What is your daytime routine for 3-4 year olds?

[Anonymous]

My 3.5 year old son will be home with a babysitter all day this summer. Since an infant, he's always been in all-day daycare/preschool all year round. This summer will be the first time he won't be in some sort of school setting during the day. This is also our babysitter's first all-day childcare job - previous work has been part time. Whether you're a SAHM or have children at home with you all day, what's the average day like for your 3-4 year old? We aren't doing camps and his sister will be in daycare so it will just be my son and the babysitter for 9 hours a day. I want to work with the babysitter on a structured day with some learning opportunities, outdoor playtime, indoor playtime.

[Anonymous]

8 am - breakfast, dress, etc
9 am - free play
10 am - guided activities (abc, maths, etc) + play
11 am snack
11.15 am - outside play
1 pm - lunch + nap/quiet time
3 pm - play
4 pm - arts and crafts
4.30 pm - outside play
6 pm - dinner

Have her take him to the park/pool/etc every other morning or afternoon, or more often depending on their energy levels. Once a week let them do a big outing like a museum or aquarium.

I like to choose a theme that I'm interested in and do activities based on it (but not exclusive so) - what does your son like? My kids don't really have defined interests yet, so I do what I'm interested in - space, travelling, ocean life, whatever.

3-4 is such a curious up for anything age, they'll have a blast!

[Anonymous]

Oh and playdates - he'll be missing all the interaction he's used to from daycare, so make sure he gets to see some of his friends every couple of days.

[Anonymous]

I have triplet charges who are almost 4. We are just finishing up school for the year and are not doing camp for summer.

Wake around 7:30

7:30-8:00- Potty, getting dressed, etc.

8:00-8:45/9:00- Breakfast. We usually prepare breakfast and eat together, so it takes a while.

9:00-9:30- Clean up breakfast, free play while I do a few things like throw in laundry, etc.

9:30-10:00- Brush teeth, potty and get ready to leave the house.

10:00-2:00/3:00- Outside the house activity or outing. We have 2 structured activities this summer- swimming and soccer. Other than that we are doing different things each day. I try to schedule at least one playdate a week with friends and then we do things like children's museum, zoo, library events, etc. We live in a sunny place, so can go to the beach or the pool every day pretty much if we wanted. We often eat picnic lunch out and about.

2/3:00- Depending on when we get home, we do about 45-60 mins of quiet time. We are in transition and still sometimes need a short nap too, so we play it by ear here. They are always awake by 3:30 though.

3:30-4:30- Free time. They usually play together while I finish laundry, get our bag ready for the next day, etc.

4:30-5:00- I usually set them up with a learning activity of some sort at the table while I'm cooking and preparing dinner. We rotate through different activity books and practice things like writing, tracing, cutting paper, etc.

5:00-5:15- They help me set the table. Wash hands, etc.

5:15-6:00- Dinner Time

6:00-6:45- Bath Time

7:00-7:30- Story Time, winding down, bedtime routine.

In bed with lights out at 7:30

[Anonymous]

• 7AM-Wake up, brush teeth + hair, get dressed.
• 7:30-9AM-Eat breakfast, take vitamins and watch "30 min." of T.V.
Individual playtime. I.e., read story books, color, play Candyland, sing & dance, etc.
• 9-9:30AM-Prepare for daily outing. Prepare/Pack snacks. Fill up water bottle or cup. Put on shoes and apply sunscreen. Pack an extra set of clothes and a towel or a blanket.
• 9:30-12:30PM-Attend storytime @the public library, meet-up at the Recreation Ctr. for a community weekly play group, attend arts & crafts, play in the local park/playground, play in the sand at the beach or go out to lunch at a kid-friendly restaurant.
• 1PM-Prepare lunch while child does a puzzle or plays w/her baby dolls/stuffed animals.
• 1:30-2:15PM-Serve + eat lunch together while discussing the fun events of the day!
• 2:15-2:30PM-Wash up dishes, wipe off counters & eating area and sweep floor, if needed.
• 2:30-Brush teeth, give some water & change into Pajamas for nap time. Wash hands + wipe down face. Read two story books, put on white noise then perhaps tell a short "made up by me" story before closing blinds and putting on the lighted up stars.
• 4-4:30PM-Wake up time.

Signed,
Nanny of an adorable 3 1/2 year old little girl.

