Thursday, September 16, 2010

Routines

If you've ever had difficulties getting your toddlers ready for anything, you'll appreciate the importance of a good routine.

You've probably seen various routine charts before and available for sale.  These might work for some people, but I wanted something that would be easy to understand and could be personalised for our family.

I created two routines, one for the morning and one for the evening. Our routine charts use pictures, since my kids can't read... yet.




Our morning routine is pretty self explanatory. It explains all the activites needed to be done to get out the door or simply ready for the day.  

 


Our evening routine basically starts from just before dinner is served and also lets my littlies know what each step is before bed. I made these original charts back in May and some things have changed slightly, so I will be updating both charts soonish.

These charts live in a plastic sleeve on our fridge.  It simply gets turned around depending on what chart we need to use.

Here's how to make your own chart:
1. Write down your morning and evening routines separately on a piece of paper.
2. Open Publisher or similar program. Type in each step.
3. Insert a relevant image for each step.
4. Print and place in a plastic sleeve protector or laminate.
5. Stick it up for all to see!

You could create a routine chart for just about anything or use this same idea for a chores chart. Either list any chores you expect your child to complete or use a step by step list on how to clean the bathroom, for example.

Hope this helps. Now, to get my hands on a laminator and go nuts!

3 comments:

  1. Great idea !! I used it in my Kindergarten ESL class ! I even copied and pasted it and put it on the parents'newsletter so they can review with their kids.
    Kathleen Tillie
    Kindergarten principal Istek Kemal Ataturk School in Istanbul
    Turkey

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  2. Thanks Kathleen!
    I have done new charts since this one, but we still have lots of success with the kids knowing what to do each morning when getting ready for preschool thanks to our routine charts which live on our wall!

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