Put on lotion
The cold shock as lotion meets skin, and the stickiness that hangs around afterwards, is enough to make many children back away before the bottle is even opened. The visual support below splits the routine into body parts, so your child can see how much is left.
♂Squeezing lotion onto the arm
A tube of lotion is squeezed and a blob lands on the forearm.
♂Spreading the lotion
The lotion is spread out in a white streak along the forearm.
♂Rubbing the lotion in
One hand holds a pump bottle while the other rubs the cream into the skin of the arm.
About this visual support
Skin that already feels tight meets something cold and wet that has to be spread over arms, legs and back. Knowing the sticky feeling stays for a while afterwards means the resistance often starts long before the tube is opened. For some children the problem is not the lotion itself but touch arriving from several directions with no warning.
A visual schedule makes the whole thing predictable by breaking the body into clear stages: legs, arms, tummy, back. When your child can see that only four pictures remain, the discomfort has an end point instead of feeling endless. One practical move is to let your child pump the lotion out and warm it between their palms before it touches skin, and to place the worst body part last in the picture row. Firm pressure is often easier to tolerate than light stroking, and the same order every evening removes the argument about where to start.
In Routined you can build lotion time as its own routine, in the order that works in your home, and try the app for 14 days at no cost.
Use this image in a schedule
Build your own visual schedule with this image and download it as a print-ready PDF. Completely free.
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Take the visual supports with you
In Routined you build schedules from these pictures, add timers and voice instructions, and your child follows the day on their own.
* 14-day free trial included for new users.