Morning and Night Routine Card Flipper w/ Free Printables

Ok, so this is not just for toddlers.  In fact, I use this particular item for my 7 year old....but you could definitely use the customizable cards to make these for your toddlers too.

We were having a lot of trouble with our morning routine and getting things done in a timely manner.  We were also having trouble with getting everything done in the evenings without a fuss.  I felt like I was nagging Laney half to death to no avail....definitely had a few meanie mom moments.  I just kept thinking that there had to be a way to keep her on task without having to keep hounding her verbally. 

We all know how much I love pinterest.  Well, I have a LOT of teacher friends.  they were posting pin after pin about classroom routine charts.  That got me thinking about whether I could create and implement something similar at our house.  So, I got to work.

I started out by creating my cards.  Simple background, description of each routine item. Clip art to match. Then I printed the cards onto cardstock for durability and cut them out.

Print out the Morning Routine Cards I use at our house here.

Print out the Night Routine Cards I use at our house here.

Print out blank cards to customize here.

Once I had the cards printed and cut out, I had to figure out a way to display them.  After a few minutes, I decided on a length of 3/8" black satin ribbon.  I grabbed a glue stick and began matching up the morning and night cards back to back with the ribbon sandwiched in between.  I glued each set of cards as closely as possible on the ribbon.

Once I had all of the cards glued onto the ribbon, I tied a loop in the top of the length of ribbon to hang the cards from.  Then I attached the ribbon to the wall of my daughters' room.

Now, she can easily flip the cards over for morning or evening and follow the steps to know exactly what to do without me hounding her constantly.

This has made a HUGE difference in how smoothly our house runs on school days as well as a huge difference in the response from her when she is asked to do something.  There is never any question about what is supposed to get done and when.

Some of you are probably thinking right now that she never gets a break to do anything fun and we are horrible and too hard on her....right?  Wrong.  If she comes in and gets things done that she needs to do, there is almost always time between certain tasks to have free play time.

Did you use these at your house?  Have a different way to stay on task?  Let me know about it!  I love to hear from you!