A bedtime routine chart for a toddler who cannot read yet
Almost every routine chart you can print assumes a child who reads. The children who need a routine chart most are two and three.
Five-step bedtime routine strip
A printable strip with five outlined steps for a child to colour in, plus a blank version so you can set your own order.
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How many steps a toddler can hold: about five
Four or five, in a fixed order. A twelve-step chart is a nightly test they fail, and a chart you fail is furniture.
Bath. Pyjamas. Teeth. Story. Light off. That is a complete routine, and its power is entirely in never changing.
Make each step a shape, not a word
A pre-reader needs to recognise the step at a glance. A simple outline — a cup for teeth, a book for story, a square for the light — works, and it works better if the child colours it in themselves first. A chart they made is a chart they own.
Let them move the marker
The child moving a peg, a clip or their own finger down the strip is doing the routine. An adult announcing the next step is doing it for them. Handing over the marker is what turns a chart into independence.
Questions people ask
What age is a bedtime chart useful from?
Around two, once a child can recognise a picture as standing for a thing. Before that the routine still helps; the chart just is not the part doing the work.
Should there be a reward at the end?
It does not need one and usually works better without. The story is the reward, and it is already in the routine.
We travel a lot. Does that ruin it?
Take the strip. A routine that shows up in a hotel room is doing its most valuable work precisely there.
More like this
A morning routine that gets you out of the doorA feelings check-in a young child can actually usePart of our guide to Bedtime & mornings.