I wrote recently about how morning baskets are working well for us, so I’ve been coming up with ideas to keep the magic going. Here are some ideas (and I’d love to see yours in the comments!)
When You Need Mixed Age Activities
I’ve got an 8-year-old and a 2-year-old, so our morning baskets have to be able to hold the attention of both of them, which can sometimes be a challenge. Here are some ways I’ve been able to stretch a theme to engage them both.
1. Letter Baskets: My toddler is the perfect age for learning letters, but my daughter is well beyond it. They both still enjoy picture books, though, so a basket themed around a letter can include a picture book and play-doh for my son to form (with help) into the day’s letter and my daughter to use to spell out words starting with that letter. Then I work with my son to trace letters while my daughter does a crossword puzzle full of words starting with the letter. (You can make and print custom crossword puzzles for free here).
2. Animal Baskets: Animals seem to be a universal hit. My son is happy to look at the pictures while my daughter can dig deeper into habitat, diet, etc. A few books from the library and some paper and crayons
3. Food Baskets: Food also seems to have universal age appeal. A basket based on a particular type of food (bread, apples, yogurt, anything really) can look at the process for making it, the history of it, how it is served in different parts of the world, and end with a recipe that we can put to use later that day.
When You Need Something Low Prep
It may look like everyone doing morning baskets has it all together and made these brilliant plans, but that’s just because we tend to share the stuff we put the most effort into. If you’re going to be doing this day after day, there are going to be times when you need to be able to toss it together quickly without a lot of time to order books from the library, find and print handouts, or put everything together with a neat little bow.
4. Encyclopedia Exploration: When I was a little girl, we only had the encyclopedia for the letter “A” because some book salesman had left it with us in the hopes that we’d order the set. I loved looking through it and probably still know more about aardvarks, alligators, and aardvarks than any other animals. If you have a children’s encyclopedia on hand, toss it in the basket with some paper and pencils. Voila! Now you have a scavenger hunt. Give some simple instructions: Find three things you didn’t know. Find three things you want to know more about. Write down three questions you have about ______. Make a quiz for me using what you learned about a topic.
5. Poetry: Poetry is great fun to read aloud. You can have it over some breakfast pastries (mmm). Even if it’s a well-read book you already have at home full of poems you’ve already read before, it can still a great, meaningful way to start the day. Add dramatic reading voices or take turns “performing” the poems to mix it up a bit.
6. Photography: Stick a digital camera and a scavenger hunt sheet in the basket. Take a picture of something red, something that makes you happy, something you can personify, something that reminds you of a book character, three pictures of the same object from different perspectives, etc. Participate with the kids and come back to the table to compare your photos.
When You Need Something Short
One of the best things about a morning basket is that it helps establish a rhythm to your daily practices and gives learners a sense of routine. This is all great, but when you have plans for the day but still want to keep that routine, you need a morning basket that fills the role without taking up too much time.
7. Puzzle Surprise Reveal- Going somewhere fun? The morning basket can be a simple puzzle that reveals the surprise. Spell out the destination, cut the letters apart, and put simple math equations on the back to show the order for unscrambling. Create a crossword puzzle with an acrostic that shows the destination (you can use that same crossword puzzle creator from #1 and then circle the necessary letters and add the acrostic to the bottom). Do you need to get on the road in a real hurry? Simply get three or four images related to the place you’re going and stick them in the morning basket. It’ll take less than a minute to check it out and get excited, but your morning basket routine will remain in place.
8. Intention Setting– Many morning basket articles focus on religious aspects like reading scripture or spending time in prayer. Just because you’re incorporating morning baskets into a secular education practice doesn’t mean you can’t also incorporate some of the purpose and reflection present in these practices. A morning basket could include some intention setting or meditation.
When You Need Something Academic (But Fun!)
I keep a toe in both the unschooling and more structured homeschooling world, but I am adamant that the morning (at least in our house) is not the time for the more studious academic pursuits. Whatever we do in the morning needs to be fun and engaging for everyone, so if I want to throw in something overtly academic, I’d better be sneaky about it.
My goal is to include the following elements for our more academic morning baskets:
- Something hands-on
- Some reading/context
- An interdisciplinary approach
The possibilities are really endless, but here are two that we’ve tried recently:
9. Theme It Around Machines- We recently did a morning basket around the theme of simple machines. The basket included a handout listing the simple machines and examples of each, instructions and materials for building a catapult (and marshmallows to shoot, of course), Rube Goldberg machine cartoons, blank paper, and pencils. We read about simple machines, built the catapult, looked at Rube Goldberg’s cartoon, and then created our own fantastical machines.
10. Theme It Around a Place– We did another morning basket themed around Japan. We looked at Japan in our geography book, listened to Japanese music, read sample haiku poems, and then wrote our own.
So there are some of the ideas we’ve been using to keep our morning baskets fresh and interesting. As you can see, for us the routine of the basket itself is more important than having a specific routine for what goes in the basket. A lot of other parts of our lives are relatively structured with scheduled obligations, and I like our mornings to be more relaxed and open to exploration.
Do you use morning baskets? If so, what are your favorite things to include?
