4 1/2 years old

After School Routine

08:30

We have been very busy getting Ethan ready to start school in September and planning out how our routine and our schedule will change.  Most of the emphasis is on our morning routine and getting out of the door on time, but I'm also thinking about what's going to happen after school.


I think it's really important to have a nice after school routine, a way to wind down after the busyness of the day, to reflect and share any stories about what's happened and to get out some of that energy from sitting still for part of the day.  The first priority when I pick Ethan up from school is going to have to be to make sure that he's had enough to eat and enough water to drink during the day.  I know that he can be a bit of a fussy eater, so I'm sure that there will be days when he doesn't eat much lunch, so I'll be ready with this Monsterosity water bottle full of fresh water and these Monsterosity snack boxes both from Paperchase, with lots of healthy snacks inside them.  If it's a nice day we can head over to the park to run around and maybe have a picnic with our snacks before heading home.


We're really lucky to live quite close to Ethan's school so we will be able to walk (or scoot) to and from school, and this will be a great opportunity to talk about what he's done that day. But just in case he doesn't feel like opening up on his own, I'll be asking open ended questions about the fun that he had and the friends that he's made at school.  Another great way to get kids to talk about things is through art, and we're loving this Wolf Gang ideas notepad from Paperchase that Ethan can draw his big ideas in.  I asked him to start off his new notepad by drawing what he wants to be when he grows up, so this is a picture of him as a deep sea diver when he grows up.  I'm hoping that he'll want to draw me pictures of the fun things that he's doing at school each day.


When we get home after school Ethan can change into comfy clothes and have some run around time in the garden and then some quiet time reading books curled up in our cosy reading area.  Then we'll have a big dinner and watch one of his favourite shows (probably Paw Patrol) before having a bath, bedtime stories and going to bed nice and early ready to start it all again the next day.


What's your after school routine look like?  Is there anything else that we should be doing each day?


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* This is a review post, we were sent the water bottle, snack boxes and notepad from Paperchase in order to use them and write our honest opinions.*

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3 comments

  1. I love your ideas - thank you so much for sharing them, you can never have too many! We have drinks, snacks and I have a little craft out usually so we can have a chat about the day whilst dinner is cooking :)

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  2. Love those snack boxes, my little Bugs would love those. WE always have a snack and a drink as soon as we get home as my kids are always exhausted and starving.

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  3. I think it's great to get into a routine, as you say, and they always want snacks and a drink after school! Mine is about to start secondary school, so it's all going to change......

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