S’Mores Up helps kids practice and improve the following skills:

Organization: Arranging and coordinating materials in order to complete a task.

Arranging one person’s schedule can be taxing enough, but trying to organize an entire family can be very complex. The S’Mores Up app is a way for children to see good organization skills being modeled by their parents as well as give them ample opportunities to practice and strengthen this skill themselves. Children can add their own activities to the family calendar, use the app to see what chores they need to complete, and keep track of how many “S’Mores” they have earned by completing their chores. For children who struggle with organizing, parents should sit with their children and guide them through the first stages of setting up their calendar. This will ensure that they feel comfortable using the app and know where to check for family events, chores, etc. 

Planning: Developing a systematic approach for setting and achieving goals.

The Chore and Reward system built into this app is a perfect way for children to practice planning. Rather than just receiving a weekly allowance, the user needs to check the app to see what chores need to be done and check for what rewards they earned as a result. Because the user can also choose from a list of rewards on which to spend their S’Mores, they need to plan out how many they need to earn to obtain a certain reward. For kids who struggle with making a plan and sticking to it, parents can start with a limited number of chores and rewards until their child is more familiar with how the system works. Once they have a little more experience with planning for a certain reward they want, parents can then add a variety of rewards and chores to the list, further strengthening their child’s planning skills.