Daily schedule for pre kindergarten: Preschool Schedule Ideas to Structure Your Day
Preschool Schedule Ideas to Structure Your Day
It’s a fact that children who have supportive and rich early educational experiences enjoy lifelong benefits. This benefit of preschool is supported by a daily preschool schedule that considers children’s developmental needs, from proper nutrition to motor skills.
A day at preschool is all about balance: quiet time and play, flexibility and routine, and structured lessons and free choice. While finding the formula that works for you and your group may take a while, the basic elements of a daily preschool schedule will remain the same.
This article will cover the components of an effective preschool schedule and give ideas on managing day-to-day preschool activities. If you’re looking for preschool daily schedule templates, head to the bottom of the article, where you’ll find sample full-day and half-day schedules.
How to create a structured preschool schedule
A detailed, structured preschool schedule will help you, your staff, and the children in your program have productive, enriching days. Carefully plan your activities and breaks to help foster the children’s development and growth.
Establish preschool schedule basics
The main objective of a daily preschool schedule is to structure the best environment for early childhood development. Since preschoolers can’t self-regulate the same way older children can, your careful planning enables their growth. A positive preschool experience is essential to optimal early childhood development, and this growth plays out daily according to how well teachers plan and engage with children.
No matter how you choose to schedule your time, the activities you engage in each day, or what resources your center has, your daily schedule should include the following:
- Routine: Children perform best when they have a regular schedule and know what to expect.
- Play: Children grow and explore through play, and every preschool should build playtime into the schedule.
- Regular meals and snacks: Preschool days require lots of energy, and children need to fuel their bodies appropriately.
- Downtime: Adults often wish nap time was still a part of their daily schedule, and for good reason: nap time (or downtime) helps children recharge so their brains can absorb what they’ve learned.
- Physical activity: Regular time and space to move around outside is widely regarded as a staple for any preschool schedule and is essential for developing motor skills.
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Incorporating all these elements into your daily schedule is necessary for promoting early childhood development and is often regulated by law. Check your state’s regulations to see their requirements and ensure that your plans align with standards.
For example, South Carolina requires outdoor activity for children daily as weather permits, and Florida requires that snacks and meals meet USDA MyPlate guidelines. There may also be different required staff ratios for active time and down time, which should factor into your preschool’s daily schedule and how you handle staff breaks.
Use flexibility to your advantage
Flexibility is an important part of your daily schedule. Early on, let your timetable be flexible as all of your children settle into a new schedule. Preschool is a time for growth and exploration that will manifest differently for each child, so you may face different challenges from one class to the next.
For example, one group of children might experience a relatively smooth drop-off, while another may need more time to prepare for the day. Maybe your last group was hungry long before snack time, and your next group isn’t hungry during snack time at all. There’s no way to know this ahead of time, but flexibility during the first weeks of school can curb staff frustrations about moving through planned daily activities.
The secret to a flexible preschool schedule is patience—and not just being calm if you run behind or have to adjust your day’s flow. It’s also about being patient with the children in your care. Starting preschool is a big adjustment; it takes time for children to trust their teachers and feel comfortable sleeping at nap time, eating new foods, listening to instructions, or socializing.
Your patience and willingness to spend a few extra minutes to smooth things over is a major signal to children that you are trustworthy and on their side.
Another way to build malleability into your daily routine is to implement guided choice time, especially if you have a group of mixed ages and abilities. This will ensure that children are exploring and have “independent” time to socialize, take a break, or try something new at their own pace.
Manage transitions
Moving from one task to another as a group can be challenging for preschoolers. Managing your schedule’s flow keeps your day and the children in your care on track. Approaching transitions with a firm, gentle hand will help you usher your class along more easily.
One key element of managing transitions comes before you even start your day. Post a visual schedule where everyone can see it. It’s easy to make a child-friendly daily schedule using laminated paper or a whiteboard—no need to get fancy. As long as children know where to see the order of activities, the posted schedule is doing its job.
