Free printable
Free printable daily routine chart
A free printable daily routine chart for children aged 3 to 6. The whole day on one sheet, from morning to bedtime, with a week of circles to fill in.
My day
This is
Morning
Lunch
Play
Dinner
Bedtime
Want it different?
Change the steps, the pictures and who is on it, then print your own. Nothing to sign up for.
How to use it
Print it and hang it somewhere the whole day passes, which is usually the kitchen or the hall rather than a bedroom. The five rows are the shape of a day rather than a list of jobs, so a child marks one off as each part of the day ends. Morning gets marked when morning is over.
The circles run Monday to Sunday because most families print once and use the sheet all week. If you want a single day on the page, open the maker below and set the columns to one. That version suits a two or three year old, who cannot hold a week and only wants to know what happens next.
It answers the question you get asked forty times
A child under six has no way of telling how much day is left. That is the real reason behind “is it nearly dinner” for the fifth time before eleven, and behind the meltdown when a park trip ends. They are not being difficult. They genuinely do not know where they are.
A day chart gives them somewhere to look. Five blocks in order, with three still to come, is an answer a four year old can read on their own. Most parents notice the asking drop off in the first week, which is a bigger win than the ticks.
Leave the times off
Every instinct says to write 7:30 next to breakfast. Resist it. A child who cannot read a clock gains nothing from the number, and you have just promised something the day will break the first time you sleep in. Order is what a young child understands: this, then this, then this. Order survives a late start, and a timetable does not.
When you want a blank one
The rows here are the ordinary shape of a day at home. Plenty of days are not that: a nursery day, a childminder day, a weekend at grandparents. The maker below takes any five you like from the task library or lets you type your own, and the switches turn off the words for a child who cannot read yet, or the day names for a chart you fill in as you go. That last combination is a blank routine chart, which is what a lot of people are actually looking for.
Or let Dozumo do it
Dozumo runs the same day on a phone, with a creature moving through it alongside your child. The one on this chart is Mozumo. Because the app knows the time, it can show what is happening now rather than the whole week at once, which is the part paper cannot do.
The chart still goes on the wall. The two work together better than either alone. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you when it opens.
Common questions
What should be on a daily routine chart?
The parts of the day rather than the tasks inside them. Morning, lunch, play, dinner and bedtime is the version here, and five is about the limit for a child under six. Tasks belong on a morning or bedtime chart, where they have a beginning and an end. A day chart that lists twenty things is a timetable, and a four year old cannot read a timetable.
What age is a daily routine chart for?
Three to six, with the single-day version working from about two. The useful window opens when a child starts asking what happens next and closes when they can read a clock, because after that they have a better tool than pictures.
Should a daily routine chart have times on it?
No, for two reasons. A child who cannot read a clock gets nothing from the number, and a written time is a promise the day will break the first time you sleep in or the bus is late. Order is the thing a young child understands, so keep the rows in sequence and leave the clock out of it.
What is the difference between a daily routine chart and a visual schedule?
Mostly how far apart they can come. A daily routine chart is one sheet with the day in fixed order, which suits a day that looks much the same every time. A visual schedule is a set of cards you cut out and rearrange, which is what you want when the order changes, or when a child needs to see one step at a time rather than the whole day.
How do I make my own daily routine chart?
Use the maker on this page. Pick a creature, name it, choose your five parts of the day from the library or write your own, set how many columns you want, then print. It runs in your browser, so there is no account and no email box, and what you build stays on your own machine.