How to Make Visual Schedules for Preschool
Your preschoolers love a well-defined schedule; it makes them feel safe. According to Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, a good daily schedule includes a balance of large and small group activity, indoor and outdoor time, active and quite time, and child-directed and teacher-directed activities. As part of a high-quality environment, you can make a durable visual schedule that helps your young learners understand the daily plan.
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Things You'll Need
- Tagboard
- Ruler
- Scissors
- Markers
- Packing tape
- Heavy-duty fabric
- Iron
- Thread
- Clear vinyl
- Sewing machine
- Adhesive tape
- Grommets
- Hooks
Instructions
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Cut 2-inch by 8-inch pieces of tagboard. One set will be labeled with the activities in your schedule and the other set will be labeled with blocks of time -- cut as many as you need.
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Label one set of tagboard cards with activities, such as “Snack," and descriptive drawings or pictures (as an additional cue for pre-readers) and label the other set with blocks of time, such as 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
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3
Cover each card with packing tape or a similar heavy-duty adhesive tape to provide the protection they need to last.
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Cut a rectangular piece of fabric large enough to accommodate a clear vinyl pocket for each of the activity and time cards. For example, if you have seven main activities in your day, allow enough room for two columns of seven, 4-inch by 10-inch vinyl pockets, with a one inch gap between them. Allow at least three inches for a border.
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Finish the edges of the fabric by folding a 1-inch strip of the border to the back side, pressing it with your iron and stitching it in place with a sewing machine.
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Cut one 4-inch by 10-inch rectangle of clear vinyl for every activity and time card. Arrange them in evenly-spaced columns on the front of the fabric and use your sewing machine to stitch them in place.
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Insert one grommet in the upper right and left corners of the fabric, roughly a half inch from the edges. Hang the schedule in a highly-visible spot.
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Tips & Warnings
To stop the presser foot from sticking to the clear vinyl as you sew, add a piece of adhesive tape to the bottom of your presser foot; it stops it from sticking and helps it to glide.
An alternative to sewing vinyl pockets is fastening Velcro to the cards and the fabric schedule. In this case, use a very heavy grade of tagboard.
Although schedules and routines help children to feel safe, it's also important to allow for flexibility to accommodate unanticipated events.
Go over the schedule at the beginning of each day, pointing out any changes.
References
Resources
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