Tasks
Five bullet points on a note look manageable to an adult. To the child they all weigh the same, and the question of which one to do first is what stalls everything. The pictures below give the tasks size and a visible starting point.
♂Tasks
A boy holds a red t-shirt and a sponge beside a vacuum cleaner, dishes and a calendar with a tick.
♀Tasks
A person holds an open book and a gear, with a clipboard and a tick above.
♀Tasks
A person holds a clipboard with ticks and has a thought bubble showing a broom, a washing machine and a calendar.
About this visual support
A list with no sense of scale is harder than it looks. Homework, the note to the teacher, the clean laundry and the rabbit hutch all sit on the same line, and nothing in the list says which takes two minutes and which takes half an hour. When everything weighs the same, the energy goes into choosing rather than doing, and what is left is a child sitting perfectly still with the whole list untouched.
Pictures change this by giving tasks a body. A frame is one thing, it can be turned over when finished, and the number of remaining frames stays visible out of the corner of the eye. Number the cards rather than leaving them loose, and put the shortest job first: two minutes of work that clears a frame counts for more than it sounds, because starting is the hard part. Build tomorrow's row together the evening before, and the morning avoids both negotiation and decisions.
The same thing works in the Routined app, where you assemble the task list with images, order and tick-off. Try it for 14 days at no cost, and download the visual support on this page for free.
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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A smiling girl hugs a notebook beside a stack of books and a pencil.
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A person leans forward and writes with a blue pen on a stack of paper.
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A smiling boy holds a blue pen and some sheets of paper, ready to write.
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Two hands hold a weekly calendar with small symbols in the boxes and a pen.
Pack homework
A smiling person is packing books and papers into an open blue backpack.
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.