Putting together our monthly Morning Basket has become one of my favorite things to do! It is like giving an extremely well thought out gift to the girls every single month. With each activity I choose, I am thinking it all through. Will they sit through this activity? Is this activity age appropriate? Is this activity too challenging or not challenging enough? At the end of the day, will I feel like what they learned is full of goodness? Can I go to bed at night knowing that what we did during Morning Basket was enough if that is all we end up getting to for the rest of the day? Will they think this is fun?! At their ages, I always want learning to be fun.

No joke – these are all the things that go though my mind when I am putting our basket  together.

October, November and now December have been so much fun to put together because they are so themed with the holidays. December’s basket is tied for first with our October basket for my favorite basket yet! I shared some of the activities with Lilly Belle today and she was begging to do them now.

So without further ado, Our December Morning Basket! (4 and 1 yr old)

Poetry: Twas the Night Before Christmas Coloring Book

I will read the poem to the girls each morning and work on having Lilly Belle reciting it. Then we will color the page together. 

Read Aloud: Joy to the World by Tomie DePaola and Christmas Stories by Laura Ingalls Wilder

We love Tomie DePaola and I was so excited when we found Joy to the World at our local Ollie’s for just $5.99! It has Christmas Stories and Songs. I will read one to them each morning. We will also be reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Christmas Stories. We just ordered this one on Amazon and it hasn’t arrived yet but I’m really excited about it!

Bible: Usborne Illustrated Children’s Bible , Bitty Beginnings Christmas Nativity Set Tracing Cards , Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set ,

We read through the whole Jesus Storybook Bible and loved it. We will be reading through it again and again! For December we are going to begin reading Usborne’s Illustrated Children’s Bible. It is so beautiful and I think it will be good for the girls to hear all the Bible stories in new ways. 

We are also using the Bitty Beginnings Christmas Nativity Set along with the Fischer Price Little People Nativity. Lilly Belle has been having so much fun playing out the story of Jesus’ birthday! This set is one of my favorites from the Bitty Beginnings shop.

Art: Learn to Draw Christmas and Blank Books from Target Dollar Spot

Lilly Belle has been huge into drawing lately and loves any “how to draw” books or worksheets. She could sit and draw all day. She is getting really good at learning to follow the instructions and she gets so excited and proud when she has drawn a new picture.

Handwriting: Let’s Play School Christmas Songs Copy Work Activity Pack

I am so excited for Lilly Belle to start using this pack I have in our Let’s Play School shop! Lilly Belle loves to write and I cannot wait to start teaching her all of these Christmas songs. She is now taking voice lessons once/week and I know she is going to love writing the lyrics and then singing the songs together. It will be fun to do these with her each year and see how her handwriting improves each year for the Copy Work sheets. 

Music: SQUILT The Nutcracker Unit Study , SQUILT Christmas Carols Unit Study , Maestro Classics The Nutcracker

It’s no secret that we love music over here; give us books and music all day! SQUILT has been the best! Lilly Belle loved learning all about the Orchestra in November and she is beyond excited about the Nutcracker and Christmas Carols unit studies I got for her (and Lucy!) I love that even though Lucy is too young to participate in the actual unit study, she is still hearing the music and that is so much goodness going into her. We are really going to be diving in deep to The Nutcracker this month. Me being a dance teacher and Lilly Belle being in dance – we’re going for this! I am actually going to be teaching her dance here at home as well this month; just for fun 😉 

That is why I also purchased our first Maestro Classic; The Nutcracker! You guys! This is for real the coolest thing ever. I heard about it both from Sarah Mackenzie and Pam Barnhill. Jim Weiss is the narrator and reads the story of The Nutcracker while your child listens to an hour long orchestra production. I have a feeling this will be playing non-stop in our home this month! It also comes with a 24 Page Activity Pack! I’m so excited!

Christmas Advent: Advent Art Journal

This is another amazing find! I was browsing Etsy yesterday looking for advent activities and found the Advent Art Journal and knew it would be perfect for our family. With Lilly Belle’s love for the Nativity and story of Baby Jesus being born – I knew she would be really excited about this and she is! Each day, there is a new part of the story told on one of the cards and there is room on top for your child to paint or draw what they are learning about in the story. By Christmas morning, your child has the entire story all illustrated and as a beautiful book. I will be laminating Lilly Belle’s when it is all done and putting it into a little book for her so that we will have them to keep each year! 

Math: Let’s Play School Numbers 1-20 Bingo with Target Dollar Spot Christmas Erasers , Moffatt Girls December No Prep Packet (Kindergarten) , Busy Little Bugs Christmas Math Centers , From the Pond Numbers to 20 Quick Flip Book 

Lilly Belle loves playing our Let’s Play School bingo games, especially when Target releases new mini erasers for us to use as markers! This month we are getting out our Numbers 1-20 unit again because I have noticed her starting to say “three-teen and five-teen” again 😉 Which I have such a hard time correcting because it’s adorable…but – it’s time. 

We love anything from Moffatt Girls, but most of all, I love her math worksheets and no prep packets! Lilly Belle enjoys them and I know she learns a lot from them. This December No Prep pack has literacy worksheets as well that we will be using! There are going to be some new math concepts introduced to Lilly Belle and I’m so glad because she is ready!

Busy Little Bugs is one of my favorites for preschool resources and I am so excited to see that this Christmas Math Centers pack will be challenging for Lilly Belle! We are going to be working hard on math this month because I have been slacking in that department and I have noticed her moving along and learning without me; she’s ready. This morning she did an entire page of addition facts by herself at the table and when I came over to check her work, she had them all correct. So…it’s time that we give her another little push and introduce some more concepts. 

Lilly Belle uses these Addition Cards we have from another one of my favorite shops, From the Pond, every morning! Each card had 10 addition problems and she does one card every morning. This month she will use her Christmas mini erasers from Target as her little counters. These have helped Lilly Belle a ton with learning addition! They are so simple, and so effective!