[Anonymous]

I have four kids, but one is 4 years old:

Schedule: Summer 2016

7:30 – Wake up/play

8:15 – Breakfast

8:45 – Get dressed/brush teeth/tidy bedroom/make beds

9:00 – book time – adults read to kids, kids read to adults, and/or older kids read to younger kids

9:30-10:15- free play (1)

10:15-11:15 - Outing (2)

11:15 – snack (at home, at the swimming pool after lessons, at the playground)

11:30 – 12:30 – craft time (3)

12:30 – lunch

1:00-2:00 – quiet time/naps

2:00 – 3:30 – learning time (4) (younger kids are usually sleeping)

3:30 – snack

3:45-5:00 – free play (1)

5:00-6:00 – prepare and eat dinner

6:00-7:30 – family time (5)

7:30 – shower/bath, pajamas, brush teeth, television show, stories

9:00 – bed


I have lists of 10-20 things for 1-5. And sometimes the outing takes over craft time and even lunch time.

[Anonymous]

Mom here of almost 4yo DD

wake up around 7, get in bed with whichever one of us is home and watch about 30/60 mins of Kindle while we either lay there or get up and shower and get dressed.
Around 8ish she gets dressed, has breakfast does teeth etc.
We walk the dogs together
Around 10 we head out to do our morning activity. We belong to a Moms group so we do a lot with them, park playdates, playgroups, indoor gym, this week we went for a walk around Brookside Gardens too.
Either picnic, lunch out or lunch at home.
30 mins quiet time in room

Indoor activity we do together, like coloring, play doh, painting rocks we collect on the dogs walks ( yesterday).
60-90 mins of TV while I read paper and prep for dinner.
Around 4pm play outside on bikes/scooter/chalk/bubbles etc, basically free play with some guidance
Dinner around 5.30, bath, bed at 7. Lights out around 7.30

[Anonymous]

Wake around 7 and hang with parents for a bit. I start at 7:30 which is when parents leave.

7:30-8am breakfast.
8-9-free play while I tidy up, put laundry in to wash, get packed up for the day.
9-9:30- we will do jigsaws, reading.
9:30-12. Outside activity time. Playdates, library storytime/activities, park, occasionally a big outng like zoo, aquarium, museums etc in which case we will eat picnic lunch out and come back for a later nap at 1pm.
12pm if not at an outing we have lunch at home.
12:30-2:30 nap time.
2:30-3:30 craft time.
3:30 snack time. We usually go to the park, playdate, for a walk or the library.
5pm dinnertime.
5:30-5:50 free play while I tidy up.
5:50-6pm I will read stories until the parents get in at 6

[Anonymous]

School year:
7 am: up, potty, dress, strip bed and take bedding and pjs to the laundry room, washing down if he peed the bed,
7.30: carry his plate to the table, eat, bus dishes to the sink, brush teeth, walk older siblings to school
8: swimming
9: write name, then flashcards (he has three choices: alphabet (match lower and upper case, alphabetize), numbers (counting groups of objects to match to the cards, sequencing the numbers, making tallies on the white board to match certain cards, showing groups of tens and one's on the white bboard for three cards) and a word game (three letters to make each word))
9.30: chores (he empties all of the small trashcans into the kitchen trashcan, pulls weeds for 3-5 minutes, put away dry plates and bowls, wipe down the bathroom sink, putting away folded towels/washcloths/his clothes)
10: workbook pages, sight words
10.30: storytime, visiting pet store or library
11: free play
11.30: help prepare lunch, eat, clean up, put away dry plates and bowls from breakfast, brush teeth
Noon: outside play (jump on trampoline, run in backyard, play at the park, biking)
12.30: reading to him during free play
1: free play (no reading)
1.30: reading with me
2: outside play, snack
2.30: workbook pages
3: playground, pick up older siblings, free play while siblings do homework (with/out help)
4: swimming
6:30: help make dinner, set table
7.15: fruit and/or ice cream for dessert
7.30: pjs, make bed with clean bedding and help, pjs
8: choose books for bedtime, free play
8.30: in bed, listening to books until only one child is awake ( he's the youngest, never is the last one)

Summer:
Pool is open 5-10 m-f, 1-6 m-th
Summer reading is two days (ages are split) 10.30-12, tu, w
Storytime th 10.30-11
Visiting pet stores, zoo, parks, hiking, biking
Daily work on flashcards, workbooks, sight words, penmanship, recognizing/writing his name
Same chores
No specific schedule, but nothing fun happens until some of the chores and academic things are out of the way, all chores and academics must be done before we start dinner
No matter how late he's up the night before, he wakes by 8.30, so I try to make sure that I start reading to him by 9