Discussing Routines with Preschoolers

Every year my back to school activities include experiences that are designed to help my kiddos get used to our daily routine.  One of the activities that I do with them s to discuss routines, and help them put this idea into perspective by considering the routines that they follow at home.

I give them each the opportunity to tell me what they do when they wake up in the morning - the kinds of things they have to do to get ready for school.  This takes some prompting at first, but after they get going they have pretty good memories, and it's fun to see what their priorities are in the morning.  We also do the same thing for after school, I encourage them to think about the kinds of things they do when they get home, before dinner and after dinner.

Here are some of the things that the children have told me:

I made you a cute printable to write your students' daily routines on (FREEBIE!)

You can download your copy here.

Once the children are able to recognize that they are already following different routines throughout the day, it is much easier for them to understand the school routine, and follow it more regularly. These discussions are also a great way to identify similarities, when one child hears that another likes to watch the same shows or play the same games, they are able to start conversations about these things.  

How do you introduce routines? I'd love to hear your thoughts, feel free to share your own blog posts in the comments!