Making your chart
- Choose one child or two and type the names. Without a name, the chart gets a line to write it on.
- Switch on the routines you need: morning, after school, bedtime, or just one of them.
- Open each routine under Steps, tap the steps your child does not need, and type a time next to the others if a time helps. Add your own steps below, one per line.
- Pick one tick box per step for a chart you reuse every day, or the week grid for a fresh sheet each week.
- Choose one page per routine for big pictures and text, or all routines on one page. Then pick the paper, orientation and color, download the PDF and print it at 100 % or actual size.
Making the routine together
Sit down with your child before you print and walk through a normal morning or evening. Ask what comes first and what comes next, and let them choose the order where it does not matter, such as teeth before or after pajamas. A child who helped plan the steps already knows what each picture stands for.
Keep each routine short. Five to seven steps fit on a page with large pictures and are easy to remember, while a long list turns into a wall of boxes. Leave out what already happens on its own and add only the steps that tend to get forgotten or cause arguments.
Make every step one concrete action that can be seen as done. Brush teeth, Put on shoes and Pack school bag work well, because both of you can tell when they are finished. Get ready or Be good are too vague to tick. If a step has several parts, split it into two rows or pick the part that matters most.
Own steps and their pictures
Every default step comes with its own drawing, and your own steps get one from the words you type. The first matching word decides, so Brush hair gets the comb and Brush teeth the toothbrush. A step with no matching word gets a star. The preview shows the picture before you print, so you can change a word if another picture fits better.
| Picture | Default steps | Words that pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Sun | Wake up | wake, get up, curtain, blind |
| Shirt | Get dressed, Lay out clothes | dress, dressed, clothes, shirt |
| Water drop | Wash face, Wash hands | wash, face, hand, soap |
| Bowl | Eat breakfast | breakfast, cereal, porridge, oatmeal |
| Toothbrush | Brush teeth | teeth, tooth, toothbrush, floss |
| Comb | Comb hair | hair, comb |
| Bed | Make the bed | bed, nap |
| Backpack | Pack school bag, Pack bag for tomorrow | bag, backpack, lunchbox, schoolbag |
| Shoe | Put on shoes | shoe, sock, boot, sneaker |
| Coat hanger | Put on coat, Hang up coat | coat, jacket, hang, hanger |
| House | - | home, house |
| Apple | Have a snack | snack, fruit, apple |
| Pencil | Do homework | homework, write, writing, draw |
| Music notes | Practice music | music, piano, violin, guitar |
| Ball | Play | play, outside, ball, sport |
| Toy box | Tidy up toys | tidy, toy, clean, put away |
| Plate | Set the table | dinner, lunch, meal, eat |
| Cup | - | drink, milk, water, juice |
| Bathtub | Take a bath | bath, shower, tub |
| Pajamas | Put on pajamas | pajama, pyjama, pj, nightgown |
| Book | Read a book | read, reading, book, story |
| Heart | Hug good night | hug, kiss, cuddle, love |
| Moon | Lights out | light, sleep, night, moon |
| Clock | - | leave, bus, car, ready |
| Star | - | Any step without a match |
Where to hang it and how to tick
Hang the chart where the routine happens and at your child's eye level, not yours. The morning page can go on the bedroom door, the bedtime page next to the bathroom mirror, and the after-school page by the place where bags and coats land. Kneel down and check that your child can see the pictures and reach the boxes.
For a chart with one box per step, a clear sheet protector and a dry-erase marker let you tick every day and wipe the boxes clean the next morning. The week grid is meant to be filled in with a pen or stickers, so print a new sheet at the start of each week and keep the old ones if you want to look back. The All done row at the bottom of a single-routine page has a star to color in when every box is ticked.
Timers and changing the chart over time
The time column is for you more than for your child. Write in the time a step should start, or leave the column out if the order matters more than the clock. For a step that tends to drag on, such as getting dressed or tidying up, a timer that your child can see makes the end clear without you having to call it out. Keep it a helper, not a race.
A routine chart is not finished once it hangs on the wall. After a week or two, look at it together: which steps are easy now, which still need a reminder, and has anything changed, like a new after-school activity? Switch steps off, add new ones and print a fresh copy. When a routine runs on its own, the chart can come down, or you can replace it with a new goal.
Tools and templates that go with it
The online timer counts down minutes and seconds and plays an alarm sound when the time is up. It has presets from 1 to 60 minutes and a full-screen mode that shows only the countdown, which works well on a tablet for a 10-minute tidy-up. The countdown timer counts the days, hours and minutes to a date you pick, such as the first day of school or a birthday, and you can share it as a link.
For jobs around the house, the printable chore chart puts up to six names and a list of chores on a weekly chart with a star, box or smiley for every day. The printable reward chart is a sticker chart with a goal, a row of boxes or stars to fill in and a reward at the end. Older children who plan their own day can move on to the printable daily planner, with an hourly schedule, priorities, a to-do list and notes on one page.
Frequently asked questions
Is the routine chart free?
Yes. Print it as often as you like, for your own children, a class or a child care group. There is no signup and no email form, and the only branding is one small line with our web address at the bottom of each page.
Can a child use it before they can read?
That is what the pictures are for. Every step has a simple drawing next to the words, such as a toothbrush for Brush teeth or a moon for Lights out, and the same step always keeps the same picture. Go through the chart together for the first few days, point at each picture and say the step out loud. Once the pictures are familiar, your child can check the next step without asking.
How do I add my own steps?
Open a routine under Steps and type your own steps into the box, one per line. A time at the start, such as 7:15 Feed the fish, goes into the time column. The picture is picked from the words in the step: a step with teeth gets the toothbrush, one with read or book gets the book, and a step without a matching word gets a star. Each routine prints up to 12 steps, the ones you left on first and your own after them.
One box per step or a week grid?
One box per step makes a chart you use every day. Slip it into a clear sheet protector and tick with a dry-erase marker, then wipe it clean for the next morning. The week grid has a box for every day from Monday or Sunday to the end of the week, so you print a new sheet each week and can see the whole week at a glance.
Can I make a chart for two children?
Yes. Pick Two children and type both names. Side by side prints one chart with a tick column for each child, which works well when they share the same steps. A chart each prints separate pages with the name in the title. With the week grid there is not enough room for two sets of seven days, so each child always gets their own chart.
Why are some characters missing from the names or steps?
The PDF is drawn with a basic font that covers English and most Western European letters, but no emoji and no other scripts such as Greek, Cyrillic or Chinese. Those characters are left out, a few rare accented letters print without the accent, and a note under the field tells you when that happens. The preview shows the text exactly as it will print.