Printable Daily Routine Chart for Kids in English, Chinese, Korean
From breakfast to bedtime, our visual daily routine chart has been a lifesaver. Yes, parenting can get chaotic. But it’s science: visual reminders give kids a tangible sense of time and order through the day. That’s why we made a printable daily schedule for kids and families.
Last year, when we were suddenly homeschooling full-time during the pandemic, our visual schedule was a huge help to us surviving.
Though my children are now back in school full-time, our daily routine chart reminds them how to jump-start the day and settle down after school.
In my 5-year-old child’s bedroom, we have an eye-catching visual daily schedule on the wall. Meanwhile, we have a portable version for both kids.
To make things easy for you, I made a printable daily schedule for kids that you can use at your home. These are our most effective printables in English, Chinese, and Korean!
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Benefits of a visual daily routine chart for kids
In order to be punctual and productive, adults and older kids depend on calendars and to-do lists. When tasks are written down and out of your head, it’s easier to get everything done in during the day. And it’s so satisfying to cross things off the list!
Even before kids can read, they can learn from visual daily routine charts. In addition to following the picture order, you can make it interactive by using clips to keep track of where you are in the day. When kids consistently follow a daily schedule, they will get better at:
- Following predictable routine – even with different caregivers
- Transitioning between activities
- Learning how to clean up after themselves
- Developing healthy habits (eg, drinking water, brushing teeth, using the potty)
- Becoming independent with completing tasks
- Feeling more confident about their abilities
- Being calm and in control of their day
Younger children have difficulty focusing on tasks and aren’t able to transition from one task to the next as easily as older kids.
Most young kids also don’t have a concept of time and will happily spend way more time than is necessary on certain tasks.
Having a routine gives them a sense of predictability and establishes order for the day, which is good for everyone!
For bilingual families, visual routine charts can remind parents and kids to speak the minority language.
For example, seeing Chinese characters on my children’s daily schedule reminds me to speak Mandarin. It’s also a great reference for reviewing common words.
Although my kids have been taking a break from learning Korean, seeing Hangul letters in our home normalizes this part of their heritage.
Download printable visual daily routine chart for kids
If you’re not sure where to start with making your own routine, start off with my printable schedule for kids. Over time, you can add and customize it to suit your family.
Since I’m all about learning new languages, I have three versions: English, Korean, and Chinese. Each of them comes with either photos or icons to make the chart more fun for the kids to look at.
Select the daily schedule for kids printable that you prefer most:
- Real, full-color photos OR
- Black-and-white icons for families who don’t have color printers. Since black and white symbols might be too abstract for younger toddlers, your kids can color these to bring them to life! Coloring is a fun way to make the routine chart interactive and personal. 🙂
How to set up printable visual daily routine charts for kids
Wall-sized visual daily routine chart
This visual daily schedule is great for multiple kids in the house and the parents themselves to reference throughout the day. Place it in a high-traffic and easily visible part of the house. Together, the whole family can follow along with the day’s activities and to-do list.
Recommended supplies
- Monochrome or color printer
- White card stock paper
- Scissors, paper trimmer (eg, sliding wire cutter, guillotine trimmer)
- Painter’s tape
- Optional: Colored pencils, laminator
Instructions
- Print full pages for wall-sized visual routine chart onto card stock
- Optional: laminate for durability
- Cut and affix to the wall with removable wall putty
- Use a picture of your child’s face or something he or she loves (eg, fire truck for my son) to keep track of where you are in the day
Portable visual daily routine chart
A smaller daily schedule is great for kids to take from room to room and for parents to keep in their backpacks. The supplies are the same as for the wall-sized chart, but you may also want to consider a hole punch and string.
Instructions
- Print 4 per page for portable visual routine chart onto card stock
- Cut printable and 4 pieces of cardboard (morning, midday, afternoon, evening)
- Optional: Laminate printables for durability
- Affix daily routine cards to cardboard
- Use a clothespin, paper clip, dot sticker, or a picture of your child’s face to keep track of completed tasks!
