scale is right. The usual mistake is borrowing a design meant for a seven-year-old.
What changes at this age
They can now hold the idea that things add up. What they cannot hold is a week. A prize on Saturday is a story on Monday and nothing at all by Wednesday morning.
| Three to four | Six and up | |
|---|---|---|
| Sensible target | Three to five stickers | Twenty or more |
| Time to reach it | Today, or tomorrow | Several days to a couple of weeks |
| Number of lines | Two or three | Six to ten |
| Prize | Small, and now | Can be saved toward |
A shape that works
Three boxes, one thing you are working on, and the prize is something that happens the moment the third box is filled. Then start again tomorrow. It looks almost too simple and it is the version that survives, because it finishes inside the length of time a four-year-old can actually hold on to.
The lines should be things they can do without help. A chart aimed at something they cannot yet manage alone is a chart that mostly records your supervision, and it teaches them that the boxes fill when you are standing there.