One of my very first blog posts was all about the “challenges” we were facing with our newly three year old daughter. One major obstacle for awhile now has been getting out the door in a reasonable amount of time on weekday mornings. I am a teacher and therefore have to be up and to work at a pretty decent time and drop Emma off at preschool on the way. When she was younger (and sleeping better… but that’s a different post), I could wake up before her and shower, get organized, and then get her up and ready to go. Now, the slightest movement wakes her in the morning and she is either ready to wake up, but doesn’t want to get ready, or just asks for snuggles in bed… hard to resist!!
I mentioned the difficulty with transitions and mornings specifically during her parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the month and her teacher suggested creating a visual schedule. Seriously, I’ve been teaching how long and didn’t come up with that myself?? Oh well, because we eventually got there and she LOVES it! She loves completing a task and then turning over the picture to find a smiley face, she loves that it is made with pictures of herself, and she loves running over to see what’s next in the line up.
Today she was ready before me and I had to convince her to play for a little while so I could dry my hair and get my coffee and lunch. I was EARLY to work!! Hopefully the luster of it doesn’t wear off and it continues to be a useful tool. For now I am super pleased with my mini-me, who clearly also loves to check things off her “to-do list”. 😀
Here’s the visual schedule that I came up with. There are a ton of ideas and printable options on Pinterest, but I loved the idea of using photos of Emma completing each task (and she loved performing for the camera). I also wanted a simple way for her to show she completed a task and since she doesn’t read yet, the photos and the “done” symbol needed to be visually self-explanatory. Have any of you tried a visual schedule with your younger kids or adapted it for older ones?
Each card has a smiley face on the back to indicate that she completed the task. She can independently undo the clothespin and flip the card to show she is done.
Let me know if you have any questions and I will keep you updated on how it goes! I’m planning on creating one for our evening routine soon.
My Hybrid Life 