Visual schedules are a wonderful way to set your day up for success. They give children a clear idea of what the sequence and expectations of the day are. For young children and children with special needs, this is highly important. I’ve found that showing my kids the plan for the day helps our day run more smoothly.
Today I’m excited to share with you my brand new visual schedule cards. And it’s a free printable! This was designed to use with toddlers, but would also be great for preschoolers, children with autism or SPD, and children with other special needs.
I love how these schedule cards turned out! I hired a friend to create the clip art for these cards so they are unique. There are 22 cards, along with blank cards that you can write or draw on.
Visual schedules are static, meaning they remain present after words are spoken. Children can refer to them to understand what is coming next in the day. Regular routines are learned more easily when it is represented visually.
How to use Visual Schedules:
I’m going to share a few ways to use visual schedules. This is to give you some ideas on how you could use the visual cards for your child. Since these cards are designed for young children, there are cards for things a typical toddler would do. There are blank cards that you can write or draw pictures on if you’d like to add something else to your day.
Visual Schedule on the Fridge
The first way is by placing a small magnet on the back of each card and then putting them on the magnetic surface of a refrigerator. Since they have a magnet, it makes it very easy to move the cards around.
You could place them in a straight line or make a couple rows.
Visual Schedule in a Pocket Chart
The next way is to use a pocket chart. Pocket charts are found in a lot of classrooms, so if you are a parent, you may not have one available to you. The pocket charts are nice because you can set the cards in the plastic pouch and move them around easily. This is one we have in our school room and it’s nice to have out so that my 3-year-old can see what we have going on for the day.
This pocket chart is from Apple to Zebra and we love how cute it is!
Visual Schedule in a Binder
I love the idea of using a binder and breaking down the day into 3 parts: morning, afternoon, evening. So for the morning, you would have the cards for what the morning routine looks like. For example, it may look like the following picture.
This type of schedule is helpful for children who get overwhelmed by looking at a complete schedule.
Visual Schedule on a Line
Lastly, I like to place a visual schedule on a line of wire with hooks to hang the cards. This wire line is from Ikea and we have it hung in our school room.
In all honesty, I created this schedule to help my youngest with our routine at home. He can have meltdowns when he doesn’t want to do what we have planned. He does much better when he knows what is going on. Since he can’t read yet, I decided to make this visual schedule for him. This helps him understand what to expect of the day. He loves to see it all! Most of the days, we have the same things going on, but sometimes we add in an appointment or a play date.
If you are also interested in using a visual schedule, I’d love for you to use my free printable! All you need to do is sign up for my weekly newsletter, and then it will be sent to you right away. Make sure to check your spam folder in case the email got sent there.
I’d love to know…who are you going to use this visual schedule with?
I’m excited to print these for my three year old!! I think she will like knowing the schedule and we will work on her telling me what’s next 🙂 Thanks so much for these!!!
Where can I get the apple chart? Would be great for our classroom!
I got it from this website: https://www.appletozebra.com/
Love all your ideals
Printing these to use with my grandsons. One of my grandsons is autistic and I like the clarity of these pictures. Thank you for this brilliant idea.
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks for sharing and I hope this is a big help to you!
My English language learners in Catalunia!
Hi. I really excited to use this with my almost three daughter who can go to a daycare because she is sick. So I am trying to do stuff with her at home.
I am an early intervention teacher and have a child with severe anxiety. I am going to use this to help him understand what is going to happen during the day.
Thanks for sharing this, it’s way cuter than anything else that I have seen!
They look amazing, but my only question is how do I can print them?
Once you put your email address in, you will be sent the file to print. It is a PDF, so you can open it up and just print it.
Thank you
Thank you
These ideas look great!
Thank for your ideas. They ảe really useful for teaching children.
I am going to use these with my 4 year old who needs a lot of prompting to get ready in the morning.
These are great! I can’t wait to use them with my twin 4 year olds and my 2 year old. Our summer schedule has been hectic and I’m hoping this helps us get into a routine
How can I print the schedule?
After you enter your email address, you will get an email with the PDF. Then you can download it and print it.
I need the apple schedule holder !! How and where can I order ???
You can find them on this website: https://www.appletozebra.com/
Anxious to try these with my almost 3 year old autistic granddaughter.
This is wonderful, I wil use it during assessment of children with special needs
Awesome idea! I have a 7 year old this will help tremendously, since she likes to “drag her feet” when we need to hustle. Surprisingly, this may actually help my 15 yr old w/ Asperger’s, too. She still has trouble prioritizing what needs to get done every day to be on time for school and things.
Thank you!!!
I want to use this for my daughter, She has Cornelia de Lange Syndrome. She is 23 years old. Is 100% non verbal. but she CAN recognize photos and will touch or tap pics of what she wants. been in search of images that are uniform and easily recognizable. not too abstract. these look just right. so eager to try them with her.
Oh I am thrilled to hear this! I hope they work wonderfully for her!
I have been searching for hours for good, clear, simple free pictures and these are perfect. Thanks so much.
These look wonderful for my toddler classroom. Please send link to my e-mail for the download.
These are so bright and cheerful. I wish learning would have been so much fun when I was young
Thank you so much!
I am so excited to use theses with my kids at school! As well as share it with my sister for her own two kiddos at home.
Do I just need to put in my email and this will get emailed to me? I would love to use this will my kiddos at school as well as share it with my sister for my niece and nephew.
Yes, just put your email in and it will be emailed to you!
