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3 Tools To Help Children Understand Their Schedules

We can’t stress this enough: children need routines and defined frameworks to feel secure and reassured.

At the start of the new school year, some children have undergone a change of pace (starting school, joining daycare, changing their timetable, etc.), and as soon as they start to learn the vocabulary of “yesterday” and “tomorrow”, and ask questions about “when”, we can start to make them aware of the “passage of time” and schedules.

For my part, I didn’t wait for them to acquire the vocabulary, but assumed that even if they didn’t have it, it would help them understand the rhythm.

Visual tools


If you want your child to understand his schedule or routine and take an interest in it, you need to make sure that the material is attractive, colourful and full of images… Just to captivate him.

1 – MORNING AND EVENING ROUTINES
These routines help set the tone for morning and evening activities and tasks. If the child is older, we can suggest that he or she participate in the development of these routines, listen to his or her suggestions and adapt them accordingly. Making him an active participant will get him more involved!

When the child is younger, you can point to the pictures or drawings and describe the actions. This helps develop language and comprehension.

2 – LINEAR CALENDAR (MONTESSORI)
Here we adopted the linear calendar this summer, when we had to prepare my son for my two long weeks’ absence… I made a linear calendar myself, printed it out and hung it above our sofa, so that it was visible and accessible.

As each day passed, I asked my son to stick a sticker on “today”, and I counted down to the day when we would leave on a trip.

Once our linear calendar is printed out and shows the days that go by, all we have to do is customize it as we go along with scheduled events (weekend at grandparents’, vacations, auntie’s visit, etc.).

3 – THE CHILD’S TIMETABLE
You can also create your own schedule, if every day is different. For children who, for example, only have school in the morning, or who have variable hours at the Daycare or nanny’s, creating a timetable with images/visuals/drawings helps the child find his way around the week.

Creating supports for routines or timetables also gives children a sense of responsibility, so that they can choose to play an active role in their day. For example, we can suggest that he manage his evening routine on his own, telling him that it’s up to him to tell us what to do next! And if he doesn’t want to be a player, it’s easier, with support, to gently affirm that “that’s the way it is, that’s the program”.

What about you? Do you use visual aids for your children’s schedules?

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