Token Board Template, Reward Chart and Token Economy Kit

A token board template is a printable board with a set number of token spaces (often 3, 5 or 10) and a reward box. The learner earns a token for each target behavior and, when the board is full, trades the tokens for a reward chosen beforehand.

A token board is the visible part of a token economy: a reinforcement system in which tokens (stars, coins, checks) are earned for specific behaviors and later exchanged for backup reinforcers such as an activity, a toy or time with a favorite person. Behavior analysts, special education teachers and parents use it because it bridges the gap between the behavior and a reward that cannot be delivered every few seconds.

This page gives you a free printable 5-token board, explains how a token board differs from a reward chart, and walks through setting up, running and fading a token economy, with a worked example. The full kit adds 3 and 10 token boards, a first-then board, a picture choice menu, 36 cut-out tokens, a token economy plan for the BCBA or teacher and a spreadsheet tracker. It is one of our ABA data sheets and trackers.

People search for all three, and they are related but not the same. The main differences are how quickly the learner gets the reward and how many behaviors the system covers.

A reward chart is effectively a token economy with a long delay. If a child does not respond to a weekly reward chart, the delay is often the problem: start with a token board that fills in a few minutes, then stretch it toward a daily chart once the system works. A token economy chart in a classroom usually sits between the two, with points or tokens per period and an exchange at the end of the day.

This is a sample scenario for illustration, not a real client. Sam is 6 and leaves his seat during table work. The team writes one target behavior: "stays seated with feet on the floor and works on the task." A preference check shows Sam picks the tablet, bubbles and building blocks most often.

• Week 1: 3-token board, one token about every 1 to 2 minutes of seated work, each exchange buys 2 minutes of his chosen activity. Sam fills 6 boards per 30-minute session on average and accepts every exchange.
• Week 2: criterion met (3 sessions in a row with every board filled and no refusal), so the team moves to a 5-token board. Exchanges drop to 4 per session.
• Week 4: criterion met again. The team moves to 10 tokens, adds a second target behavior (asking for a break with a card) and raises the access time to 3 minutes per exchange.

On the daily token tracker, each period gets a row: time, target behavior, tokens shaded, tokens exchanged, reinforcer chosen and initials. Entered into the spreadsheet's Token Log, those rows show the daily totals, which rewards Sam picks most and whether the current thinning step's criterion has been met.

Thinning means asking for more tokens, or more behavior per token, as the learner succeeds, so the behavior holds up with less frequent reinforcement. The goal is a system closer to what happens naturally at school, home or work, with praise and natural rewards doing most of the work.

Write the steps and the criterion for moving on before you start. A sample thinning plan:

If the learner stops earning, refuses the board or problem behavior rises, step back to the last successful step and thin more slowly. The kit's plan page has this thinning table, and the spreadsheet shows the current step and the date each criterion was met. To measure the target behavior itself alongside tokens, pair it with the behavior tracking sheet.