Preschool daily schedules: Preschool Daily Schedules

Опубликовано: October 27, 2022 в 1:55 pm

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Категории: Miscellaneous

Preschool Daily Schedules

Not sure how to organize your preschoolers day? Here are 5 different preschool daily schedules from real moms of little ones.

Many families are choosing to have their preschooler at home for play and learning. Or you might even have the opportunity to work remotely from home with your preschooler at home.

I am often asked, what does your preschool at home daily schedule look like. Because it looks different for each family, I have asked some friends to share their general schedule with you as well.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

A special thanks to education writers at Life Over C’s, Powerful Mothering, Tiny Tots Adventures and Rainy Day Mum for giving us a peek into their daily schedules! 

Everyday Preschool: Simple educational activities for busy families who never planned on homeschooling.

Tips for Designing a Schedule for your Preschooler

You may already have a successful preschool schedule and are just wondering what others are doing.  You may love parts of your day, but not others. OR, you may be wondering where to start.  

Consider the following options and write out a tentative schedule for your day. 

Make sure to include:

1. Time for healthy snacks and meals.

2. Activities that get kids moving and shaking.

3. Outdoor time.

4. Enrichment activities to keep their brains active and learning. 

Preschool Daily Schedules (Option 1)

9:00-9:30am Get dressed & eat “breakfast” (never actual breakfast food)
9:30-11:30am Play with sisters (they take turns playing with her and doing their schoolwork) They do crafts, build with blocks, read books, etc. No set time for any activity.
11:30am-11:45am Eats lunch
11:45am-2:45pm Goes to Special Ed Pre-K (only Mon-Thurs.)
2:45pm-3:30pm Eats a snack and does hands-on learning activities

Note: Sometimes I’ll suggest an activity for the girls to do together, but usually they come up with their own ideas. I’m always available to help.

Preschool Daily Schedules (Option 2)

6:30 WAKE UP, get dressed, and eat breakfast.
7:15 Bring big kids to school.
7:30 Play toy cars with Papa
8:00 Reading time – stories and songs
8:30 Building with LEGO bricks, blocks, or Lincon Logs.
9:00 Coloring and crafts. *We attend music class one day a week at this time.
9:30 Snack
10:00 Outside play
11:00 Free play inside.
11:30 Lunch
12:00 Quiet story time.
12:30 Quiet time in bed. (My three year old doesn’t nap, but I need a recharge break)
1:30 Pick up big kids from school
2:00 Puzzles
2:30 Afternoon snack and homework (my 3 year old colors or does playdough)
3:00 Outside play or errands
4:30 Pick up and dinner prep.  

Preschool Daily Schedules (Option 3)

I wing it.. The older one is in school and the younger one we just play and do random things when we want.

Preschool Daily Schedules (Option 4)

6 – 7 Wake up and TV time whilst I get up and dressed for the day
7 – 8 Breakfast get dressed,
8 – 8:30 Reading aloud
8:30 – 9 School run
9 – 10 Literacy/Maths Activity including new phoneme or digraph and hands on activity
10 – 12 Play 12 – 1 lunch with TV on
1 – 2 Creative projects from art to cooking
2 – 3 Outside Nature time
3 – 3:30 school run for oldest
3:30 – 4 TV time for both
4 – 5 reading out loud, art club, swimming lesson
5 – 6 dinner time and games, play
6 – 7 bedtime
7pm COLLAPSE IN A HEAP and work through to midnight!

Preschool Daily Schedules (Option 5)

9-9:30 am Get dressed
9:30-10 Breakfast
9-10 Sensory bins or quite play if dressed and breakfast is done early)
10-10:30 Clear our space
10:30-11 Calendar time
11-12pm Shake the sillies out time (Yoga, karate class, movement games)
12-1 Learning is fun time
1-1:30 Lunch
1:30 -2 Clear our space (lunch and clear our space switches depending on the mess)
2-3 Whatever happens time (Usually a craft, game or anything that they like to do)

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Sample Half Day Preschool Schedule, plus Tips for creating your own

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One of the questions that I receive from other teachers, more than another other question is, “What does your preschool schedule look like?” This is a tough question to answer because although our routine is the same every day, the schedule is a bit flexible and it’s very much personalized to suit the needs of my own students, my own classroom, and my own day. Having said that, I’d like to offer some tips for making your own schedule to suit your own needs.

