Bedtime Routine for Kids: A Simple Plan That Works

A good bedtime routine is less about the perfect steps and more about doing the same few things, in the same order, at about the same time each night. Predictability tells a child’s body and brain that sleep is coming. It also cuts down on the nightly negotiations that leave everyone frazzled.

How much sleep kids need

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) published consensus recommendations for children’s sleep, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports them. The numbers are total sleep in 24 hours, including naps:

Age	Recommended sleep per 24 hours
1 to 2 years	11 to 14 hours (including naps)
3 to 5 years	10 to 13 hours (including naps)
6 to 12 years	9 to 12 hours

If your preschooler still naps, count the nap toward the total. A 4-year-old who naps for an hour and sleeps 10 hours at night is getting 11 hours.

Every child is a little different. The ranges are wide for a reason. Your best guide is how your child seems during the day: a well-rested child usually wakes without a fight most mornings and isn’t falling apart by late afternoon.

Work backward to find bedtime

1. Start with wake-up time. On school days this is usually fixed by the bus or the drive.
2. Subtract the hours of sleep your child needs. Pick a number in the middle of the range for their age to start.
3. Subtract about 20 to 30 minutes for the routine. That’s when the routine begins.

Example: a 6-year-old who wakes at 6:45 a.m. and does well on about 10.5 hours needs to be asleep by around 8:15 p.m., so the routine starts at about 7:45.

A simple bedtime routine, step by step

The AAP’s Brush, Book, Bed program boils bedtime down to three steps: help your child brush their teeth, read a favorite book or two, and go to bed at a regular time. Here is a fuller version that works for most families with kids from toddler age up.

1. Wind-down warning (about 10 minutes before). “Ten minutes until bath time.” For young kids, a visual timer helps. This gives them time to finish what they’re doing.
2. Quick tidy. For school-age kids, the AAP suggests a short tidy-up as part of bedtime: books back on shelves, clothes in drawers. Mornings go more smoothly when things are where they belong.
3. Bath or wash-up, pajamas. A bath isn’t needed every night. Washing face and hands works too. Keep the same order every time.
4. Brush teeth and use the bathroom. For kids under 3, the AAP recommends a smear of fluoride toothpaste about the size of a grain of rice. For ages 3 to 6, a pea-sized amount. Young children need an adult to help brush.
5. Book time. Even 15 minutes of reading aloud together helps language and is a lovely way to connect. Let your child choose the book (or two). See our read-aloud books for kids.
6. Lights out, a short goodnight ritual. A song, a hug, one “best part of today” each, and then goodnight.

The AAP suggests keeping the whole routine to no longer than 30 minutes. Longer routines tend to turn into a game of “one more thing.”

A sample evening for a 5-year-old

This example assumes a 7:00 a.m. wake-up and a target of about 11 hours of sleep. Your times will differ.

Time	Step
6:30 p.m.	Screens off; quiet play or a family game
7:20 p.m.	Ten-minute warning, then a quick tidy-up
7:30 p.m.	Bath or wash-up, pajamas on
7:40 p.m.	Brush teeth (grown-up helps), use the bathroom
7:45 p.m.	Two books in bed
7:55 p.m.	Song, hug, “best part of today,” lights out

The details matter less than the order staying the same. If one night runs late, skip the extras (bath, second book) rather than the whole routine.

Screens and bedtime

The AAP’s advice is clear and practical:

• Keep screens out of children’s bedrooms, especially at night. That includes TVs, tablets, phones and laptops.
• Turn off all screens at least 60 minutes before bedtime.
• Make a family media plan so everyone knows the rules ahead of time. The AAP offers a free Family Media Plan tool.

A simple house rule: devices “go to sleep” on a charger in the kitchen before the bedtime routine starts. Adults can model this too.

Make the bedroom sleep-friendly

From the AAP’s healthy sleep tips:

• Dim the lights in the hour before bed. Bright light in the morning helps kids wake up.
• Keep the room comfortable. The AAP notes temperatures between 68°F and 72°F for children.
• Keep the bed for sleeping. The AAP suggests not keeping a pile of toys in the bed, though one comfort object for a toddler is fine if it’s safe.

Give choices inside the routine, not about it

Kids push back less when they have some control. The AAP’s guidance for school-age kids is to allow flexibility within the routine but keep things under your control by limiting choices. For example:

• “Do you want the blue pajamas or the dinosaur ones?”
• “Which two books tonight?”
• “Do you want to brush teeth first or put on pajamas first?”

Avoid open-ended choices like “Do you want to go to bed now?”

Bedtime by age

Toddlers (1 to 3). Keep it very short and identical every night. The AAP’s toddler tips are to set up a quiet routine (story, quiet music or a bath), avoid active play right before bed, keep bedtime at the same time every night, and handle needs like water or a night-light before lights out. It’s fine for a toddler to sleep with a favorite blanket or teddy if it has no choking hazards.

Preschoolers (3 to 5). They love picture checklists. Our printable bedtime chart has picture-friendly steps your child can check off. If naps are fading, a slightly earlier bedtime on no-nap days often helps.

School-age kids (6 to 9). Add a quick tidy and setting out clothes for the morning. Start handing over steps, like choosing and laying out pajamas or brushing teeth with a check afterward.

Tweens (10 to 12). Let them run most of the routine, with agreed screen-off and lights-out times. Independent reading in bed is a great wind-down. Talk about why sleep matters for sports, mood and school rather than just enforcing a time.

Siblings with different bedtimes

Lights can go out at different times for different children in the family, depending on how much sleep each one needs. That’s the AAP’s own suggestion. Shared parts of the routine (bath, a family story) can happen together, then the younger child goes to bed first while the older one gets a short, quiet one-on-one time. Many older siblings see that later bedtime as a privilege worth protecting.

When bedtime keeps falling apart

Rough patches are normal after holidays, illness, a new baby or a move. Go back to the basic routine and keep it boring and consistent for a week or two.

Talk with your child’s pediatrician if your child snores loudly, seems to stop breathing or gasps during sleep, regularly wakes in fear, has trouble falling asleep most nights despite a good routine, or is very sleepy during the day. Those can have medical causes worth checking. This page is general guidance, not medical advice.