When it comes to transition times, use an audio or visual cue to signal the start of wrapping up. This could be a bell, a rhyme, a song, or anything else that works for your group. You can include children by making this a rotating classroom helper role, which will also instill a sense of the daily rhythm as each child assumes the role of “transition conductor.”
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Use positive reinforcement and clear expectations to help your group transition smoothly. Set up rules around transition times, such as “Everyone does their share to clean up,” and praise children following your classroom code each day.
Another good way to smooth transitions is to provide quiet options for those who finish their tasks early (e.g., finish lunch early, wake up from a nap early). Picture books, puzzles, pencil drawings, or making pipe cleaner shapes are quiet, solo activities that are easily set up. These help children occupy themselves, so you don’t have to rush anyone and ensure that the whole group moves on from one thing to another together.
Preschool daily schedule example
- 7:00 to 8:30 a.m. — Welcome / Free play
- 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. — Breakfast
- 9:00 to 9:30 a.m. — Clean up
- 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. — Circle time
- 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — Learning centers
- 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. — Lunch
- 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. — Clean up
- 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. — Nap time
- 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. — Storytime
- 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. — Outdoor play
- 4:00 to 4:30 p.m. — Snack time
- 4:30 to 5:00 p.m. — Clean up / Free play
- 5:00 p.m. — Close
Preschool half-day schedule example
- 7:00 to 7:30 a.m. — Welcome / Free play
- 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. — Breakfast
- 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. — Clean up
- 9:00 to 9:30 a. m. — Circle time
- 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. — Centers
- 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. — Nap time
- 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — Lunch
- 12:00 p.m. — Close
m. — Circle timePreschool visual schedule
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According to the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations at the University of South Florida, visual schedules can prevent challenging behavior and help children learn to follow routines. Visual schedules associate pictures with each activity, so children can easily associate scheduled events with familiar objects. For example, children can associate an image of a bowl of cereal with breakfast time.
Visual schedules can also help young children understand the order of scheduled events. If an image of a swing follows the picture of a bowl of cereal, children can make the connection that time on the playground comes after breakfast. When children understand the order of activities, it can be easier for teachers to transition them from one activity to the next.
How to create a visual schedule
- Take pictures of items in your childcare center that correspond with your scheduled activities
- Print the photos
- Arrange the photos to fit the order of your scheduled events
- Write the name of each event on an index card and attach it to the photo of the event
- Display the schedule in your classroom
Plan the best you can
The “perfect” preschool daily schedule doesn’t exist. It depends on what works for you, your preschool set-up, and your classes. However, the framework of a good preschool schedule is made with building blocks that are tried and true, and classroom management can be all the difference in making a schedule work.
The routine you build with your preschoolers isn’t just what order you do activities in; it is also about behavioral expectations and how you can set up your day to support each child. Your daily preschool schedule lays the groundwork for all the learning and development that occurs each day, so getting it right is essential for a functioning classroom.
Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule
by Lindsay 7 Comments
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This Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule is an easy way to plan your day. Let your child choose an activity in each category and practice writing it if they can!
Hi friends!
I wanted to share this Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule I put together to help provide us with a little structure while my kids are not in school. My oldest is only in pre-k so I wanted something pretty basic but also something that would give him some ownership and let him choose as much as possible so that he would be excited to participate. I created this schedule so that together we could brainstorm and write down an activity in each of the following categories:
- Learning
- Movement
- Art
- Cooking
- Reading
- Building
This schedule focuses more on categories rather than doing things in a specific order.
It allows us to choose some activities each day and then organize them in a way that works best for us each day without being restricted to doing things in the same order daily. My son thrives on routine and schedule, so my guess is we may start naturally doing things in the same order each day anyways, but I like the flexibility. Or who knows, he may just be happy going through the daily schedule each morning, even if it’s a different schedule from the day before.
