Transitions are any time a child has to switch activities or places, like leaving the park, turning off a video game, coming to dinner, or getting ready for bed. If transitions regularly lead to meltdowns or power struggles, this short video shares simple, practical transition strategies for kids you can try right away.
Watch: Transition Strategies for Kids
In the video, our occupational therapist Brenna Shields walks through quick tools that help kids feel more prepared and less rushed during transitions.
You will learn strategies like:
- Clear warnings using repetition, natural endpoints, or timers
- Why visual timers can help when minutes do not make sense yet
- Tips for video game transitions when there is no easy stopping point
- Next steps routines and simple visual schedules
- Transition toys for switching places, including car rides, daycare, and preschool
- Play-based ideas that make transitions easier: music, bubbles, freeze games, animal walks, races, and “I wonder” prompts
- How to validate feelings while still holding the boundary
Why transitions can be so hard
Transitions ask a lot from a child all at once. They may need to stop something they enjoy, shift attention, handle disappointment, and move their body to a new place. For many kids, especially neurodivergent kids, that can feel overwhelming.
These strategies are designed to reduce surprise, increase predictability, and support regulation so your child can practice the skill of switching gears.
Quick tips for using these strategies at home
- Give your warning early, then repeat it once or twice in the same wording
- Try repetitions instead of minutes for younger kids, like “three more turns”
- If you use a timer, keep the boundary consistent so it stays trustworthy
- Build in a little extra time when you can so you are not rushing
Need more support?
Therapy Clinic Services (TCS) provides neurodiversity-affirming, trauma-informed occupational therapy and parent coaching in Camp Hill, PA, plus telehealth across Pennsylvania.
Video transcript
The full transcript is available below for accessibility and easy reference.
[00:00:00] Hi, my name is Brenna. I’m an occupational therapist with Therapy and Counseling Services, and I’m doing a video today on transitions. So For anybody who’s not sure what I mean by transitions, I mean anytime we’re asking a child to switch from either one place to another or from one activity to another.
So if your child ever has a lot of trouble leaving the park, Um, difficulty switching from like, I’m playing my activity, but now mom says it’s time for dinner, or now it’s time to go to bed. This video is for you. So Most of the transition strategies that I have today start with us kind of giving a child the ability to like get ready for that transition.
Sometimes, when we rush a transition, the child feels rushed and then that’s when we lead to meltdowns and some tantrums and things like that. So My first transition strategy for you guys today is clear warnings. So if it’s like, Okay, I’m making dinner, I’ve got 10 minutes left of [00:01:00] that, it’s cool to go give your child, Hey, we’ve got 10 more minutes left before it’s dinner time.
If your child is under the age of five. Minutes, don’t really mean anything to them. In that case, I would just go tell them, dinner’s gonna be ready soon. Let’s finish up, you know, whatever we’re playing with. So, if your child is playing with cars on a car track, hey, let’s keep playing for a little bit. But dinner’s going to be ready soon.
When you’re about to start setting the table, then is a good time to go and give them like repetition. So let’s run the car down the track three more times before it’s time for dinner. Or let’s do the car down the track three more times. Then we are going to head to the table for dinner or kind of whatever you have them doing.
But I prefer repetitions or like number of jumps or we’re going to finish. Natural endpoints are a great option too. So We are going to finish coloring in this section of the picture, or we are going to finish this episode of Bluey, and then we’re going to. My other option for clear warnings is to use timers.
I like [00:02:00] visual timers again for that under five and under age group, or if your child just has trouble with the concept of minutes. They make some free timers. I, personally, use one that’s free on the play store, um, ’cause I use an Android phone, but I use, it’s a mouse. He eats apples and some cheese. And then When he gets to the cheese, that’s the last one.
So My friends here know that when the mouse eats the cheese minutes are over. It’s now time for our transition. Um, Some kids do really well with that, some kids don’t. The thing with the timer is when the minutes are gone, the minutes are gone. Um, Once we start kind of giving them one more minute, then the question becomes, can I have one more minute?
