The Naughty Spot

My son, Little Man, is 3. I’ve heard 3 is more trying on the parents than the ‘terrible twos.’ In the past year we have been implementing timeouts. They are effective for us and I like them as a teaching tool. However my son needs boundaries (where to sit & stay during timeouts). I was using the forced hot air heating grate in the floor as the designated spot this summer but then remembered that this winter those metal grates would be hotter than hot if he needed a timeout while the furnace was on.
So I moved on to plan B. I made my own naughty spot.
I just used my silhouette machine and a free font-Pupcat. I designed a circle shape and put the text inside, cut the vinyl in my machine then, when it was done I peeled away the letters and outside the circle to leave me with the ‘negative’ space to put on my floor.
Here is the fun part: Don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut?? You can make one too! Go into paint or Photoshop or some similar image software. Draw a circle and insert text into it. Then go and get yourself some of this:

I got mine at Wal-mart about a year ago but I’m sure they still have it. 

If not you can buy full sheet adhesive paper at Papertrey, Ink. 

 

The only negative I can see with this method is that you only get white stickers (unless you draw your circle and fill it with color on the computer) and it might take you a little time.
So draw your circle in your image software and type your text inside the circle. Load your sticker paper in your printer according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the package and print out your design. Then take an craft knife or small sharp scissors and cut the circle then the letters out. Make sure you keep the interiors of the the letters O, A, P, etc. so that you can place those on the floor too.
Then just peel off your backing and press your sticker to the floor in the desired spot! Most adhesive printable sheets are low tac or low adhesive so they shouldn’t harm your floor when you remove them but I would test a small piece of sticker in a corner or under a piece of furniture to see. (Same with vinyl- it should be ok but it’s always best to test!)

Other variations of this could include putting it on the seat of a child-sized wooden/plastic chair (or an adult sized one if your adults need time outs too!) or on a piece of vinyl/laminate flooring remnant cut to size and painted a fun color (that way you can take it to Grandma’s or the babysitters to promote consistency in timeouts). Also use that sticker trick to make any and all wall decorations you want without having to buy a Cricut/Silhouette/cutter machine! :) Frugal & you still get to jump on the bandwagon of vinyl!

Hope you all have a happy day!


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