Pre-Kindergarten Daily Schedule
Here’s an example of how we filled out the daily schedule:
- Learning: Muffins (He wanted to learn about what makes muffins rise)
- Movement: Simon Says
- Art: Painting
- Cooking: Pizza (He wanted to make homemade pizza)
- Reading: Watch (He wanted to use Storyline Online to watch an actor read a book)
- Building: Legos
And here’s how our day went:
- Wake up/breakfast/showers/get dressed
- Make schedule
- Make pizza dough (watched a video on yeast while yeast was activating)
- Free play
- Snack
- Painting
- Simon Says for movement
- Science experiment about the difference between baking soda and baking powder. (Find it here)
- Lunch – shaped, baked and ate our pizzas…plus some math with pepperonis
- Quiet time
- Storyline online books
- Daily mile – bike/walk/scooter + a little nature hike
- Snack
- Free play + dinner prep
- Outside time
- Dinner
- TV
- Bed
(Find it here)This is a flexible schedule that’s working well for us so far. Add your own categories to make it work for you. If you decide to use it, you can prompt your kids to help them choose the activity for each category:
- Learning – Ask them if they want to learn about a certain animal or person, how something works, do a science experiment, learn a new skill, etc
- Movement – They could make up their own workout, do Cosmic Kids Yoga, play a sport, build an obstacle course, go on a scavenger hunt or hike, play Simon says…anything to get their body moving
- Art – Let them choose the art medium: paint, markers, crayons, watch a video to help them learn to draw something, help them illustrate their own story, make a collage, do a craft, etc
- Cooking – Have your kids help you prep food for the week, prep food for dinner or help you make dinner, make their own lunch or breakfast, bake something, invent their own recipe…
- Reading – Read a book, listen to a bok at Storyline Online, listen to an audiobook. After reading or listening, ask them to summarize what happened or ask a few questions to check their comprehension.
- Building– Encourage them to use their imagination and create something using legos, Magnatiles, blocks, items from the recycling bin, playdough etc
- Daily: Things we do every day- quiet time and free play, plus walk a mile (weather permitting)
After reading or listening, ask them to summarize what happened or ask a few questions to check their comprehension.If things come up during the day that you want to learn about the next day, fill them in before bed! During our day today we talked about woodpeckers on our nature walk and freckles & moles at dinner so we wrote them both down to investigate more tomorrow!
Enjoy!
–Lindsay–
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About Lindsay
Lindsay Livingston is a Registered Dietitian and new mom from Columbus, Ohio.
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Kindergarten daily routine
When sending a child to a kindergarten, parents may worry whether the child will be able to get used to the new daily routine and join the team. Some are generally perplexed why some kind of regime is needed in a preschool institution.
In this article, we will analyze everything point by point – we will tell you how the daily routine is built in the garden, what benefits the child brings to following the schedule and what parents can do to prepare the baby for kindergarten.
Content
- 1 According to what rules the daily routine is drawn up in the preschool educational institution
- 2 Types of activities in the daily routine of the kindergarten group
- 3 How the routine depends on the age of the kids
- 4 The value of the daily routine for preschoolers
- 5 Tips parents to teach the child to the kindergarten regime
What are the rules for the daily routine in the preschool educational institution
The daily routine for preschoolers is compiled by experts in the field of child physiology and psychology.
The main task is to satisfy all the needs of the body and take care of the health of the baby. Therefore, there is no need to be afraid of the word “routine” – all processes are focused on the comfort and well-being of the child.
When drawing up the schedule, specialists follow the norms of SanPiN. Let’s consider the basic rules that guide the experts:
- Age compliance. Children are combined into age groups, as the opportunities and needs of babies change every year. For example, at an early age, children can engage in certain activities for no longer than 10 minutes, babies need more time to eat, get ready for bed, or take a walk. In the middle group, the duration of classes can be 20 minutes, and in the preparatory group – 30 minutes.