Video tutorial: how to set up a printable daily schedule for kids
See exactly how I made the portable version of my visual routine chart. If you’re teaching a minority language, you can put English on one side and the corresponding language on the other.
If you line up each part of the daily schedule, the clothespin will highlight the current task in both languages. This way, kids can see exactly where they are in the day right on the board.
Tips for using a visual daily routine chart with kids
As with any new habit, a daily routine chart should first be presented verbally, gently, and consistently by parents.
During the day, parents and caregivers can refer to the visual chart and remind kids to look at it for guidance.
For example, you can say “Remember to use the potty after breakfast!” while pointing to the routine chart and then walking your child to the bathroom.
Gradually, grown-ups can fade out reminders as kids learn to complete tasks and transition to new ones independently.
Here are more tips for communicating expectations with a routine chart:
- Make it noticeable: Put the visual routine chart at eye level in a prominent place (eg, high-traffic hallway) and/or multiple rooms (eg, bedroom and kitchen)
- Break down the steps: If your child struggles to master a specific task within the schedule, it might feel too daunting, such as going to sleep. Split up the bedtime routine into smaller, more doable steps, such as changing into pajamas, reading a book, prayer time, and then going to bed.
- Make it positive: Instead of “good job”, use specific praising words when your child follows the daily routine and refers to the schedule. You want to be clear about what exactly they did that was successful.
- Make it interactive: Have a way to indicate when each step has been completed (eg, check mark, sticker, clothespin)
- Add music: Audio cues are very powerful and can make routine more fun! Try listening to a clean-up song after playing, and singing the same songs during the bedtime routine.
- Make it flexible: Build in buffer room so kids don’t feel rushed from switching tasks. Plan in time for unstructured free play!
- Use other concrete visual and audio cues: Visual timers, sand timers, alarms, and calendars are more ways to support a predictable daily routine.
Daily schedule for kids translations in English, Chinese, and Korean
Since many of you are learning Chinese or Korean with your kids like my family, I’ve translated common daily tasks below with the help of fluent friends.
All of these are in the printable, but I’ve listed them below if you also want to create your own daily schedule for kids.
Here are translations for each task in English, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin, and Korean:
- Daily Routine
- 作息时间表 / 作息時間表 (Zuòxí shíjiān biǎo)
- 하루일과
- Morning
- 早上 (Zǎoshang)
- 아침
- Midday
- 中午 (Zhōngwǔ)
- 오전
- Afternoon
- 下午 (Xiàwǔ)
- 오후
- Evening
- 晚上 (Wǎnshàng)
- 저녁
The rest of the tasks are listed in alphabetical order by English:
- Art
- 美术 / 美術 (Měishù)
- 미술
- Bible
- 看圣经 / 看聖經 (Kàn shèngjīng)
- 성경 읽다
- Breakfast
- 吃早餐 (Chī zǎocān)
- 아침밥
- Brush Teeth
- 刷牙 (Shuāyá)
- 이를 닦다
- Chores
- 做家务 / 做家務 (Zuò jiāwù)
- 집안일
- Clean Up
- 清理 (Qīnglǐ)
- 정리하다
- Dance
- 跳舞 (Tiàowǔ)
- 춤을 추다
- Drink water
- 喝水 (Hē shuǐ)
- 물을 마시다
- Dinner
- 晚餐 (Wǎncān)
- 저녁
- Exercise
- 运动 / 運動 (Yùndòng)
- 운동
- Get Dressed
- 穿衣服 (Chuān yīfú)
- 옷을 입다
- Go outside
- 去外面 / 去外面 (Qù wàimiàn)
- 밖에 나가다
- Homework
- 做作业 / 做作業 (Zuò zuo yè)
- 숙제
- Lunch
- 午餐 (Wǔcān)
- 점심
- Music
- 音乐 / 音樂 (Yīnyuè)
- 음악
- Nap
- 午睡 (Wǔshuì)
- 낮잠
- Play
- 玩 (Wán)
- 놀다
- Pray
- 做祷告 / 做禱告 (Zuò dǎogào)
- 기도하다
- Read
- 看书 / 看書 (Kànshū)
- 책을 읽다
- Rest
- 休息 (Xiūxí)
- 쉬다
- School
- 学校 / 學校 (Xuéxiào)
- 학교
- Screentime
- 螢幕时间 / 螢幕時間 (Yíngmù shíjiān)
- 하면 시간
- Shower
- 洗澡 (Xǐzǎo)
- 목욕
- Sleep
- 睡觉 / 睡覺 (Shuìjiào)
- 자다
- Snack
- 吃点心 / 吃點心 (Chī diǎnxīn)
- 간 식
- Use Bathroom
- 上厕所 / 上廁所 (Shàng cèsuǒ)
- 화장실
- Wake Up
- 起床 (Qǐchuáng)
- 일어나다
- Wear pajamas
- 穿睡衣 (Chuān shuìyī)
- 잠옷을 입다
Which visual daily routine chart did you print for your child?