…and, as requested, I will share what our actual day looks like!

Consider these points when creating a schedule to meet the needs of your own class:

  • When do they arrive? At the same time, or is it staggered?
  • How old are the students? What is their attention span?
  • What are the non-negotiable parts of your day? (arrival time? meal times? outdoor time? dismissal?)
  • How many students do you have? Are they all the same age, or they in a mixed age group?

Just like everything we do in our classroom, the schedule has to be a work in progress! We create one, and then adjust it based on what works and what is not working as well. In my experience with creating a preschool schedule, these are the keys to making it work:

Plan the order of activities, not the exact times!

We’re talking about 3 and 4-year-olds! We have to be responsive:

  • to their moods (Are there lots of cryers at drop-off that require extra attention? Are they slow to warm up?)
  • to their needs on any given day (Does bathroom time take longer than usual? Did they make a huge mess and need more than 10 minutes for clean-up?)
  • to their attention spans (a little thing like a fire drill or thunderstorm can complete derail a preschool schedule!)

Balance is Important!

Create your class schedule, then take a step back and think about the balance of activities. Don’t ask preschoolers to move from one “sit and listen” activity to another. It’s a recipe for disaster and frustration. Give them movement breaks (maybe a song or a fingerplay) during circle time. Allow them to leave the table when they are finished eating.

  • Make sure that loud activities (music and movement) are balanced with quiet activities (snack).
  • Alternate periods of movement (recess and centers) with periods of relative calm (morning work or story time).
  • Be sure that the students have opportunities for much child-led play (centers) mixed in with some teacher-directed lessons (circle time).

Trust Yourself.

Here’s the most crucial piece of advice that I have for teachers:

Trust your instincts. Trust that you know what is best for your own students. Look at your day and figure out what’s working. Keep that! Look at the parts of your day that are frustrating. Are there activities or routines that are not working well for your children? Adjust those parts. You’re the expert on your classroom and the needs of your students.

Preschool Schedule at Play to Learn:

We are a half-day program. All of the students are supposed to arrive and dismiss at the same time each day. Our students are grouped by age (3’s and 4’s). It is important to us that they have a long period of time to engage in sustained play. That’s why our center time is almost 2 hours long. We take a snack break but otherwise, it is uninterrupted.

Click HERE for the full-size printable PDF.

Read more about these parts of our day:

Name Activities for Preschoolers

Morning Work Folder Games (and also THESE)

Name Songs for Circle Time (We sing these every morning.)

Circle Time Mini-Lessons (All of our thematic circle time activities are included in these units)

Snack Time (Tips to make it smoother!)

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Kindergarten No. 29: Our routine

DAY REGULATION – THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!

Daily routine is of great importance for the health and physical development of children. A constant time for eating, sleeping, walking, playing and studying – what I. P. Pavlov called an external stereotype – is an indispensable condition for the correct upbringing of a child.
The daily routine is a system for distributing periods of sleep and wakefulness, meals, hygiene and health procedures, activities and independent activities of children. Cheerful, cheerful and at the same time balanced mood of children to a large extent depends on the strict implementation of the regimen. The delay in eating, sleeping, walking negatively affects the nervous system of children: they become lethargic or, conversely, excited, begin to act up, lose their appetite, fall asleep poorly and sleep restlessly.
Based on the best practices of preschool institutions and the achievements of pedagogical science, an approximate daily routine for each age group of a nursery-kindergarten has been developed, which is included in the “Kindergarten’s Basic Educational Program”. The standard mode is designed for a 12-hour stay of children in a preschool institution.
Depending on the season, some changes are made to the daily routine. However, the amount of time allotted for games, classes, walks, as well as the alternation of various activities does not change. After games and activities that require significant mental and volitional stress, relative immobility, children need mobile activities that do not involve great effort. After energetic movements, strong excitement, rest for children will be calm games.