- Rhythm. During the day, different activities and their duration should alternate. When compiling the daily regimen, the periods of the greatest activity of preschoolers are taken into account. For example, in the morning in kindergarten, classes are held after breakfast, and in the afternoon there is time for sleep.
- Cyclical. Daily at the same time, the main moments are repeated – eating, hygiene procedures, walking, sleeping, educational activities. So that the daily routine and its cyclicality do not turn into a boring routine, educators use game elements in communicating with children.
- Alternation. During the day, the activities of the kids are organized so that mental stress alternates with physical activity. Mandatory is daytime sleep, without which the baby can become capricious, lethargic, or, conversely, overexcited.
- Flexibility. The teacher fixes which guys get tired faster and need additional rest. Some of the children may have food preferences, for example, a child categorically refuses to eat some dish,
- Sequence. All processes in the schedule are logical and follow one after the other. For example, to prepare for dinner, you need to wash your hands, and to go for a walk, get dressed. This sequence teaches children to plan.
For example, in the morning in kindergarten, classes are held after breakfast, and in the afternoon there is time for sleep. 
For example, to prepare for dinner, you need to wash your hands, and to go for a walk, get dressed. This sequence teaches children to plan. Types of activities in the daily routine of the kindergarten group
related to the development of basic self-service skills.
With this in mind, the main components of the daily routine in the garden are formed:
- Morning reception and inspection. When parents bring their children to the group, the health worker conducts an examination to make sure that the child is healthy, and the teacher asks the parents how the child came to the kindergarten and how he feels.
- Morning exercises. A little warm-up helps to cheer up and finally wake up. For children, this becomes a kind of ritual.
- Meal preparation. Before eating, children wash their hands in an orderly manner. Each baby has an individual towel. In preparatory groups, children may be asked to help set the table.
- Eating. During the day in public gardens, children have three main meals – breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. The food system in the Planet of Children private garden is built a little differently: there is breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. The teacher pays attention to each child, corrects the situation when the baby stoops, pushes a full spoon into his mouth, forgets to use a napkin. It is important that even the smallest visitors to the Planet of Children garden, if they wish, take part in preparing for dinner. For example, kids can lay out cutlery. This approach creates a culture of food.
- Playing activity. In the process of playing, a preschooler develops fantasy, mental and analytical activity. While playing, children learn to analyze the situation and make independent decisions.
- Educational activities. Educators conduct classes with children in various areas – creativity, music, physical activity, development of fine motor skills, preparation and adaptation to school.
- Physical development classes. In the warm season, gymnastics can be done outside, when it gets colder – in the gym. The older ones do 30 minutes, the younger ones 15 minutes.
- Music lessons. Preschoolers together with the teacher learn songs, listen to music, prepare matinees in honor of the holidays.
- Preparing for a walk. All children are going for a walk in an organized manner. If this is a younger group, the teacher helps the kids get dressed, if the older one, he makes sure that the children dress according to the weather.
- Walk. Children walk about 4 hours in the warm season and about 2 hours in autumn and winter. In the Planet of Children kindergarten, teachers organize two walks: in the morning, before lunch and in the evening, after dinner.
- Sleep preparation . Each baby has its own bed and bedding. This allows the baby to feel comfortable and calm. To prepare children for sleep, educators offer to play quiet games, read books.
- Daytime sleep. Daytime rest is important for preschoolers: the brain and nervous system rest, the baby gains strength for new activities and games.
- Hardening. An integrated approach is important in this matter. The room is regularly ventilated, children are gradually taught to wash themselves with cool water. Together, this helps to strengthen the immune system of the child.
- Joint activities. Children, together with the teacher, are engaged in some kind of task, for example, they make crafts, read, draw. Collective affairs bring together, teach to communicate in a team, develop creative thinking and creativity.
- Self-employed. The child is given time to do things that interest him. Choose an occupation at your discretion, show independence and imagination.