Um, Video games, I have a special tip for because a lot of video games don’t have that natural endpoint, or some video games don’t have a save option. So especially for older kids, if we’re playing a video game and now it’s time for dinner, well. Mom, dad, I have to finish, you know, this level or I’m gonna lose my progress.
So Sometimes it’s helpful for us to kind of get to know what video games they’re playing and give them a longer heads up or be like, Hey, the next time you know, your car crashes on the course, or you finish this level, let’s pause there. ’cause Dinner is going to be ready, let’s pick something else to do. Um, so Just being mindful with the video games, too, if there is not a natural [00:03:00] end point, let’s try to find a way to give them a warning where they can stop without losing that progress, if it’s possible. Um, Another thing that I tell people to do with transitions, um, and I find works for me here in the clinic, is to focus on the next steps. So Here in the clinic, if I’ve got a kid going from one room to another, I’ll give them the routine ahead of time.
You know, We are going to the monkey room here, and then we are going to head to the gym. And then after the gym, we’re going to go put shoes on and go home. For you at home, that might be, Hey, we’re here back after school. You know, we have time to play, then we’re going to eat dinner, then it is bath time, then it is going be bedtime.
If your child has trouble with a lot of steps, you can give them just kind of the next piece. Like, Hey, after the park we’re going to giant, let’s go get some food. Or sometimes it’s helpful to have visuals. Uh, Visuals don’t have to be like every single thing you’re doing. Sometimes it’s helpful just to take pictures of the main places they’re going.
So maybe that’s a picture of the outside of the school building, a picture of the house, picture of like the playroom versus the dinner table. Maybe that’s, you know, You can go online and find pictures and print them out, laminate them, whatever. Um, Make your own kind of visuals that work for your child.
Some kids do better [00:04:00] with actual pictures of actual places. Some kids are fine with like a card stock image of a dinner plate. And that works for ’em. Um, whatever way works best for your child. I do find again, The younger ages do really well with visuals or if your child has trouble just remembering the steps you’re kind of giving them visuals can be helpful.
Um, Whether that is pictures, or if your child can read, sometimes a written out list of the schedule is helpful as well. Um, Another thing for places; places are hard. From the standpoint of we do not have the same stuff at the park as we do at home, or you know, the library. I get this really fun activity, but that’s not something I have at home.
Or sometimes there are other kids that we are playing with. So You can still use the clear warnings, you can still use the focus on the next steps. Sometimes It is helpful though to have like a transition toy or a like special set of toys that only we get to play with in the car. Novelty is really important for kids, so when we have new, exciting things, and It doesn’t have to be anything expensive, it can be like stuff that is under five bucks from five below that you switch out every once in a while as things break and you know, you put new stuff in.
Or it can be, you know, their favorite stuffed animal or the cool new toy that they got for Christmas gets to ride in the car. It lives in the car. And then when we’re done at the park, it is going to go back in the car, it is going to be there. And [00:05:00] that can sometimes help us focus on like, Hey, let’s go get your toy in the car.
Play with it there. It’s gonna travel with us to our next space. We’re going to giant now. So I like transition toys or keeping just toys in the car for them to play with, if that’s a problem for your child. Like the switching between places, um, Sometimes even for like preschool or daycare transitions where that can be really hard for kids having a special stuffy that has some meaning for them.
You know, like this is my special stuffy to you. That way, you know, mom and dad are always with you. You know, we’ll miss you while we’re, we’re at work and you’re at daycare, but we’ll get you as soon as it’s done. Or even preschool, if that’s something your daycare or preschool will allow. It can be super helpful for just making that transition a little bit easier for your kids, especially the younger ones where they’re so used to having mom and dad around that it can be a hard transition for them to know that they’re gonna go a couple of hours without mom and dad.
Um. Otherwise, the rest of my strategies kind of fall into one big category of make that transition fun. Kids learn through play. Kids regulate and calm themselves down through play. So the more we can kind of connect to what they were already doing and their game that they were playing before that transition or make it into something that they wanna be a part of, it does help make that transition easier. And this is where you as a parent can get creative, make it so that it fits your parenting style. If you’re not a super goofy person, don’t pressure yourself to be a super goofy person. You can find strategies that work for you. If you like to be goofy and silly and can tap into your inner child, feel free to roll with it if it connects with your child.
