Today I’m excited to share about our after-school routines and include a free printable after-school routine chart to use at home.
Routine charts have been a helpful tool to guide our school-aged children toward establishing a consistent after-school routine. It helps minimize nagging and promotes independence in a simple way.
Those couple of hours after school can be quite hectic! I hope this free routine chart helps you build a routine that fits your family perfectly.
Create Unique Schedules for Your Children
We’ve learned that each of our kids has unique needs once they’re home from school. Our youngest child thrives on having some alone time. His after-school routine allows him just that—some peaceful downtime. Once he’s out of his school uniform, Caleb would typically retreat to his room for about 30 to 40 minutes. During this period, he might change clothes, dive into a book, play with his toys, or simply relax on his bed.
Being more introverted, he required this time to recharge. After a busy and probably loud day at school, his break is essential for him. Once he’s rested, he comes downstairs, ready to ask for his snack.
Our daughter, on the other hand, runs into the house, gets changed, grabs her snack, and is ready to do homework right away. She likes getting the “must-do” tasks out of the way and she thrives with a daily schedule. She understood that she had to complete her after-school routine before she could go outside to play with her friends.
Because our children have unique personalities and needs, having an after-school routine that is specific for each child is important. This helps them to create and strengthen routines that will hopefully grow into lifelong good habits.
⬇️ You can request your free printable after-school routine chart at the end of this article!
More Helpful Printables You Might Find Helpful
- Read about and download a coordinating Morning Routine Chart or Printable Bedtime Routine Chart
- If you are looking for more free printables to help your children with time management and creating good habits be sure to check out my Daily Schedule for Kids.
- If your kids are a good age to help with family chores you might like my Free Printable Chore Chart for Kids.
Be Flexible with After-School Routines
These routines shouldn’t turn you into a strict disciplinarian at home. Allow yourself and your child grace to skip the routine when needed. It’s perfectly fine if each child has their own routine! Did your daughter have a rough day at school? Does your son just want some extra time with you?
Make changes to the routines if they are not working; there’s no point trying to force something that just isn’t quite right. Changing the routine shows that you’re paying attention and being flexible. The goal is to make the routine work for your kids so that it becomes a habit. Flexibility is your friend.
Be Consistent with New Routines
Once you find what routine works for each of your children, be consistent. Hang up the after-school routine somewhere where it won’t be missed. Read it over with your child after school each day until you think they fully understand what they should be doing.
After several days it will become natural for your children to look at the routine every day. Several weeks later you may even find that your kids don’t need to use a routine chart because the routine has become a habit; this is the goal!
We have the after-school routines hanging on the fridge in the kitchen and the morning routine is hung on their bathroom mirror so they see it each morning when they get up. You might find it helpful to have the routine posted in more than one spot if that is more helpful.
Printable After-School Routine Chart with 2 Design Options
When you request your free printable you will receive an email with a link to download your file. This PDF file includes 2 different styles of this after-school routine chart. You can print and use either design.
You should receive your file(s) link via e-mail within the hour. Be sure to check your spam or promotions folder if you cannot find the e-mail. If, after an hour, you have not received anything, contact me and I’ll help you figure out what happened. For personal use only. Please do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission. Classroom use is permitted.
Instructions on how to print and resize your printable to fit your own planner can be found here.
Fill Out Your After-School Routine Charts on Your Computer
The PDF file you will receive (via email) can be edited using Adobe Reader, a free program. If you are using a Mac you can also edit this file using the Preview program that came with your computer.
On Adobe Reader, you will see blue text fields; these are the only areas that can be edited. This file will allow you to personalize your child’s routine with tasks to be completed each day.
