Home Base Touchdown

A coming-home arrival routine with a child-height “home base” by the door. Shoes, coat, bag, and hands each get one fixed move, done in the same order every time, until walking in the door runs itself.

  1. Build home base together. By the door, set up a hook the child can reach without help (a stick-on hook at shoulder height is plenty), a spot for shoes (a tray, a mat, or a taped rectangle), and a place where the bag always lives. Let the child choose which hook is theirs and mark it with their name or a sticker.
  2. Teach the four moves — once, slowly. Shoes off and parked. Coat on the hook. Bag in its spot. Hands washed. Do it alongside your child the first few times, saying each move in the same few words.
  3. Show the coat trick. Find the loop or the hood, and hook that — not the sleeve. A coat that slides off the hook three times is the usual reason children give up and drop it on the floor.
  4. Step back. From now on, stop at the door and say only “Touchdown!” Then wait. If your child stalls, point at home base instead of listing the steps again.
  5. Notice it out loud. “You hung your coat by the loop and nobody had to say a word.” Be specific; skip the prize.

Variation: Run the routine in reverse at going-out time — everything the child needs is already waiting at home base. Or let the child be the “ground crew” who checks that a grown-up’s shoes and coat made it to their spots too.

Requirements

  • Space: The entryway or any corner near the door you actually use — half a metre of wall is enough
  • Surface: A wall or door for a hook, and a patch of floor for shoes
  • Materials: A hook at the child's shoulder height (stick-on is fine), a shoe tray, mat, or taped outline, a fixed spot or second hook for the bag, and a name label or sticker
  • Participants: 1 child with 1 adult nearby; each sibling gets their own hook
  • Supervision: Close for the first week while the moves are learned, then light — the adult watches from a distance and resists stepping in

Rationale & Objective

Hanging up a coat and putting a bag in its place on arrival is the first example listed for this subdomain, and the arrival routine is its headline measurement. Teaching Strategies GOLD tracks exactly this under Objective 1b (follows limits and expectations — managing rules, routines, and transitions with only occasional reminders) and Objective 1c (takes care of own needs appropriately). The design borrows two ideas that early-childhood curricula agree on. From Montessori’s prepared environment: independence is mostly a furniture problem — a child cannot hang a coat on a hook they cannot reach, so the hook comes down to them. From HighScope’s consistent daily routine: when the same steps happen in the same order in the same place, the routine itself becomes the reminder and the adult’s voice can fade out. Research on family routines (Spagnola & Fiese, 2007) links predictable family routines with young children’s social-emotional, language, and social-skill development — and an arrival routine is one of the few a five-year-old can own completely, start to finish.

Progress Indicators

  • Early: drops coat, shoes, and bag wherever they land; does each move only when an adult names it and stands beside them
  • Developing: does two or three of the four moves after a single “Touchdown!” cue; the coat sometimes ends up on the floor under the hook; needs a point or a look to finish
  • Proficient: completes all four moves in order within about five minutes with no reminders on most days; hangs the coat by its loop or hood so it stays up
  • Advanced: runs the routine at other people’s houses and at school without being asked, notices when something is missing from home base, and helps a younger sibling or a guest find where things go

Safety Notes

  • Mount hooks at the child’s shoulder height or lower, not at eye level, and choose rounded or knob-style hooks rather than sharp ones — children move fast in entryways
  • Keep the shoe spot out of the walking path and away from the top of stairs so parked shoes do not become a trip hazard
  • Coats with drawstrings or long scarves should not be left hanging where a younger sibling could get tangled in them
  • Arriving home is often the most tired and hungry moment of a child’s day. If the routine reliably ends in tears, shorten it to one move and add the others back later rather than turning the doorway into a battleground
  • If a child of five and a half or older cannot manage any step of a simple, well-practised routine without an adult doing it for them, mention it to your pediatrician or the child’s teacher

Hints

  • Playfulness: you are air-traffic control and the child is the plane coming in to land — “Flight five, you are cleared for touchdown.” Let the child do the radio voice back
  • Sustain interest: let the child redecorate their hook label each season, and occasionally swap roles so they inspect your landing and catch your “mistakes” (a coat hung by its sleeve, one shoe in the hallway)
  • Common mistake: reciting the steps every day (“shoes… now coat… now bag…”). That makes you the routine. Say one cue word, then wait a full ten seconds before pointing
  • Limited space: no entryway needed — a single over-the-door hook and a shoebox lid for shoes make a complete home base in the smallest flat
  • Cross-domain: the fixed order builds sequencing and working memory, hooking a coat loop is real fine-motor work, and reading their own name on the hook is early print awareness
  • Progression: one move (shoes) → all four moves done alongside an adult → four moves on a one-word cue → no cue at all → the same routine in new places (grandparents’ house, school, a friend’s home)

Sources

  • Teaching Strategies GOLD — Objectives for Development & Learning: Objective 1b (follows limits and expectations) and 1c (takes care of own needs appropriately)
  • Montessori, M. — The Discovery of the Child (the prepared environment: child-sized, child-height furnishings as the basis of independence)
  • HighScope Preschool Curriculum — the consistent daily routine and a learning environment arranged so children can manage materials themselves
  • Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework — Goal P-ATL 2: child follows classroom rules and routines with increasing independence
  • Spagnola, M. & Fiese, B. H. (2007). Family routines and rituals: A context for development in the lives of young children. Infants & Young Children, 20(4), 284–299
  • CSEFEL (Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning, Vanderbilt University) — Teaching Your Child to Become Independent with Daily Routines (family handout)