what is your 3/4 year old's routine

[SuperAmoo]

I've never been good with routines and am starting to see that my 3 (nearly 4) year old DD1 really needs a routine (bit late to realise this I know). What kind of routine do you have? Does it include a bath in the evening before bed?

Evening routine...

Tea 5:30
Bath 6:00
TV 6:30
Story 6:45
Cuddle and Bed 7:00pm

Not rigid, but approximate same most nights.

dgs 3.1
Tea 5pm
bath 6.00pm
milk and toast 6.30pm
in bed by 6.50
2 stories and cuddles then lights out between 7 and 7.15.
slight variations but always asleep by 7.30

Similar routine here for dds aged 5 and 3:

5:30ish - tea

6:00 - half an hour to play, watch TV, spend with DH if he's home from work

6:30 - bath if having one (but tend to only have bath every other night, depending on how grubby from the day and how late we're running...)

7:00ish -story if time (trying to make time for this more often, although we often read in the afternoon once dd1 home from school)

This is the plan, but in reality It's unusual for my dds to be in bed by 7:00pm, so I aim for no later than 7:30pm; 8:00pm is absolutely the latest on a school night.

DS 3.5

we have no day routine except he does preschool most days 9.15-12pm so there's inevitable routine with that.

Evening routine:

6.00pm Dinner
6.30pm Play/might watch some TV
6.50pm Bath if he's having one, or 7pm, teeth and wash
7.15pm Upstairs, PJ's and Story
7.30pm Lights out

Ds1 3.5

awake any time between 5.30 and 6.30

Plays, has breakfast, gets dressed, plays a bit more

Most mornings (and all day on Weds) goes to preschool. If not toddler group or friends' houses.

Plays quietly (in theory) after lunch whilst ds2 naps (trains, playmobil, books).

Afternoon - trip to playground, play in garden, or something inside (painting, playdough, cooking) if wet.

tv at 5ish whilst I cook their dinner

dinner 5.15/5.30
bath 6ish
stories 6.20-6.45
bed after that

dd 3

up btw 6.30am - 7.30am
breakfast
watches milkshake
takes older brother to school
goes to preschool until twelve
dinner: 12.15pm
plays until time to pick up brother from school
tea at 4.30
plays with brother, watches tv
bath every other night at 6.30pm
stories and bed at 7pm
btw 7pm and 8pm is put back to bed xxxx amount of times

DS is 3
7-7.30 wake up
7.30-8.00 breakfast
9.15- playschool
12 home & lunch
1pm - nap
3pm - school run
5pm - tea
6.30pm - bath then story and cup of milk
7pm - bed

he plays with various things, likes colouring, craft stuff, reading books, going to the park, so we fit a variety of these things around the above routine.

Thanks everyone - I'm amazed at how much playing your little ones do - are they playing on their own? My DD1 is 4 in December but she won't really play on her own. I always make sure that I play with her for atleast one hour every day with her toys. Aside from that, I'm always suggesting colouring, glueing, painting, playdough, playing with water, in the sandpit, doing a magazine together, reading - but she hardly ever wants to do any of these things - she says she's too tired and asks to have her dummies and watch tv so she invariably watches 3-4 hours per day. Anyone else's child like this?

Fortunately DS plays very well by himself a lot of the time - with whatever imaginative game he's come up with (at the moment he's dressed as a pirate collecting treasure - ie making a big heap of all his toys in the middle of the lounge ), but I very much have to take the lead on some activities with him if we're home for more than an hour at a time - so that might be something crafty, or cooking, or just giving him little jobs to do alongside me. I've also found if I start off with an activity or two, and then play a game then I can normally leave him to entertain himself for a while. But DS is used to not having the telly on much - we only got CBeebies the other day so he's really not used to asking for it so it rarely goes on before the evening when it used to be a dvd or something. I have noticed with Cbeebies (having not had it and had dvd's) that it's easy to leave it on! Running in to the next programme - but that's me, I think I'm getting used to the novelty of it!

DD 3.8:

7.30am up, watch tv and eat breakfast
8am wash, dress and play or watch tv
9-12 at nursery
12.15 eat lunch
12.30-3ish play and i usually play with for most of this time
3-4pm watch tv (again!)
4-5pm we read stories or do some other quiet activities together
5pm eat tea
5.30-6.30pm spend time with daddy after he finishes work
6.30pm bath
7pm bed

DD would LOVE to sit with her dummy and watch hours of cbeebies!! That was partly the reason we took dummy away until bedtime because that is all she wanted to do!

She's a bit better at playing on her own now but i do have to encourage her or start her off with something.

DD 3.3

7-7.30am gets up
7.30am breakfast
8-9am gets dressed, plays
9am-11.30am nursery
12 lunch
afternoon spent at friends' houses, in park, swimming or playing (she is thankfully v good at playing which may or may not be associated with the fact she isn't allowed to watch tv)
5.30pm dinner
6pm bath
6.30pm stories in our bed
7pm bed (sometimes she goes straight off, sometimes she tries her luck with "need a drink" "lost my teddy" type calls downstairs).

DS is 4 in 2 weeks

7-7:30 - wakes up (if any earlier he plays in his room)
7:30-7:45 - come round & get dressed
8:00 - 8:20 - him & daddy take me to work
8:30-8:45 - breakfast & brush teeth
8:55 - 15:10 - Nursery
15:15-15:45 - get changed & snack
4:00-4:20 - come & get me from work
4:30-6:00 - play, cuddle, tv time
6:00-6:30 - tea
6:30-7:00 - bath or shower
7:00-7:30 - story, sticker book, cuddles, milky drink
7:30-8:00 - bed (8 at weekends)

DS is 3.3

Up at 7.45 ish, breakfast, get dressed
8.15 leave to take DD2 to school and him to pre-school - he does 4 mornings

Home at 1pm
1.30 - 4ish nap
4.15pm collect DD2 from school
Snack
Play
7pm dinner
7.30 bath
8-8.30 story and bed

That's the weekday grind

At weekends, anything goes

DS is 3.5

Up most usually 6.30 - 7
Breakfast, dressed etc
pre-school mornings (3 per week) out at 8
Pre-school 9-12

home. Lunch 12.30ish

play, out to visit people, out to park, swimming

5.30 tea
6.30 bath
7pm pyjamas, milk, stories in bed
7.30 pm lights out, usually asleep by 8

I know there's been some discussion already, but when people say 'play' do they mean playing alone, or activities/playing with mum or dad? DS is beginning to play on his own for much longer periods, but I feel very bad about letting/ encouraging him to do so, and wonder if other 3 year olds do the same.

Only child angst I suspect - wouldn't have time to worry with 3 siblings!

ds 3.10 up at 7
breakfast 8
nursery 9.15 - 1pm (has lunch there)
usually outdoors from 1pm - 4.30pm (with drink snack thrown in) in park, soft play, meeting friends or swimming if weather not good.
4.30 home and play/stories/cbeebies mag./crafts/cooking (usually with me involved)
6pm tea
6.15 tv/dvd
7.15 dad in so rough play
7.30 bedtime routine of wash/bath(every few days as has excema)
8pm settling down/stories and cuddles
8.30 asleep

DD is 3.4 and we don't really have much of a daytime routine, we just play it by ear although she goes to nursery three mornings a week. In the evening, we do bath, stories, bed and 95% of the time she is asleep by 7.30 but I am flexible on this too if needed.