A child does not immediately get used to a certain daily routine: teachers and parents need a lot of endurance and patience here. At the same time, it is important to take into account not only the age, but also the individual characteristics of children, their past life experience, the state of health and the nervous system. Strict adherence to the regime teaches children to order, discipline.

During periods of wakefulness, classes and walks are held with children; they play, engage in other independent activities.
The number of classes and their duration are set in accordance with the age capabilities of the children. Classes are held with several children, in subgroups or with the whole group at once.
The preschool educational institution has compiled a schedule of directly educational activities (the so-called classes) for a week, providing for a rational alternation of mental and physical activity for children of this age.

Walking is an indispensable part of the daily routine in kindergarten. For children, there are two walks, in the morning and in the evening, lasting 1-2 hours each (depending on the age of the children).
When organizing sleep, it is important not only to observe its duration, but also to ensure that children sleep well.

Kindergarten. A book for managers, ed. L.P. Tarasova. M., 1982

Here you can see the approximate daily routines for all age groups

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MDOU “Kindergarten No. 144”. Daily routine

Daily routine is a system for distributing periods of sleep and wakefulness, meals, hygiene and health procedures, activities and independent activities of children. Cheerful, cheerful and at the same time balanced mood of children to a large extent depends on the strict implementation of the regimen. The delay in eating, sleeping, walking negatively affects the nervous system of children: they become lethargic or, conversely, excited, begin to act up, lose their appetite, fall asleep poorly and sleep restlessly.

One of the important distinguishing features of upbringing in kindergarten from home is the regime in kindergarten. In kindergarten, everything is subject to a predetermined schedule. And this is a definite plus. After all, such a system teaches even the most eccentric little one to accuracy, accuracy, order. What to say about nutrition. Any nutritionist will confirm that the correct intake of food at the same time contributes to the growth of a healthy organism.

The daily routine is a clear daily routine that provides for the alternation of wakefulness and sleep, as well as the rational organization of various activities. The correct regimen, corresponding to the age capabilities of the child, strengthens health, ensures working capacity, successful implementation of a variety of activities, and protects against overwork.

Proper organization of the daily routine becomes especially important in a children’s institution, where children of different ages are often brought up in the same group, with different limits of the nervous system’s working capacity.
The set mode must be carefully followed. Even minor violations of it can adversely affect the behavior of children, causing them to be lethargic or agitated.
The daily regimen in the group should change due to changes in the season, age composition and health status of children, and for individual children also depending on changes in their behavior and living conditions.
The daily schedule indicates the time for health and hygiene procedures, as well as special activities with children. The mode is established together with the teacher and the senior nurse.
In a children’s institution, adherence to a strict daily routine is a prerequisite for the orderly, clear work of the personnel of the children’s group and the institution as a whole.

Daily organization of life and activities of children is carried out taking into account:

  • building the educational process on age-appropriate forms of work with children: the main form of work with children of preschool age and the leading activity for them is the game;
  • solving program educational tasks in the joint activities of an adult and children and independent activities of children not only within the framework of directly educational activities, but also during regime moments in accordance with the specifics of preschool education.

Organization of the daily routine

When carrying out routine processes, the kindergarten adheres to the following rules :

  • Full and timely satisfaction of all organic needs of children (sleep, nutrition).
  • Careful hygienic care, ensuring the cleanliness of the body, clothes, bed.
  • Attraction of children to feasible participation in regime processes; encouragement of independence and activity.
  • Formation of cultural and hygienic skills.
  • Emotional communication during the execution of regime processes.
  • Taking into account the needs of children, the individual characteristics of each child.
  • Calm and friendly tone of treatment, careful attitude to the child, elimination of long expectations, since the appetite and sleep of babies directly depend on the state of their nervous system.

The basic principles of building a daily routine:

  • The daily routine is carried out throughout the entire period of raising children in a preschool institution, maintaining consistency, constancy and gradualness.