DIY Bathroom Routine Chart for Kids – Picture Cards & Sliding Wooden Beads
A gentle, Montessori-inspired DIY for your child's morning and bedtime routine. With illustrated picture cards, wooden clothespins and sliding beads, you can create a lovely visual routine chart that encourages independence in everyday family life. Includes free printable cards from the frifri gnome world.
“Mom, what do I still need to do?”
Brush your teeth, comb your hair, get dressed, wash your hands…
Especially in the morning, so many little things seem to happen all at once.
And while we adults already know the routine by heart, children may still be wondering what comes next.
That's why I wanted to create something they could look at, understand and use all by themselves. The result was a little DIY bathroom routine chart for kids, made with six hand-illustrated picture cards, wooden clothespins and sliding wooden beads.
And the loveliest part?
Whenever a little task is finished, a wooden bead gets to move along. 🍄
You can download the illustrated routine cards from my frifri gnome world for free.
Why a Visual Bathroom Routine Chart Can Help Children
Children love discovering how to do things on their own. And sometimes, instead of another explanation, all they need is a little picture. That's the idea behind our Montessori-inspired bathroom routine chart.
Rather than reminding children of every little task again and again, we make their daily routines visible. Each activity has its own place. And once it's finished, the matching wooden bead moves to the other side. This way, children can see what still needs to be done and what they've already accomplished.
It's not about being the fastest or getting everything perfectly right. It's about creating a familiar little companion that offers gentle guidance and can help children become more independent, one small step at a time.
What You'll Need for Your DIY Bathroom Routine Chart
A picture frame in a suitable size
Six small wooden clothespins
Six wooden beads
String, needle and thread for securing the beads
A small drill or suitable tool for making holes in the frame backing (adult use only)
The free frifri printable routine cards
Paper, printer and scissors
Choose a picture frame large enough to display all six cards clearly, either next to each other or in a vertical arrangement.
A little safety note: Adults should handle the entire assembly. Wooden beads can be a choking hazard for young children. All parts must be securely attached, and there should be no dangerous loops of string. The finished chart is a visual routine aid, not a toy, and young children should only use it with adult supervision.
How to Make a Bathroom Routine Chart for Kids – Step by Step
1. Print Your Free Routine Picture Cards
First, download the free frifri printable.
Inside, you'll find eight lovingly illustrated picture cards for everyday activities, along with two additional cards labeled MORNING and EVENING. This means you can create a single bathroom routine chart or display both your child's morning and evening routines in one place.
The printable comes in two different designs: one with a delicate border around each illustration and another without borders. Simply choose whichever style feels right for your home.
And there's another lovely possibility: the file is suitable for printing up to A3 size (approximately 11.7 × 16.5 inches). If you'd prefer larger picture cards, you can print them bigger, cut them out and laminate them if you like. Then you can attach them individually to your bathroom wall, without needing a picture frame or wooden beads at all.
Perhaps a small routine chart on a shelf feels just right for your family.
Or perhaps you'd prefer a colorful row of illustrated cards along the bathroom wall.
Both are possible.
The Eight Illustrated Routine Cards
Each card shows a familiar little moment from everyday family life:
Use the Toilet
Get Dressed and Undressed
Brush Your Teeth
Brush Your Hair
Wash Your Hands
Eat Breakfast
Story Time
Cuddle Time
(The printable includes all eight illustrations, so you can choose the activities that best fit your family's routines.)
The gentle, easy-to-recognize pictures help children understand each step without needing to read.
2. Cut Out the Picture Cards
Carefully cut out the cards you would like to use, following the printed cutting lines.
For our framed bathroom chart, I chose six cards. If you'd like the cards to last a little longer, you can laminate them or place them in suitable protective sleeves. Make sure to round any sharp corners.
3. Attach the Picture Cards to the Frame
Glue the small wooden clothespins onto the backing board of your picture frame and allow the glue to dry completely. These little clips will hold your illustrated routine cards in place.
Arrange the cards in the order that feels right for your child's bathroom routine. The beautiful thing about this little DIY is that you can rearrange the cards whenever you like, leave out certain activities or replace them with others.
Because every family has its own rhythm. And that rhythm is allowed to change.
4. Add the Sliding Wooden Beads
Now comes the little detail that makes our bathroom routine chart so special.
Each picture card gets its own wooden bead. The bead can slide along a short length of string, allowing children to mark the activities they've already finished.
To make this, carefully drill two small holes into the backing board of the picture frame for each bead. If you're using six picture cards, you'll need twelve holes altogether.
Then use a needle and a piece of string to attach each wooden bead between its two holes, almost as though you were sewing it onto the backing board. In the photo below, you can see the back of our bathroom routine chart. This gives you a clearer idea of how I threaded and secured the string.
Once everything is assembled, each bead can move a little way from its starting position to the “Done” position. Make sure the string is securely fastened, with no dangerous loose loops, and check carefully that the beads or other small parts cannot come loose.
Drilling and fastening should always be done by an adult. The finished chart should only be used by young children under supervision.
5. Discover Your New Bathroom Routine Together
Once everything is finished and securely attached, your new routine chart can find its place.
Perhaps near the bathroom, or somewhere else your child can easily see it.
Take a little moment to look at the pictures together.
What comes first?
What have we already done?
And which little bead gets to move next?
After each completed activity, your child can slide the matching bead along.
Perhaps they'll understand the idea immediately. Or perhaps it will take a few days before the routine begins to feel familiar. Both are perfectly fine.
And Why Is “Cuddle Time” One of the Picture Cards?
Because, to me, a loving morning or bedtime routine is about more than toothbrushes, clothes and hairbrushes.
It's also about those little moments of closeness.
A hug before kindergarten.
A quiet cuddle after brushing teeth.
A moment when nobody has to do anything at all.
That's why Cuddle Time has its very own picture card.
Not as another task to complete. But as something lovely to look forward to once all those little everyday things are done.
A hug, a little closeness, a moment just for each other.
And perhaps that will become the most beautiful part of the whole routine chart.
Free Printable Morning and Evening Routine Cards for Kids
To help you create your own DIY bathroom routine chart for kids, I've prepared a free PDF with my hand-illustrated picture cards.
Inside, you'll find:
8 illustrated routine cards for everyday activities
2 additional MORNING and EVENING cards, so you can display both routines in one place
2 design options, with or without a delicate border around each illustration
High-resolution printable files suitable for A3 printing, if you'd prefer larger routine cards for your bathroom wall
You can cut out the cards, laminate them if you like and arrange them in whichever way suits your family's daily rhythm.
Whether you create a small framed bathroom routine chart with sliding wooden beads or use larger picture cards directly on the wall, the idea is the same:
A little visual reminder that helps make everyday routines feel more familiar.
(The printable is intended for personal use only. Picture frame, clothespins, wooden beads and assembly materials are naturally not included:-))
A Little Piece of the frifri Gnome World in Everyday Family Life
What I especially love about this DIY is that the illustrations aren't simply there to look pretty.
They have a little purpose.
They accompany children as they get ready, make everyday routines easier to understand and perhaps bring a little more calm into those busy morning moments.
And when “Mom, what do I still need to do?” slowly turns into a child moving the next wooden bead all by themselves, that's such a beautiful little step toward independence.
Perhaps your bathroom routine chart will become a familiar morning companion.
Perhaps it will inspire a gentle bedtime routine of your own.
And if you'd like to discover more hand-illustrated gnomes and little everyday worlds, you're always welcome to visit my frifri shop.
Because sometimes, it's the smallest things that make family life feel a little easier, warmer and more loving.
A hug and see you soon,
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