I’d love to hear how this daily schedule for kids printable turned out for your family! How has your family used the printable to keep track of the day?
Please leave a note in the comments or email me a photo at betty(at)chalkacademy(dot)com!
Hi Betty! How do you recommend managing the chart, when there are extra curricular activities on different days at different times? Go example we have math class mondays and Thursday only
Hi Adriana! Great question – if painter’s tape or wall putty is used with the chart, then the daily activities are adjustable. When my children were younger, we would switch the order of the cards (or add/remove certain activities) in preparation for the next day. I hope that idea can help!
HI, i have subscribed however i cant access the printable library, is it anything i have missed?
Hi Betty. Thanks for making and sharing this! I was wondering if you could tell me the font and font size for the cards. I wanted to make my own cards for times of day as well as other activities.
Thank you for sharing your ideas. How can I get the password? Chinese and English printable is very beautiful !
Hi Betty
Thank you so much for your post. It gave me a lot of great ideas teaching my kids at home during this unprecedented time. I am native Chinese living in Canada with my two kids 2&4 year-old. My kids understand Chinese but they only respond in English. Do you have any tricks and tips?
Thanks
Echo
Hi Echo! Thanks for reaching out! Here are a few posts that may help with encouraging your kids to reply in Chinese:
Teach Your Child a Second Language at Home with 5 Key Steps
Transitioning from Dominant to Minority Language
20+ Ways to Get Your Kids to Speak Chinese
Please let me know if I can help with anything else!
Hello! I wanted to make some additional tasks but I can’t seem to figure out what font you used. What font did you use? We have “gym” as part of our routine.
Hi Linda! Thanks for asking. I used D’nealian font for the English version, KaiTi SC for the simplified Chinese version, and Kaiti TC for the traditional Chinese version. I actually recently added exercise（运动 / 運動）and some other tasks, just didn’t get a chance to add new photos. Please let me know if I can help with anything else!
I’m new to your blog. Your article about teaching a target language in 5 steps actually made me tear up. My husband and I speak English together but we’re both fluent in another language –making a total of 3 languages. Our children are 4 and 6. This is so close to my heart but I haven’t felt very successful namely because we haven’t committed to the minority languages. This is re-inspiring me. Thank you.
Hi. I cant seem to download the printables as it says the file cannot be found. Has the item been taken down? Thanks!
Hi! Thank you for asking and sorry for the inconvenience! I was actually just updating the files tonight with extra icons 🙂 The pdf files are now ready in the Printables Library.
Hi! I’m trying to download the printable but haven’t been able to…it says I need a password… I subscribed as requested 🙂
My goodness!!! I was trying to find a visual daily routine schedule all week and couldn’t really find one that is well thought out, good-looking, and black-and-white! I was going to make one myself and can’t believe when I checked my email today and saw your new post!!! Thanks for all the ideas, Betty 🙂
Hi Peggy! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave this kind message! I’m so happy to hear that the daily routine printables can help!! 😀
Thanks for all the ideas!!! thanks thanks!!!
You’re welcome!