Morning Routine Checklist for kids

Every week day I get 4 kids up (well actually they wake at the crack of dawn, but that is another tale of woe!) and ready for school. People with fewer children often ask me how I do it and I reply honestly – ‘badly!!’ I am nothing if not a trier though and I am a positive thinker. So everyday I wake up thinking today it will go better and I am always looking for new ways to motivate the kids to get ready quickly and without fuss. I have found some things that really do help us to have a calmer morning which is as stress free as possible. Something that has really helped me is having a morning routine checklist for kids.

morning routine checklist

Morning Routine Checklist =less stress

We have an individual morning routine checklist for each of the kids. The idea is that everyone knows what they have to do and can tick or mark what they have completed. Once all their ‘job’s are done they can relax and play until it is time to go. Having this morning routine chart doesn’t stop that last few minute stress of getting out the door, but I have other ways of getting kids out the door in the morning such as keeping scooters or bikes in a front garden lock up.

What the morning checklist does achieve though is preventing me being stuck on repeat. I have to spend less time repeating ‘ have you cleaned your teeth?’ and so on. I can see whether they have or not and they can take ownership for their progress.

Encourages Independence

I think it is really important to start to teach the kids to be more independent and self sufficient. I am sure that many of you feel like you over protect or coddle your children…. I know I do!

It is hard to let them take over responsibility for things as we actually do want them to be on time and remember their homework, but in the long run though I know I have to let them go. I can only do that if they can be responsible for themselves, but how can they do that if they can always rely on me standing behind them reminding them about everything?

I find this morning routine checklist for kids a good way of building a sense of responsibility. It doesn’t mean I don’t have to remind them to stick to the checklist, but it is definitely helping especially with my eldest son who fundamentally wants to get ready and have time to play before school, but just gets so very easily distracted!

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We have been using the morning checklists for a few weeks now and I am seeing improvement in us getting out of the house without stress and disagreement. A total positive for me as I hate us to be unhappy before 9am!!

We also use CHORE CHARTS to help build personal responsibility and independence and you can get the very ones we use here!

Age group

We use our morning routine chart for all four of our children; the youngest are 4 years old. They don’t read properly yet so I of course still have to help them. You could add stickers or pictures so that a younger child knows what they are supposed to be doing. Even though they do still need help at this stage I think that a morning routine checklist is a great thing to start as soon as your child starts school so that they get used to what needs to be done and by the time they are able to do all the tasks themselves then they are already into the swing of it.

Morning Routine Chart Printable

I thought it might help other mums to have a morning routine chart for school so here it is. I recommend printing it and laminating it. The kids can then use whiteboard markers or sharpies to mark off what they have done each day. You can then just rub off the ticks ready for the next day.

Morning Routine Checklist for Kids (1)

If you are looking to raise kids who are responsible and independent then checkout these chore charts that we have created. There are 7 in the set and they are all editable so you are bound to find one that works for your kids:

GET YOUR SET OF 7 FAMILY CHORE CHARTS NOW