Do you have a picture to add to the picture schedule of a common yoga pose like downward facing dog? I am an occupational therapist. I love your visual schedules and some of my patient’s could benefit from a card for yoga time. Thank you so much for sharing!
I don’t have that picture, but I will ask my clip artist to create one. That’s a great idea!
Thanks
I am going to use the visuals with my toddler class
Ive put in my email and sent the request for the schedule. Its been 10mins and still havent gotten it. Do I have to do something else?
I’m sorry. Sometimes the printable gets sent to a spam or promotions folder. I will send it to you again!
Would like for my son who has autism 🙂
Great! If you fill in your email in the box, the printable will be sent to you. Thanks!
My little charge was asking for something just like these!
I’m excited to use for my daughter with ASD and my 4 year old son who relies on self care prompts every day! Thank you!
I will use these for my 4 year old grandson-he loves a schedule always asks-what comes next!
I have subscribed to the website but I couldnt get this free printable visual schedule that I am so exicted to use for my daughter at home. May I know how can I get it?
Thanks
Hi there! Have you checked the ‘Promotions’ tab? On gmail, sometimes my emails get sent there. If you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll email it again.
Hi Angela,
I have checked the ‘Promotions’ tab and yea, it was there. 😉 Thanks and can’t wait to use it for my kid.
These are the most beautiful visual aid images I’ve been able to find! Can’t wait to start using them. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for the routine printables. We just got home from speech therapy with our 4 year old and because she has meltdowns when she is unable to communicate her wants and needs or when she has to do things out of her routine like going to speech therapy this is what was suggested for us to try with her!
Oh I’m so pleased to hear this! Thank you for sharing!!
hi how to print the visual schedule? i entered my mail also …didn’t receive any mail.. can you please help me with this?
thanks
It should’ve arrived. Make sure to check the promotions tab in your email. If you still haven’t got it, let me know and I’ll manually send it.
Thank you. New mom of child with traumatic history. Needs the structure and working on verbal communication. The visual schedule has to help.
Thanks for the reminder, the resource and motivation to get with the program.
Much needed.
I am hoping to use this with my soon to be 3 year old who has a language delay (mostly receptive). I am hoping that having this visual schedule will help him know what to expect of our day easier.
I plan to use these with my 4, 3, and 2yr old. My 4 year old tends to shut down very easy when we start doing something so I’m hoping this will help her get in a routine and feel more confident about her day.
Thank you!
I love all your stuff and guidance! I had some trouble figuring out how to download the schedule cards. Can you please help with that? I did subscribe and was able to download other things. THANKS!
I’m so sorry! It should’ve been sent to your email right away. If you don’t see it, email me at angela(at)teachingmama(dot)org.
I’m so happy to find these as I was wanting some for my 2 yo daughter. My 2 nieces have learning disabilities, so I’m so excited to laminate and share these with my sister to use at home to help keep her kids and house organised as she has 4 children and it gets quite hectic….. thanks so much for sharing these 🙂
Hi from Ohakune, New Zealand! I will be using these for my 2 year old so she can participate with her 4 yr old, 10 yr old and 12 year old siblings in the morning routine. She loves to ‘help’ just now but struggles to follow multiple instructions. Visualising what she has to do and how she needs to contribute will hopefully make her feel much more included!
Wow, I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for sharing.
Your visual schedule cards have been so extremely helpful. I love all the little visual aids you come up with. My youngest daughter is autistic and I searched all over trying to find the perfect visual schedule to be able to help her. That is how I stumbled upon your site and I have been a huge fan ever since! Thank you so much for all the hard work you put in and the great blogs!
I’m s happy to hear this. Thank you for sharing!
Excited yet anxious to see if these will help with my 4 year old who is currently going through assessments for Aspergers. She likes routine and hates any little change so hoping to find something that will help with it. Fingers crossed. 😊
What age is recommended to start using this?
I would use it with ages 2 and older.
I have 3 lovely kids – aged 7, 4 and 1 – and I’m hoping that they will love the idea of a visual schedule as much as I do.
Where is the icon for printing these toddler schedule cards? I subscribed to your newsletter, but haven’t got anything yet.
I’m sorry! Sometimes the email gets sent to your spam folder. I’ll send you an email with the file.
Hi there, I’ve signed up to the newsletter but still haven’t receive an answer to print those cards. Îve already checked junk mails. Could you p’ease send them to me by email ?
Thanks
I’m sorry! Yes, I just sent you an email.
I havent gotten anything yet there is nothing in my spam folder either.
i even tried twice in the subscribe area.. im already subscribed because i got an email from you concerning this.
I just sent it to you! I’m sorry!
My granddaughter is looking forward to using these.
I would like to share this schedule with parents of preschool students with disabilities. They are now doing e-learning and would benefit from a schedule at home. Is there any way I can share without all having to input their e-mail? Any help you are able to provide would be appreciated as we embark on eLearning for an indefinite amount of time.
Thanks!
Yes! Since this is a time of crisis, I give you permission to email the parents the PDF. You can add it as an attachment to the email. Hope this helps!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!
I cannot seem to find the free printable for the visual schedule for toddlers… am I missing something? I would absolutely love these as my son would totally benefit from these.
I’m sorry! I will email it to you.
I’m excited about the printable picture schedule. I plan to us it with my SPED Kindergartener who struggles verbally. A picture schedule was recommended by her speech therapist. I think it will especially be helpful as we are trying to establish new routines for learning from home while school is out. Thank you!