A Morning Routine for Kids: The Morning High Five

Mornings can feel wild as you wake your children and get them ready for the day. Maybe the baby kept you up in the night and you’re dragging. So are the kids.

You want them to get good sleep, but you also want the day to go smoothly. How do you set a plan in action for everyone?

Parenting six children I learned early that I had to be intentional about our morning routine, but that I also had to be realistic. I couldn’t expect my two year old to be able to do the things my tweens could do.

At the same time, I wanted something simple that could scale to suit everyone in the family. I landed on the Morning High Five and you’re going to love it!

Bonus: this is a morning routine that works for moms, too.

What is the Morning High Five?

The Morning High Five is a solid morning routine for everyone in the family. It’s sustainable and adaptable for every season in life. 

Bonus: it can help keep your kids’ moods — and your own — on an even keel because it starts your day with some known quantities.

What to include in a morning routine for kids

No one wants to face the day with a long to-do list. Not parents, not kids.

By choosing five tasks, you can easily count them on one hand and can celebrate with your kids each morning with a physical high five.

So, consider what five things you want your kids to accomplish at the start of the day. This means that you will need to prioritize for the benefit of yourself and your little ones.

Some sample tasks to include in your kids’ morning routine might include:

• make bed – there’s a solid case for making the bed and better mental health outcomes
• brush teeth/floss
• get dressed
• put away pajamas
• eat breakfast
• get ready for school
• specific chores – at our house this is a simple kitchen chore like unloading the dishwasher or helping to clean up breakfast

When to give your kids a morning routine

We started each of our kids on a morning routine at about the age that they could walk. They may need help from you or an older sibling, but establishing routines is a great step toward good habits, better productivity, and better mental health outcomes long term.

Be sure to adjust the morning routine for the age and capabilities of your children, but please remember that many kids are capable of far more than you think they are.

How to teach your kids a morning routine

Use both visual and verbal cues to help your kids learn the habit of a morning routine. 

Visually, it helps to give each kid his or her own chart of their Morning High Five.

You can make one by tracing your child’s hand on construction paper or just grab this free printable. Just drop your email address below to get instant access to our free printables library.

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Tack the charts in your kids’ rooms or somewhere they can easily see them at eye level. Consider using pictures instead of words for your nonreaders.

Then, every day until forever (or until it’s become habit), encourage your kids upon waking to do their morning high five. You may need to use clever persuasion by offering the occasional race to finish the morning routing or even leaving breafast as the last task and make something yummy, like pancakes, to entice cooperation.

But, at the bottom line, expect that your kids will complete their morning routine each morning. Most kids, provided you don’t budge, will rise to the occasion.

This basic list of five tasks helps us get a good start on the day. It’s not all that our kids do for chores, but it’s an easy bare minimum and this morning routine helps us get the day rolling in a positive way.