Want to know how to get your kids to put their things away and start their homework after school without nagging? Give them a visual! Displaying your child’s schedule, and including pictures for young children who don’t know how to read yet, is a great way to keep them on task after school.
Why You Should Use Routine Cards
It Looks Like Their Classroom Schedule
If you visit your child’s classroom, chances are the teacher has the class schedule (often with pictures) displayed prominently in the front of the room. This helps the students know what they are supposed to be doing and what’s coming next. So, let’s take a tip from the teachers and give our kids a visual after school schedule to follow!
Kids Love Visuals
These cards are great for very young children, even for the kiddos who aren’t reading quite yet! Your child won’t need to read since they can use the pictures as cues. The kids who can read will still enjoy the fun illustrations on the cards.
No More Nagging
No more reminding and nagging your kids over and over to pick up their backpack, put their shoes away, wash their hands, and start their homework. Now you can just point to the routine cards! If your child gets distracted or lost along the routine, you can gently direct them back to their cards to get back to the schedule.
How To Use These After School Cards
You may already have our Morning Routine Cards to keep your kids on track in the morning. The idea for the After School Schedule is the same. We’ve made up six cards that you can arrange in any order to suit your needs. Then, you can display them in a way that works best for your family.
The simplest way to display is to print the After School Routine Cards and hang them up! If you are happy with the order, you don’t need to cut them, just put them somewhere your child can easily see it!
Another option is to make a larger display out of posterboard with 2 columns, “To Do” and “Completed.” Cut the cards out and add velcro to the back of the card and to the posterboard. This way, once your child completes a task, they can move that card to the “Completed” section. If you plan on going this route, we recommend printing the routine cards on cardstock, laminating, or covering with cardstock.
The third option is to print the cards out, punch holes in the corners, and put on a binder ring or carabiner. Again, it might be a good idea to print these on cardstock or reinforce them by covering them in contact paper.
Now that you have your after school routine cards, your kids will know just what they should be doing, without any reminders!
