Launch Pad Mornings — The Picture Checklist

A short picture checklist by the front door (the “launch pad”) turns the arrival or getting-ready routine into something the child starts and runs alone. One cue from you — and then the pictures do the reminding, not your voice.

  1. Pick one short routine with 3–5 steps the child can already do, for example coming home: shoes on the mat → coat on the hook → bag unpacked → hands washed.
  2. Make the checklist together. Draw each step or take a photo of your child doing it. Stick the pictures in order, top to bottom, at the child’s eye level right where the routine happens.
  3. Set up the launch pad so every step is physically possible without you: a low hook, a mat for shoes, a basket for the lunchbox.
  4. Walk through it once as a game: “What does the first picture say? Show me!” Let the child move a clothes-peg down the list or flip each card as it is done.
  5. From then on, give one cue only — “Launch pad!” or simply opening the door — and step back. Busy yourself nearby and count silently to 60 before saying anything.
  6. If the child stalls, point — don’t talk. Tap the chart or ask “What’s next on your list?” rather than naming the step yourself.
  7. Notice the start, not the perfection. “You got going all by yourself — I didn’t say a word.”

Variation: build a second checklist for bedtime or for getting ready to leave, or let the child be the “checklist boss” who checks whether you did all your steps.

Requirements

  • Space: A hallway corner, entryway, or the area by the child's bedroom door
  • Surface: Any wall or door at the child's eye level for the chart
  • Materials: Paper and pens or printed photos, tape, a clothes-peg or sticky dots, a low hook and a basket or mat
  • Participants: 1 child; adult sets it up and then steps back
  • Supervision: Light — adult stays nearby but deliberately quiet

Rationale & Objective

Starting a familiar routine without being told each step is the core of task initiation, and it is exactly what kindergarten teachers expect at arrival time. Teaching Strategies GOLD (Objective 1c, takes care of own needs, and Objective 11, positive approaches to learning) and the Head Start ELOF goal that a child “demonstrates initiative and independence” both describe this shift from adult-driven to self-driven routines. A picture sequence moves the prompt out of the parent’s mouth and into the environment, so the child practises reading the cue and beginning rather than waiting to be told. Visual activity schedules have their strongest research base with autistic children, and the evidence for preschoolers without autism is thinner (Zimmerman, Ledford & Barton, 2017), but they are a standard, low-risk recommendation in early-childhood practice (Hemmeter et al., 2008). Dawson & Guare describe the same approach for building task initiation: make the routine visible, cue once, and fade the adult.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: needs a spoken reminder for almost every step; starts only when an adult walks them to the chart; drifts off to play between steps
  • Developing: starts the first step after one cue; needs a point at the chart or “What’s next?” once or twice; finishes most steps
  • Proficient: begins within about a minute of the cue and works through all steps with no reminders on most days
  • Advanced: starts the routine without any cue, even on rushed or unusual days; no longer needs the chart; helps make a checklist for a new routine

Safety Notes

  • Fix hooks firmly and at the child’s shoulder height or lower, so nothing is pulled down onto them and nobody climbs to reach
  • Keep the shoe mat and basket out of the walking path to avoid trips in a narrow hallway
  • Do not turn the chart into a threat or a public record of failures — a child who feels watched and judged starts less readily
  • Tired, hungry, or unwell children will need more help; lower expectations on those days without abandoning the routine
  • If a child of this age still cannot begin any familiar routine without step-by-step adult direction after several months of calm practice, mention it to the pediatrician or preschool teacher

Hints

  • Playfulness: call it “mission control” — the child is an astronaut running the pre-launch checks, and the last picture is always a high-five or “blast off!” into play
  • Sustain interest: let the child redraw the pictures, change the peg for a favorite figure, or swap in a new routine every few weeks
  • Common mistake: repeating the cue. Each extra “Come on, shoes!” teaches the child that the real signal is your third reminder. Say it once, then wait a full minute
  • Limited space: no hallway? Tape the strip to the inside of the front door and use an over-door hook and one small box on the floor
  • Cross-domain: number the steps (numeral recognition), add a written word under each picture (print awareness), and practise zips and buckles (self-care and fine motor)
  • Progression: 3 steps with you beside them → 5 steps with you in the next room → child starts with no cue → chart removed → child designs a checklist for a brand-new routine

Sources

  • Teaching Strategies GOLD — Objective 1c (takes care of own needs appropriately) and Objective 11 (demonstrates positive approaches to learning)
  • Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework — Approaches to Learning, initiative and independence goals for preschoolers
  • Hemmeter, Ostrosky, Artman & Kinder (2008), “Moving Right Along… Planning Transitions to Prevent Challenging Behavior,” Young Children 63(3)
  • Zimmerman, Ledford & Barton (2017), “Using Visual Activity Schedules for Young Children With Challenging Behavior,” Journal of Early Intervention 39(4), 339–358
  • Dawson & Guare (2009), Smart but Scattered — task initiation as an executive skill and routine-based supports
  • HighScope Key Developmental Indicators — Approaches to Learning (Initiative)