Um, so We use a lot of different things here. Sometimes, I have kids that love music. Um, There is a goodbye song on YouTubethat has little chickens on [00:06:00] it. I sometimes will use that one. I know that Other parents have other types of music that their kid really connects to, or sometimes there is a song that was on Bluey and we will listen to that song while we head to the car.
Music can be a really great transition partner. Um, It can help prime kids’ brains and get them ready for that transition. A lot of daycares and preschools use the clean up, cleanup. Everybody, everywhere they use that song to help prime those kids for, Hey, we are gonna transition into cleanup now, and then we’re gonna switch to our next activity.
So music can be a really powerful activity based transition strategy, and you can kind of find what works for your kid. Um, We also do a lot of bubbles here. Um, bubbles I can get pretty cheaply, different places we can have them kind of move with us. It can be great because they can be indoor, outdoor, depending on what you are okay with at your house. Doing.
So we can do bubbles. I love to play stop start games because they can work anywhere. Um, and It also gets some freezes, especially in places where, you know, there’s a lot of open space. To go. Um, So, that can be anything like red light, green light, statue game, or they pretend to be a statue or just even a good old like freeze.
All right, let’s go. And you can add changes of speed in there. You can have it walking, you can have animal walks. Let’s pretend to be a [00:07:00] dog all the way to the car. I wonder how many bunny hops we can get in until we get to the car. Um, We can also do things where it’s like racing, if your child is safe enough for that. We can go ahead and like say, I wonder if you can beat me to the car, or, Hmm, I wonder who is going to get in their seat first.
I love I wonder statements because it invites them to kind of think about things and join us in an activity rather than me telling you directly, let’s go get in the car. Um, You can even do things like, I wonder how many pink jackets we will see on the way to the car. Or do you see any airplanes? Let’s see if we can walk and see if we can spot any airplanes.
Or, I wonder what shape the clouds are going be today. Do you think we can get in the car without. Faster than one minute, or without getting any raindrops on our jacket. It can be as fun or as interesting as you want to make it. You can do the animal walks, you can add a car in. So like We are transitioning back to that dinner time example.
Hey, I see you’re playing with cars. We can connect with them and ask them how that game is going. Get into it, and then be like, I wonder if the cars need some gas. I was going to have us go to dinner and fuel our body up. Let’s take the cars and drive them over. We can park them at the gas station near the dinner [00:08:00] table so they can fuel up too.
Something like that can kind of be like, oh, you know, my parent gets me. They get that this was important to me. Let me go fuel up the cars and then mom and I or dad and I can drive that car all the way into the gas station and then I can go eat dinner too. Connecting, staying calm, and bringing that play-based activity helps get kids more willing to cooperate with us in those transitions.
Um, That being said, it is not going to work every time. Some of these things may work for your child and some of these things may not work for your child. Um, It is a bit of a trial and error and it’s also about consistency. So It is okay sometimes for them to be mad about a transition or be sad about a transition, um, and be like, I really wanted to do this thing, or I really want to finish this, even if we don’t have time for that. Um, It is okay to validate that feeling and still hold your boundary. up, but it is time to go. We are out of minutes. We are going to go, you know, this place next. We do have to get in the car now. Um, Over time, they will get better and better at learning how to deal with these feelings and learning how to, when you know we’re doing this transition, let me pick from something that mom and dad are giving me.
Grandma, caregiver, whoever. So that way I can move on. Um, it is about consistency. It is about that trial and error. And If it is hard for you to get out the door and you are rushing and you feel rushed, they are likely going to feel rushed. So, if you can plan an extra 10, 15, 20 [00:09:00] minutes just to get that transition, to go and to try some of these strategies, it might help you be calmer and help your child be calmer. Um, Hopefully, something in this video you find helpful. Remember to just try, see what works, and after a couple of tries, if it’s not working, feel free to try something else. You will get there.