Ideas for posting morning and bedtime routines.

For the last 3 years I have tried a few different ways of setting up morning and before bed routines.  Some set-ups have worked better than others and I will share what I've tried and what's worked best for me.  Different ideas work better with different ages of children and different temperments of child and parent.

Ideas for posting routines:

Picture Cards (for 2 -7 year olds):  Before our children learn to read we used pictures to represent tasks.  You and your child could collect the pictures together from magazines or catalouges.  Or you and your child could draw the pictures together.  The list we are currently using has pictures I have drawn (trust me when I tell you that only my child and I know what I've drawn, they are that simple).  The pictures don't have to be elaborate.  Just a simple drawing that your child understands is all you need.  We've also used picture cards my husband (who is a reading specialist) printed off at school.  If you choose to print task pictures you can go here or here.  Both have many appropriate task pictures.  We put these on 2 mac tacked strips of bristol board with the picture cards glued on in a column. 

Simple Paper Taped to the Door (for any age):  This is actually what we're using now.  I have a 5 and 7 year old.  The 7 year old can read and the 5 year old is just starting.  I have the words/phrases of the tasks (for the 7 year old) with very simple drawings of the task beside each word/phrase (for the 5 year old).  This actually has two benefits; not only does it let the girls know what tasks they need to do, it also aids my 5 year old in learning how to read.  Everyday she sees the same words next to the picture.  I bet if I took away the pictures she could recognize what the tasks are by the look of the words/phrases.  This is such a simple way of letting your children know what's expected of them.  If my girls get off task, I just say, "do your list, girls," and they know what to do.

Page Protectors and Dry Erase Markers (for any age):  Put your list of tasks in a page protector(the morning routine and before bed routine back to back in the page protector).  As your child completes a task she/he can cross it off with the dry erase marker.  When the tasks are all complete wipe the dry erase marker off the page protector and it's ready for tomorrow.  We had our routines clipped onto our fridge with a fridge clip.  The marker was kept beside the list with a wad of fun tack (just smoosh the marker into the fun tack and stick it to the fridge).  The thing I didn't like about this was that my kid's markers kept veering off the page and on the fridge and then they'd fight about who got which marker.  If you have a child who is more careful with markers (I don't) or if you're willing to supervise the stroking off (I wasn't), then this might work very well for you.

Task Cards on a Bulletin Board (for any age):  This version didn't last long for me.  I made a whole bunch of little cards with the tasks for the day on each.  I punched a hole in the top of each card and kept my child's task collection on a binder ring.  I also had a small bulletin board with rows of thumbtacks on it and a laminated pocket attached to the bottom of it.  Each day I would hang the day's tasks on the thumbtacks and as each task was completed the child could put it into the envelope.  When I did the routines this way I also included cards that said/showed playdate, library, treat time (Because I got sick of the continuous request for treats.  This way, if it was on the chart they knew they were getting a treat and if it wasn't on the chart then they weren't.  No begging).

Please adapt and experiment with different ways of using these ideas and let me know how it goes.  I'm always looking for better ways to do things.  Bottom line is do what works best for you.