Preschool morning routine

About this visual support

The morning before preschool is unusually dense. Wake up, eat, get dressed, brush teeth, fetch the bag, put on outdoor clothes. Six things in a short window, and most of them have a fixed place in the order. Let an interruption slip in, a cat, a question, a missing sock, and many children lose the thread entirely and end up standing there in pyjamas again.

A visual schedule keeps that thread outside the child's head. After the interruption they can go back to the board, see which step was already done, and carry on from there instead of restarting. For children who are easily pulled off course, that is often the difference between a calm morning and a morning of twenty reminders.

Hang the schedule where the morning actually happens, in the hallway or on the fridge door, not in the bedroom. Make the last two pictures the shoes and the front door, so the ending is unmistakable and the countdown feels short. In the Routined app the morning routine can carry a time per step, so the child sees how much is left before you leave.