In preparatory groups, children may be asked to help set the table. 
Educators conduct classes with children in various areas – creativity, music, physical activity, development of fine motor skills, preparation and adaptation to school. 
Choose an occupation at your discretion, show independence and imagination. How the regimen depends on the age of the babies
State preschool institutions are divided into age groups:
- early age group — 2-3 years old;
- junior group – 3-4 years;
- medium – 4-5 years;
- senior – 5-6 years;
- preparatory – 6-7 years.
There are 3 groups in the Planet of Children kindergarten: junior (3-4.5 years old), senior (4.5-5.5 years old) and preparatory (6-7 years old).
. According to the SanPiN recommendations, children are provided with four meals a day with an interval of 4 hours between meals, two walks of two hours each, daytime sleep of 2-2.5 hours. In the Planet of Children kindergarten, daytime sleep is scheduled for the period from 13.00 to 15.00 for children of all ages. If the child does not physiologically need rest, then, in agreement with the parents, he relaxes for 10 minutes, and then plays quiet games in the group.
Depending on the age of the children, there may be slight differences in the mode, for example:
- the duration of classes in the younger group is no more than 10 minutes, in the older and preparatory group – 20-30 minutes;
- babies are given more time to prepare for a walk or meal, as they gather more slowly;
- daytime sleep in babies lasts from 12.30 to 15.00, in older children the quiet hour starts at 13.00 and lasts 1.5 hours.
Significance of daily routine for preschoolers
Now let’s move on to the main question of parents: does the daily routine harm children? No, on the contrary! Thanks to the planned clear routine and regimen, the preschooler develops discipline, the child learns to manage his time, which will help him quickly adapt to school.
Since the daily schedule in the kindergarten corresponds to the age characteristics of children, it promotes the formation of good habits, improves health and prevents overwork.
The child gets used to the regime, learns to eat at a certain time, rest regularly, play and engage in developmental activities. Especially useful for the development of children is the constant alternation of different types of activities. This allows some parts of the brain to rest while others work.
Tips for parents to get their child used to kindergarten
If the child is not used to the daily routine, the first days in kindergarten can be difficult or at least unusual. Experts give recommendations that will help prepare a child for kindergarten:
- Find out what kind of daily routine and nutrition is adopted in kindergarten, try to follow it at home. Introduce changes gradually and consistently.
- Praise your child for self-reliance, teach proper hygiene, instill a love of cleanliness and good habits, such as regular handwashing, using toilet paper, brushing teeth and rinsing after meals.
- Stick to a walking regimen. The child should spend enough time outdoors. If possible, follow the same schedule as in kindergarten – 2 hours of walking in the morning after breakfast and 2 hours after afternoon tea.
- Take care of the child’s emotional development. Visit theaters, exhibitions, concerts, organize family holidays, invite other children and arrange home matinees.
- Engage in creative activities – draw, sculpt, cut out crafts from paper, felt and other materials.
- Read fiction, reason with children, teach them to express their opinion and justify it.
The child should spend enough time outdoors. If possible, follow the same schedule as in kindergarten – 2 hours of walking in the morning after breakfast and 2 hours after afternoon tea. Gradually accustoming the child to the regime that operates in kindergartens, parents will help the child quickly adapt to the beginning of a new stage in life – getting to know the team, following certain rules and making independent decisions.
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Daily routine in kindergarten
Home – For parents
EXAMPLE DAY SCHEDULE FOR ALL AGE GROUPS
Kindergarten opens at 7.00.
Our day begins with free time spent by the child of his own choice, games and communication with children and adults, work in various centers.
- Morning exercise allows you to organize children, cheer up and set up for the upcoming day.
- Breakfast.
- At 9.00 in all age groups, organized educational activities with children begin, as well as individual sessions with a speech therapist, psychologist.
- Walk in the fresh air.
- Lunch.
