A Daily Schedule for a Toddler and a Kindergartener

Juggling a family schedule can be pretty insane, and it seems like it just gets more complicated as your kids get older. I currently have a kindergartener and a three year old, and I wanted to show what our schedule looks like on a daily basis. I’ll also give you some suggestions when building your own routine at home. Look no further for a sample daily schedule for a toddler and a kindergartener!

For all intents and purposes, Kiddo is my five year old son, and Tiny is my three year old girl. Kiddo goes to kindergarten at a public school. Tiny is at home with me during the day, so she attends all of the drop-off and pick-up of her older brother.

First, Some Suggestions

If you need to build a routine for multiple kids, I have a few suggestions for you! You’ll see my actual schedule here in a minute, but this is how it came to be.

The most important thing I can tell you is: Life revolves around your kids’ sleep and feeding requirements. I mean, school times and stuff are important too, but really everything else has to fit around when your kids need to rest and eat.

For example, get some lined paper or start a spreadsheet, and set it up so that you have a list of times running down the left hand side. Then fill in when your kids normally wake up (or when they’ll have to for school), when meals are, when they nap, and when they need to go to sleep at night. When in doubt, just write down 15-minute increments and fill in sleep and meals.

Now you have parameters and can fill in the rest of the days.

Weekends can be the doom for kids who are trying to get on a consistent schedule. While I do let my kids sleep in a bit and usually our whole routine is a bit relaxed, I personally feel like you must keep your kids’ bodies on a clock even on the weekends. Otherwise Monday hits them hard, and it takes a few days for them to readjust back to that weekly routine. I would try to not deviate from bedtimes and meal times more than 30-60 minutes on weekends and days off.

And that word I keep using: consistency. Whether or not you believe it, kids thrive on predictability. Their bodies and their minds need to know what’s coming next, and surprises are not good. Children can be really sensitive to interruptions in their daily routine, so having something familiar like a daily schedule will actually help them relax. They won’t be “on guard” if they know what to expect!

Finally, communicate your schedule to loved ones so that everyone is in the know about what your child’s daily life looks like. All visitors, caretakers, and guardians should be aware and try to adhere to the routine as much as possible. (And don’t feel like a jerk for asking people to respect this schedule: Your kids are your priority, and anyone else who watches your kids should want the same goals!)

Our Schedule

Here it is, our daily schedule for a toddler and a kindergartener! My kids are five and three; the five year old “Kiddo” goes from kindergarten from 7:40-2:50, and my three year old “Tiny” takes one long nap.

• 5:45am: Wake Up #1
  • I wake up, start to prep breakfast and coffee and do morning chores.
• 6:15am: I wake up Kiddo so he can go get dressed.
  • Tiny wakes up on her own.
• 6:35am: Kids are sitting and eating breakfast.
  • I cook breakfast and do other chores. Daddy is getting ready, too.
• 7:00am: Kiddo gets down to brush teeth and use mouthwash
  • I finish cleanup, soak dishes, do a final check if Tiny needs a change or anything else needs to be done.
• 7:10am: We head out to load up the car!
• 7:14am: We pull out of the driveway and drive to school.
• 7:35am: Tiny and I have completed drop off and head on to our next thing, which varies by the day.
• 11:15am: Deadline of when Tiny and I have to be home
  • I do lunch prep while she plays and get started on other chores, or knock a few quick things off of my to-do list like a phone call or sending an email
• 11:30am: Tiny and I eat lunch
  • We do some light homeschool like ABC practice
• 12:00pm: Naptime prep
  • This includes using the potty, brushing teeth, reading a book.
  • I sometimes work when she sleeps, and sometimes I nap too!
• 2:00pm: Tiny has to get up
  • We check mail, put on shoes, get ready to go
• 2:15pm: Out the door to go to the pick up line to go get Kiddo
• 3:10pm: Back home from getting Kiddo
  • Shoes off, wash hands, clean out backpack
• 3:20pm: Snack and homework
  • Tiny colors or does simple homeschool)
  • I wash up and pack Kiddo’s lunch for the next day
• 3:45pm: Homework done!
  • Pack everything up for tomorrow
  • Anything else we need to get started? Load of laundry, etc.?
• 4:00pm: Activity time
  • This depends on the day: kids’ showers, I work out, I shower, we play outside, we have friends over, etc.
• 5:30pm: Dinner prep
  • Kids can play in the playroom but toys must be cleaned up by dinner
  • Daddy gets home!
• 6:15pm: Dinner time
  • We eat together, no screens
• 6:45pm: Dinner clean up and kids help with chores
  • If playroom is clean, they can watch part of a movie
• 7:45pm: Screens off and do any final prep for tomorrow
  • Including setting out breakfast for the morning, packing backpack, finishing putting away laundry, etc.
  • Kids also sometimes ask for a small snack like a banana which we grant (if they didn’t eat much dinner, we allow them to finish that instead)
• 8:00pm: Reading as a family
  • Usually a chapter of a book like Ramona the Brave
• 8:15pm: Bedtime
  • This includes teeth brushing and hugs/kisses/goodnights
• 8:30pm: Lights out! Goodnight and I love you!

As always, thanks for sharing my content and pinning it. My little family appreciates it!

If you wanted to see our schedule with a baby and a toddler, you can click here. 

If you’re stuck at home with kids for whatever reason and need ideas for what to do, click here quick!

And for fun ideas just for you and your toddler, click here!