Morning Routine with Young Children Made Easier – Free Printable

This fall my five year old, Zane, started Kindergarten. Zane is the type of little boy that has an intense imagination and is often distracted by the smallest things. Zane works and moves at his own pace and rhythm and can be very frustrating. As a Mom on a tight schedule trying to manage four kids getting ready for school on time each morning, all with a positive attitude, no yelling and tear free, often times only achieving one of the above.

After three weeks of tumultuous mornings each of which left me feeling like a bad or mean Mom when the kids walked out the door because I inevitably yelled or made one or more of the kids cry before heading to school for a long day that started out miserably. It was time to get creative and find something that worked.

I could fall back on the fail safe and just throw the idea of independence out the window and just continue to dress Zane myself, thus keeping him on task, on time and happy. Sounds great right? Except for the fact that he was in all day Kindergarten, it was time for him to step up to the plate. He was old enough to dress himself in the morning. No one would be there every lunch hour to dress him in his snow pants, jacket, gloves, hat and boots all winter long, five days a week for recess. He had to learn to manage his time more effectively and independently. But how?

I came up with a chart that enables Zane to take control of the situation, have no excuses and work on a small reward system. This chart freed up my mornings to manage all four kids in a more pleasant, happy and motivating beginning of the day. I can print an extra copy each week and tape in to the inside of Zane’s cubby locker at school to keep him on track while dressing for recess and the end of the day.

These charts have been SO amazing I had to share them with my readers! I changed them up a bit so you can print the charts out and write in your child’s name to give it a personal touch.Save the template to your computer to print out as needed when the chart is filled. Click to enlarge before printing, when printing be sure to change the print layout to landscape.

Dressing, Getting Dressed, Clothing Order

Dressing Order for Winter Dont forget list to keep kids organized

Since we began using these lists, Zane has been more independent and even my three year old has started to use one while he gets ready so he can be just like his big brother. These charts take out the guessing game for kids. They just dress themselves in the order listed. On the first chart there are spaces below for kids to color in or check off as they finish each item, once the chart is filled completely you can enable to a small reward system. Your child will fill with pride as they dress themselves each morning like a big kid!

Will you be using either of these charts? Do you have a system for morning routines?

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