I am a huge fan of helping children learn self-reflection. When I was a middle school math teacher, I would always take the time to speak with students individually about their behaviors, and part of the consequence for breaking classroom norms (I didn’t call them rules) was usually to write me a note regarding their actions. I found that giving children opportunities to understand the consequences of their choices helped undesirable behaviors happen less while fostering mutual respect and the desire to do what was right.
Now that I am a full-time mom, and although my children are still very young, I am preparing for how to teach my children about proper behaviors and consequences of various actions. One method I plan to use is “Time Out”. I really like how it provides time for reflection while also giving a fairly natural consequence to the situation. I have recently decided that having a dedicated Time Out space is a good idea too.
I see Time Out chairs on my Pinterest feed all the time – they have cute sayings, exciting paint, and interesting details. Click on one, though, and you’ll find that some seem rather expensive if you go the pre-made route. Many are more complex than I wanted too. So, I set out to make my own. (On a side note, my steps for this project could also be used to create a label on just about anything. I actually use this same process to put labels on water bottles, sayings on wood, and more.)
My adventure started with finding the perfect chair. I really liked this one because the space-saving nature of folding up was appealing to me… not to mention it would be easier to transport around the house if needed. Once my chair came in the mail, I just needed a few materials to get started. All of the materials I used were:
- Chair (with a back, like this one)
- Adhesive Vinyl Sheets (like these)
- Clear Contact Paper (like this, but I have found it at the dollar store too)
- Cricut (I use a Cricut Explore Air 2) (While I did this with a Cricut, you could also create the design on Microsoft Word, print it, trace it on the vinyl, and carefully cut it out of the vinyl by hand with scissors.)
- Cricut weeding tools (like these)
First, I made my design on Cricut Design Space. You can use any font and design, just make sure it is set to “cut” and that you are prepared to “weed” your design out. In other words, the more complicated your design, the more labor-intensive the weeding out process will be.
Then, I made sure the surface I wanted to add the writing to was clean.
Next, I had my daughter pick out the color of the adhesive vinyl. She chose this bright red color. I placed the vinyl face-up on the cutting mat, made sure my measurements were correct, and that the machine was set to “vinyl.” Then the Cricut could do its magic.
After all that, I used the Cricut tools to “weed” out (or pull off) the negative space on my design and use clear contact paper to remove the design from the vinyl sheet. (Make sure the non-sticky side of the vinyl is on the sticky side of the contact paper, as you want the sticky vinyl side to still be available for adhering it to the surface of your choice.)
I then lined up the vinyl design onto the chair surface and thoroughly rubbed it into place (there is a Cricut tool for that specifically).
Slowly, I pulled the clear contact paper away. This left the vinyl attached to the chair. If any vinyl started to come up with the contact paper, I just pressed it firmly in place again.
All finished! I probably will not use this chair for a while yet, but I feel ready when the time does come. (I even bought some 
