We have had our morning basket out for a few months now and love it. It is out on a shelf that is right in the middle of our living room so it is easily accessible with activities to do together throughout the day. I hadn’t changed it, but now plan on changing it out every month. And once we hit October, November & December it will be themed as well – because I am holiday obsessed!
It was recommended to me this past week to follow along with the Your Morning Basket podcast. After listening to only just a few episodes, I was so inspired today to get this really going again for this month. We are going to do these activities in the morning while the girls are eating breakfast. They are both calm, in good spirits, and listening because they are busy eating. I will do these morning basket activities with them (mostly Lilly Belle as Lucy is just 10 months old) until she loses interest. Once she loses interest, I will put the basket away until the next day. We will then do her “school work” during all Lucy’s naps throughout the day, during any quiet moments or at night if she asks.
Here is all the goodness that I have included in our September Morning Basket with links for you as well.
- Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies
- I plan to just choose one to read each morning to start getting the girls use to hearing poetry. We will also read these together when Lilly Belle and I do Poetry Tea Time together, which she asks to do often.
- Mary Engelbreit’s Fairy Tales: Twelve Timeless Treasures
- I hope to read one of these to the girls each day for the month and will then just start over once we have read through them all.
- The World of Pooh – The Complete Winnie the Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner
- We have been reading one chapter together every morning.
- The Jesus Storybook Bible
- I don’t have it here in this picture because I forgot it in our homeschool cabinet where I usually grab it from. I read the girls one story each morning and then “try” to answer as many questions Lilly Belle has as I can.
These are the morning read alouds. The take up more time than the girls usually sit at the breakfast table and we usually end up snuggled on the couch.
Not pictured here is our playlist for music because I have not added it as sticks she can pull from yet. I saw the idea from Ashley at The Littles and Me to have a jar of songs for the girls to choose from that we will sing together. Lilly Belle and I are learning piano, so my goal is that by the end of the year I can play some of the songs for them on the piano. For now, we just sing along with the music playing from our Apple TV.
If Lilly Belle is still engaged and interested after everything above, we will pull from these things – switching which ones we do each day (unless she is really loving something).
- Chalkfull of Design Trace n Erase Chalkboards
- We have the travel set and a full size alphabet board. I will let her choose which one she wants to do. She is really into numbers lately, so I am almost positive the numbers board is the one she will do the most of.
- Treasures from Jennifer Name Puzzle
- Lilly Belle refuses to believe her actual name is Lillian, so she has not learned how to spell it yet. She has wanted to learn Lilly Belle, which makes sense since we have never called her Lillian. But, it is her name and I want her to know it, so we are going to focus on learning to spell Lillian too 😉
- Treasures from Jennifer Ten Frame
- We played with this tonight for the first time and she loved it! We do basic addition and subtraction with her using this and she thinks it’s great. I will keep this in the basket and if Lucy is still eating (she eats forever) we will get this out before she is out and crawling around – the balls are small.
- Let’s Play School Number Bingo
- You can find this one in our shop. Lilly Belle would rather play the Numbers Bingo instead of Letters Bingo, so I threw this one in the basket and she decided our bingo markers for this month would be our mini unicorn erasers.
- Mudpuppy Alphabet Flashcards
- These are actually for Lucy to play with. They are super durable. I like to have Lilly Belle do speed flashcards with me and let her shout out the letter sounds as I flip through them quickly. And then I let Lucy play with them and she lights up with pride like she gets to do school to. Eep I love her so much! She’s at the best age. She’s starting to understand us and listen to us and my favorite age is here. Now until 2…SO fun. Okay, tangent. Sorry. Moving on 😉
- Felt Numbers Phone Number Practice
- I got these little felt numbers in the Target Dollar Spot 70% off making them just $.90! I got a few packs so I could make my phone number because it has like 32 number 4’s in it lol. We are having Lilly Belle learn my cell phone number first and then we will move on for her to learn Matt’s and then our address next. September we are focusing on mine. October Matt’s. November our address.
- Ella and Ezzi Story Discs and Composition Story Notebook
- We have been having a lot of fun creating silly stories with these. Lilly Belle chooses the disc out of the bag and tells me what to write to make the silliest stories. Ella and Ezzi has a ton of different story sets in her Etsy shop. These would make a really fun Christmas present! I might grab a couple more sets for the girls as she has some character sets as well.
- Color with Mom Coloring Book and Colored Pencils
- This coloring books is the best. I got it for Lilly Belle for Easter this year and sh just recently wanted to start coloring in it with me. When you flip it open, the pages are laid out so that you have to sit facing each other to color. The pages are both the same theme but one side is simple lines and one side more intricate. She loves it and I love it too!
I am really excited about this basket. I look at it and see that she will be learning so much without even realizing it. Here is what she will get out of this month’s basket:
- Fine Motor
- Poetry Exposure
- Exposure to GOOD literature
- Exposure to music: hymns, broadway favorites and children’s classics (I’ll post our list that we have later)
- Story Telling
- Number Recognition 1-20
- Number Writing
- Addition and Subtraction
- Life Skills (Phone Number)
- Letter Sounds
- QUALITY TIME
I am really looking forward to this month and love what this basket will bring our family and our girls. Matt works from home and does not start working until 9am and the girls eat around 8am, so we do most of this all together as a family. I love it!
Happy Learning!
-Chelsea