Help · Tasks and routines

How to make a morning routine chart your kids will actually follow

A good morning routine chart does the reminding for you. Each child sees their own steps as big pictures, ticks them off as they go, and earns stars toward something they want. Here's how to set one up in Fridge Door in about fifteen minutes, with example steps by age and what makes it stick.

Pick the steps first

Keep it short and in the order your mornings really happen. A few examples to start from:

• Ages 3 to 5: get dressed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, shoes on. Four steps is plenty.
• Ages 6 to 9: get dressed, make the bed, eat breakfast, brush teeth, brush hair, pack the backpack.
• Ages 10 and up: the same, plus making lunch, checking the calendar for the day, and a chore like feeding the dog.

Use one action per step ("Brush teeth", not "Get ready"), and leave out anything you'd rather they didn't rush.

Step 1: add the kids

On the Family page, add each child with a colour and, if you like, a photo. Kids don't need a login or an email; they use the kitchen screen.

Step 2: open setup

Go to Tasks and tap Set up. If you've set a parent PIN on the Family page, enter it; setup then stays open for a few minutes and locks again by itself. Setup never appears on the kitchen screen, so the kids can't change their own chart.

Step 3: add each routine step

1. Tap + and choose Add routine step.
2. Give it a Name (such as "Brush teeth") and pick an Icon. The picture is what pre-readers follow, so choose one they'll recognise.
3. Under For, tap each child it's for. Everyone picked gets their own to tick.
4. Set Part of the day to Morning, and choose how many Stars it's worth.
5. Under Repeats, choose every day, or every week On Monday to Friday for school days only.

Repeat for each step. Afternoon and Evening work the same way, so after-school and bedtime routines are a few more minutes.

Step 4: add rewards to save for

Tap + and choose Add reward: a name (movie night, a later bedtime, a trip for ice cream) and what it Costs (stars). Kids tap a reward when they have enough, and a parent confirms with the PIN. For something off the chart, like a great report card, use Give stars.

Step 5: set when morning ends

Each child's card shows the routine for the time of day. Under Settings › Household › Parts of the day, set Afternoon from and Evening from to match your family, so the morning list gives way to the after-school one at the right time.

What the kids see

On the kitchen screen each child has a card in their colour, with rings for Morning, Afternoon, Evening and Chores that fill as they go. Each step is a big picture with a round tick in the corner, and stars land the moment it's ticked. Swipe or tap faces to bring the next child's card to the front. Haven't set up a kitchen screen yet? Turn an old tablet into one.

What makes it stick

• Start small. Three or four steps they can finish this week beats eight they give up on. Add more once it's habit.
• Same order every day. The point is that they stop needing to be told what comes next.
• Make the first reward close. Something they can earn in a few days keeps them going; save the big ones for later.
• Praise the streak, not just the stars. A few mornings in a row is worth celebrating out loud.
• Join in. A grown-up with their own routine on the board shows it isn't just a kids' thing.

Chores work the same way and can take turns a week at a time, or be put up for grabs so the first to do it gets the stars. More on that on the chore chart page.

Questions

What age is a routine chart for?

Picture steps work from about age three, before kids can read. School-age kids can run a longer routine on their own and save stars for bigger rewards. Adults can have routines too, which helps younger ones see it's for everyone.

Can the kids tick things off without doing them?

They can, the same as on a paper chart. Stars land when a step is ticked, so a quick look at the board before school is enough; untick anything that wasn't done and its stars go back. Setting up steps and spending stars both need a parent's PIN.

What about weekends?

Set a step to repeat only on school days, and add a shorter weekend version on Saturday and Sunday. Days with no steps don't break a streak, so a weekend off is fine.

How do streaks work?

A streak counts the days in a row a child finished every routine step they had. Today only adds once it's all done, so the streak doesn't drop to zero every morning. Chores don't count toward it.

Do I need a tablet in the kitchen?

It helps, because kids can see and tick their own steps, but it's not required. The same board works on any phone or computer.

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