Are your mornings filled with calm or chaos? This morning routine for children works for us year round, whether in school or far away from home on vacation. I have found most morning chaos comes from children either not knowing what I expect, or getting distracted before they can actually DO what they are supposed to. These simple printable morning charts solve both of those problems. Calm is closer than you think my friends!
Does this sound familiar? We took an impromptu “school break” one winter, mostly because I needed a little time to regroup, refocus, and reorganize. As a homeschooling mom, I feel trapped in a constant school vs. household battle where one or the other (or both, HA!) gets out of whack. I think, “If I could just stop schooling and use that time to catch up with _______” our life would be so much smoother.
However, by day two of our break…I was already regretting it! My little monkeys were fighting all day, and it seemed like the “no school” announcement was cause to want to sit on the couch, beg for movies, and do nothing productive all day.
Thankfully, the Lord always brings beauty for ashes, and from the furnace of my frustration came a light bulb moment…our morning five! I wanted to make some fancy worksheets on the computer, but they needed to wait. Instead, each child got a half sheet of cardstock and their choice of “fancy” sharpie markers to trace their hand.
Ponder this for a minute:
If my children could do (these five jobs independently), our home would run much more smoothly every morning.
Okay friends, your preschooler driving themselves to school is not realistic. hehe They can make their bed though. If they haven’t learned yet, it’s the perfect time to teach them. If their bed is too complicated to make, with a gazillion pillows that have to be perfect and an army of stuffed animals to put into place, it is time to simplify!
These are the jobs I decided my children needed to complete each morning before any sort of play would be happening:
- Make your bed
- Get dressed (and put away your pajamas)
- Eat breakfast (Fruit first, and take your vitamins too)
- Brush your teeth
- Brush your hair
So I snuck a few more than five in there, but who’s counting?
They illustrated their reminders all by themselves, and then stuck them up on the fridge so they “can rebember dem every morning.” Fast forward five years, and our morning five is still going strong. I won’t lie…with five children and twin toddlers (Preschoolers! How did that happen?), our mornings often seem more like a three ring circus! However, it is not because they don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, hehe. We finally did get around to making some snazzy printables too.
Bilingual Morning Routine Cards
If you want more flexibility in the order your children do their morning routine, try these morning routine cards. They include more options like using the potty, taking vitamins, or prayer time. These adorable cards are color-coded with English in blue and Spanish in red. They come in a full color version or coloring book version, or you can just print them in black and white. You can print off the whole sheet and use it as is, or cut them into cards and use them a few different ways:
1) A great way to use this chart with more than one child, is to use color coded magnets. I used a wet erase marker to write my twins initials, and help them know exactly where to put their magnet. As they finish each job, they put their magnet on their letter. (We have bible time, then a bathroom break before school starts so no magnet is necessary. I just put them on their independent jobs.)
2) If you homeschool or are a teacher mama, chances are you have a pocket chart at home. These cards are 3″ by 2″ which fit great in a small pocket chart.
3) I love the flexibility of choosing the cards and specific order for each child. These go in the front of our calendar notebook, which is their first “school job” of the day. (We actually designed these to fit perfectly in baseball card holders. They are easy to find in the U.S., but if you live abroad or shop on amazon, you can buy baseball card holders here.)
4) If you prefer a super portable version, just hole punch the corner and put them on a ring. Children can carry them around and flip to the next thing to stay on track.
People have liked the bilingual option and clear illustrations so much…we have an entire eBook in the works! It will include afternoon, evening, homeschool, and cleaning routines! Stay tuned, and leave a comment below with any chores or “jobs” you would like to see us include.
Do you need a little help bringing routine into your summer? Check out this post with more FREE printable routine cards.
Love this!! I like the choices you’ve given to utilize the cards and those colour magnets are awesome!
Thanks so much Lisa!