- Daytime sleep. Children can sleep, relax, listening to music or a fairy tale.
- Wake up exercises. Hardening procedures, prevention of flat feet.
- Afternoon snack.
- Games, joint activities of children and caregivers, individual and group sessions with a psychologist, a walk.
- Dinner.
Kindergarten closes at 19.00, at which time the paid working day of educators ends. You can find out more detailed information about the organization of your baby’s life in this age group by studying the daily routine.
DAY REGULATION
Early age group
Cold season
| Reception, inspection, games | 7.00-8.00 |
| Morning exercises | 8.00-8.10 |
| Breakfast preparation, breakfast | 8.10-8.40 |
| Games, preparation for classes | 8.40-9.00 |
| Organized educational activities | 9.00-9.30 |
| , observations) | 09.30-11.00 |
| Return from a walk -12.00 | |
| Getting ready for bed, daytime sleep | 12.00-15.00 |
| Getting up | 15.00-15.10 |
| Preparing for afternoon tea, afternoon tea | 15. 10-15.20 |
| Activities, games, independent activities 902 67 | 15.20-15.45 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk | 15.45-16.55 |
| Return from a walk | 16.55-17.10 | Preparing for dinner, dinner | 17.10-17.35 |
| Games, taking children home | 17.35-19.00 |
2nd junior group
Cold season
| Reception, inspection, games 9 0267 | 7.00-8.00 |
| Morning exercises | 8.00-8.10 |
| Breakfast preparation, breakfast | 8.10-8.35 |
| Independent games | 8.35-9.00 |
| Organized educational activities | 9.00-9.40 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk (games, observations) | 9.40-11.25 |
| Return from a walk | 11.25-11.45 |
| Dinner preparation, lunch | 11. 45-12.30 |
| Bedtime preparation, afternoon nap | 12.00-15.00 | Rise | 15.00-15.10 |
| Preparation for afternoon tea, afternoon tea | 15.10 -15.20 |
| Activities, games | 15.20-15.45 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk | 15.45-16.55 |
| Return from a walk | 16.55-17.10 |
| Preparing for dinner, dinner | 17.10-17.45 |
| Games, leaving children home | 17. 45-19.00 |
Middle group
Cold season
| Reception, inspection, games, duty | 7.00-7.50 |
| Morning exercises for breakfast, breakfast | 8.00-8.35 |
| Independent games | 8.35-9.00 |
| Organized educational activities | 9.00-9. 50 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk (games, observations) | 9. 40-11.45 |
| Return from a walk | 11.45-12.00 |
| Preparation for dinner, lunch | 12.35-15.00 |
| Rise | 15.00-15.10 |
| Preparation for afternoon tea, afternoon tea | 15 .10-15.20 |
| Activities, games, independent activities | 15.20-16.05 |
| Preparation for walk, walk | 16.05-17.05 |
| Return from a walk | 17.05-17.20 |
| Preparing for dinner, dinner | |
| Games, taking children home | 17.50-19.00 |
Senior group
Cold season 90 003
| Reception, inspection, games, duty | 7.00-8.10 |
| Morning gymnastics | 8.10-8.20 |
| Preparation for breakfast, breakfast | 8.20-9.00 |
| Organized educational activities | 9. 00-10.15 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk (games, observations, work) | 10.15-12.00 |
| Return from a walk | 12.00-1 2.10 |
| Dinner preparation, lunch | 12.10- 12.40 |
| Getting ready for bed, daytime sleep | 12.40-15.00 |
| Getting up | 15.00-15.10 |
| Preparation for afternoon tea, afternoon tea | 15.10-15.20 |
| Activities, games, independent activities | 15.20-15.45 |
| Preparation for a walk, walk | 15.45-17.15 |
| Return from a walk | 17.15-17.25 |
| Dinner preparation, dinner | 17.25-17.50 |
| Games, home care | 17.50-19.00 |
Preschool group 90 003
Cold season
