Tried and True School Morning Routine Hacks That Actually Work!

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School mornings don’t have to be crazy hectic. Believe it or not, they can actually be enjoyable with these tried and true school morning routine hacks!

school morning routine hacks

Hi friends,

If you’re still suffering from crazy and hectic mornings with your kids, you need to start using these tried and true school morning routine hacks.. like yesterday!

I know it sounds insane, but I actually enjoy my mornings before school with my kids! It’s probably my favorite part of the day to be completely honest.

In our family, I’m the only one doing the school morning routine since the other half is already at work. With 3 kids on my own, I had to figure out a system and figure it out fast! Here’s what we do..

School Morning Routine Hacks

1. Set up an Alexa “Good Morning” routine

This hack absolutely changed the game for me!

If you don’t already have an Alexa for your kids room, I highly suggest getting one. We absolutely love ours!

With your Alexa device you can set something called “routines”. Basically, when one thing happens with Alexa, it triggers another set of actions.

For example: In my daughters room we have her alarm set for 7am. When she dismisses her alarm, that’s the “trigger” for Alexa. When that happens, the following set of actions will automatically happen. Alexa will say “Good morning Rylee”, then she’ll give her a kids fact of the day followed by the weather for the day. After that, she’ll automatically turn on a Disney music station.

This “routine” helps immensely for several reasons.. It tells her what the weather is which lets her know automatically if she needs to grab a jacket, umbrella, etc. for the day without me needing to tell her. It also plays her favorite music to get her up out of bed and moving.

If your house is more equip for “smart” things you could really set this up to help endlessly with things like automatically turning on lights, opening blinds, etc. But, even just a simple set up like an alarm followed by weather and music is enough to make your morning so much smoother!

Echo Dot

2. Make lunches the night before

If you’re still making lunches in the morning, you gotta switch to the night before!

It’s how I remember my parents making my lunches and it honestly just makes the most sense when you really think about it. Plus, it saves so much time in the morning.. I couldn’t imagine trying to pack lunches on top of breakfast and everything else!

Personally, I love spending a little extra time to make my kids lunches something they really look forward to. There simply wouldn’t be enough time (or energy) to make a cute lunch in the morning.

{Related Post: 7 Kids School Lunch Essentials To Make The CUTEST Lunches!}

For warm lunches, lunch boxes like the Omie Box make this easy to do. You can pack the cold foods and prepare the warm food. In the morning, pop the warm food into the microwave and then place back into the insulated section.

This will save you a ton of time but still ensure your little one has a warm meal come lunch time!

OmieBox Bento Box for Kids

3. Prep quick & easy breakfasts for the week in advance

First off, there is absolutely nothing wrong with popping some waffles into the toaster in the morning, peeling a banana and calling it a solid breakfast. Heck, it’s the breakfast of champs!

But, if you’re the type of mom who likes to go the extra mile and have a home cooked breakfast in the morning, this will save you so much time. Plus, sometimes it’s just a good switch up from the same old same old cereal and waffles.

There are so many great, yummy and filling make-ahead breakfast ideas out there. In fact, we have a whole list of easy and delicious breakfast ideas you can prep on Sunday for the week or even entire month!

Check it out here:

school morning routine hacks breakfast

31+ School Breakfast Ideas For Kids On Busy School Mornings

4. Do their hair while they eat breakfast

I know this might sound gross to some but honestly, it saves me so much dang time in the morning.

Do their hair at the breakfast table while they eat. It’s the best time to do it, I promise. They’re already sitting still and distracted so its the perfect time!

This school morning routine hack goes perfectly the next hack, actually!

5. Set up a school morning hair caddy

So, all the hair supplies is in the bathroom but we do their at the breakfast table? Isn’t that annoying grabbing all of their hair stuff?

Nope! Not anymore!

About half way through the school year it dawned on me that there was a much easier solution – a small caddy with all of our hair supplies! I found a cheap caddy at Marshalls and thew all of our essentials in it!

Here’s everything that’s in our school morning hair caddy (plus links):

6. Plan outfits for the week in advance

Take any and all thought out of the “what should I wear today?” question from your kiddos!

Have them pick out their outfits on Sunday including socks and underwear, fold them up and put them into a hanging closet organizer!

They can learn to look at the weeks weather forecast to plan their outfits accordingly. If you live in a place with a more stable climate though, the simple cues from their Alexa morning routine would be enough to tell them if they need to grab a jacket or whatever else!

This hanging closet organizer is perfect with only 5 sections. Perfect for just enough slots for the school week! It also comes in a bunch of fun colors.

5 Shelves Hanging Closet Organizer

7. Set up shoes and backpacks by the front door the night before

As part of your nighttime routine, get in the habit of placing backpacks and shoes right by the door for quick and easy access in the morning! This is one of those school morning routine hacks that helps out the parents as well!

If you have younger ones who still need help with their socks and shoes, placing their socks into their shoes rather than the closet organizer would be a smart idea too.

This hack is helpful for us as parents too because the act of placing the backpacks by the door serves as a reminder to make sure we’ve gone through the backpacks for any important notes or papers.

You could even take this up a notch and create an entire backpack and shoe station! We absolutely love ours. See more about it here!

backpack station

8. Create a kid’s morning to-do list

To-lists are so insanely helpful for just about everyone. Personally, I know I thrive with a checklist. Turns out, most children do too!

We use this super cool to-do list from Amazon. It has a sliding checkmark to move over once you complete a task.

This helps our kids keep focused and on task. I don’t need to worry about reminding them to brush their teeth or take their morning vitamins.. it’s all right there and being able to “check” it off is a motivator on its own.

There’s plenty of room to add whatever part of your kids morning routine are important in your house such as:

  • Get dressed
  • Make your bed
  • Brush your teeth
  • Take your vitamins
  • Put your dishes in the sink

We put ours right in a central area by our door so that they can check it off without needing to run back to their rooms.

To-Do List for Kids

You can also just download our FREE editable morning checklist printable here!

{Related Post: FREE Editable School Morning Checklist For Kids Printable!}


Don’t forget that all of the hustle and bustle of busy school mornings is just a season of life.. It will pass so try to make the most of it. I know that these school morning routine hacks will help you have a calmer, more productive and enjoyable morning with your kids!

Enjoy it! Remember, the days are long but the years are short!

Here’s to another great school year. Cheers!

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