Put on shin guards
Two hands, a guard that has to stay put, a sock that has to slide over without tilting it — that's a choreography that takes time to learn. The visual schedule below breaks the movement into grips a child can manage alone.
Soccer Sports Bottle
A blue sports bottle with a white soccer ball logo.
About this visual support
This is one of the few dressing moments where two limbs must move independently. One hand presses the guard flat against the shin while the other pulls the sock up. If the guard slides a centimetre, you start again. If the sock goes over without the guard being centred, it sits crooked for the whole match.
Telling the child to hold still doesn't help — holding still is exactly the hard part. The visual schedule shows each grip as its own card: hand on guard, sock at ankle, sock up, check position. A concrete tip: have the child sit on the floor with the foot flat against a sofa leg or a low box. The fixed resistance stops the guard rotating, and both hands stay free for the sock.
In the Routined app you can slot this in as a sub-step within a longer football or training routine. The cards also work well printed and pinned in the hallway where the kit bag lives.