Stress-Free Kids Morning Checklist for a Better Daily Routine

Make your mornings so much easier with a kids morning checklist. Believe me, it really does help to have a system in place that both you and your children have already predefined. No more running around in the mornings before school, yelling at your kids to “hurry up and do this, don’t forget that.”

Doesn’t that sound nice? Just by implementing an easy before school morning routine for kids can really help turn your day around. Plus, if you follow the system below with the printable checklist for kids, you’ll be helping them become more independent as well.

[Disclaimer: Please note this post may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a commission if clicked at no extra cost to you. Though the opinions remain my own.]

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Using the Kids Morning Checklist

Here is our stress-free morning routine that we follow when school is in session. It’s also a simple kids morning checklist that they can easily follow themselves without having you having to remind them of what to do next.

Here are the only things you will need to implement this stress-free kids morning routine:

– printable morning routine checklist

– dry erase markers

– 8″x10″ picture frame

Go ahead and place your kids morning checklist into the picture frame and put it somewhere for your kids to see. If you have a get ready station, you can set it up there but if not, you can start by placing it in their bedroom.

Once they’re used to the first few morning routine tasks, you can then move it over to a more general area like the living room, kitchen or entry table.

The goal here is for them to reference the checklist every morning instead of waiting for instruction from you. We all know that sometimes kids just need an extra little push to do the right thing without being told. Well, this is one way of them being told without actually being “told.”

Related Post: Reliable Working Mom Morning Routine Tips to Be More Productive

Once you’ve picked the home for your kids morning checklist, place the dry erase marker next to it. To help them feel more included, let them pick the color of the dry erase marker because even such a small detail like this one can make a huge difference on how they approach this every morning.

Now, when morning comes around, your kiddos should mark off the completed tasks from the routine checklist with their dry erase marker. Who knew such a simple printable could help you have stress free mornings?

But there is one thing you should do before implementing this new routine.

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Changing Their Morning Mindset

Before you start using the checklist, have a talk with your kids to explain to them what is happening. We want to get them in the right mindset instead of surprising them with a checklist to complete from one day to the next. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity to start teaching your kids about having a growth mindset.

Change is inevitable and it’s a good thing. So by helping them get accustomed to new routines, you’re already planting the seeds to this new mindset that will help them as they get older.

Explain to them why this routine change is happening and why it is important that they follow it.

Once they have a good understanding of the new routine, you can now start going over each one of the morning routine tasks individually and let them know exactly what is expected from them.

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Morning Routine Checklist for Kids

Remember, this morning checklist is meant to be fun while helping teach your kids independence and responsibility. And even though we know this is not technically “fun,” we can at least try our best to explain it in a way that makes it sound like it is LOL.

Use the guide below to help you explain each morning routine task in their kids morning checklist.

1) Wake up

Okay so this one is a given haha. But why not make it into a big deal? Like waking up each day and being able to attend school is a blessing in itself so empowering your kids to feel this way in the mornings could be a real game changer. Encourage them to wake up feeling grateful to set the mood for the day.

2) Get dressed

Once they have woken up, they should immediately get dressed. Why waste time going to and from the room when changing their clothes should only take a few minutes. And a busy mom hack I recommend is to have their clothes picked out the night before. This makes it super easy for your kids to quickly get out of their pajamas and into their day clothes.

3) Make the bed

Again, they’re already in their bedroom so might as well knock it all out at once. Making their bed also shouldn’t take too long but if your kids really want to get out of this one, they can talk to my son. He came up with his own hack of his own to never sleep under the covers. He instead sleeps on top of his already made bed and covers himself up with a cozy blanket. So now, all he has to do in the mornings is fold up the blanket 🤣 Smart kid.

4) Eat breakfast

Now their favorite part of the morning is to eat breakfast. My son has his own bottom cabinet with his cereal and breakfast snacks ready to go. So in the mornings, he is able to pour his own milk and serve himself some breakfast. If you can implement something similar at home, that would really help you out. Other days, you can have eggs or oatmeal served by the time they are ready to come eat.

5) Clean up their mess

A commonly missed task from the kids morning checklist is to clean up after themselves. Depending on your child’s age, this may already be implanted into their brains but if they’re like my son, they need a reminder from time to time (especially when they feel rushed). So giving them a reminder to clean up their mess by wiping the table and taking the used dishes to the sink really helps. It especially saves you from some of that morning aggravation when seeing something dirty.

6) Brush teeth and wash face

So after they are done eating and cleaning their breakfast mess, it’s time to head over to the bathroom. In case you haven’t noticed, this kids morning checklist routine is set up in a way to combine tasks per room. So now that they’re heading out of the kitchen and into the bathroom, they can brush their teeth and wash their face (especially around their mouth to remove that sticky jelly).

Related Post: Fun & Easy Bedtime Routine Chart for Kids

7) Comb and style hair

And while they’re in the bathroom, either mom or dad can with their hair or they can do it themselves. For my son, if his hair is short enough, he can usually get by without doing much. However, when his hair is long, we spend a good amount of time combing and styling his hair. He can kinda do it himself but still looks a little funny so either me or dad normally help with this task LOL.

8) Get ready for the school day

Finally, they are almost done with this morning routine for kids and it’s time to start wrapping things up to get ready for school. And because school looks different nowadays, the printable morning routine checklists come with three options.

If attending school in-person:

If your child is attending school in person, this task would include putting on their shoes, grabbing their lunch box and backpack to be ready to walk out of the door any minute.

If virtual learning or homeschooling:

But if your child is either homeschooling or doing virtual learning, this task would change. If virtual or distance learning, they would need to turn on the laptop and log into the Zoom meeting. If homeschooling, this may mean getting their workbooks ready to start the day.

Related Post: Distance Learning Tips for Parents & Kids

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Either way, your child has now made it to the end of the kids morning checklist routine and it’s time for school! The more they follow this checklist, the more it’ll become second nature.

You could even add a time deadline for each task if you wanted (or if your child needs this extra little push).

Test things out in your way or keep simple. The point is that not only are we helping improve everyone’s morning routine, but you’re helping them learn to be responsible with their time and daily morning tasks as well.

Related Post: Printable After School Routine Chart to Simplify Your Afternoons

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Cheers to Better Mornings Ahead!

To me, this sounds like an overall win. So grab your printable morning routine checklists here and start having stress-free mornings each and every day. You definitely deserve to wake up knowing that at least your kids now have a handle on their own mornings so you can focus on getting ready for your own day.

But what about after school? Don’t worry, I got you covered there too. Simply head over to after school routine to get that part of the day taken care of too.

So tell me mama, how have your mornings been lately? Do you already have a kids morning routine implemented? Please share your thoughts below as I would love to hear from you!

What To Read Next:

Fun & Easy Bedtime Routine Chart for Kids

Printable After School Routine Chart to Simplify Your Afternoons

Tips for Parents: How To Prepare for Distance Learning

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