Morning basket time kicks off most of our school days. It’s a time when I share engaging books about a variety of topics with my kids. Morning basket time can take many forms. It doesn’t even have to be in the morning. Some people simply call it a book basket. Whatever you call it, it can easily become a favorite part of your homeschool routine.
Sometimes, I pick books on a whim. Other times, I put a bit of planning into our selections. This year I’m being more proactive about planning a morning basket for each month. I even created a Morning Basket Planner to keep everything organized. Be sure to grab your copy at the bottom of this post!
Morning Basket Themes
Many homeschoolers love to put together themed Morning Baskets. Find potential themes by looking ahead to…
- holidays
- seasons
- special events
- historical events
- upcoming vacations
- nature topics
- topics from your curriculum
You don’t have to do themes at all, or you can just do them occasionally. Not every book in your basket has to fit within your chosen theme. You can plan your Morning Basket however you’d like, and you can always change course. There are no hard and fast rules!
The Foundation of Our Morning Basket
Our morning baskets include the read aloud and poetry books from the BookShark curriculum we use. I consider them part of our morning basket plans even though they’re not usually part of a theme. When planning our morning baskets, I look to these books to see if there’s anything I may want to add. If there’s a poet that’s highlighted, I’ll find additional books about him or her. I may add in a picture book or two to go along with a historical fiction novel.
Next, I look for nature books. It’s really easy to add books based on the season. If you get a lot of books from the library, you’ll want to request seasonal books early otherwise you may be out of luck. I try to schedule a few nature topics during the year that can be done in any season. Sometimes, I pick something that will be touched on in one of their science programs. I particularly like short stories about nature such as these from Clara Dillingham Pierson. These are delightful short stories that bring to life many different characteristics of animals.
I also add in a bit of fun language arts activities. Mad Libs are always a big hit. They have so many themed ones that you could probably find a Mad Lib book for your different morning basket themes. This year we’re going to focus on poetry memorization and recitation. Our main resource will be IEW’s Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization. We’ll also be using this magnetic poetry set for some fun creations.
Related Post – Morning Basket Tips to Get Started
Add in Your Kids’ Interests
My youngest has a huge interest in STEM topics and has requested more biographies about scientists and inventors. This year we’ll be picking one person per month and adding a few books to our morning basket. I particularly like books with collections of stories in them for this purpose. We use these types of books so often that they are worth buying. Our current favorites are Women in Science and Lives of Scientists. She also picked out this fun Engineering Scribble Book to use this year!
Related Post: 15 Engaging STEM Toys for Kids
My oldest LOVES art, so I add in art books and supplies. This year we’ll also be using Chalk Pastel videos for art lessons during our morning time routine and adding in other art projects from Art Treasury. I approach learning about music and art in much the same way as scientists and inventors. I pick an artist or composer of the month to explore. We’ll read a short biography, such as a book from the Who Was series and spend time listening to their compositions or observing their art work.
Don’t Forget the Games!
Last but not least, I add in games! We play a lot of games, but usually the girls like ones that aren’t that challenging. I add in all the others for our morning basket. I try to do one or two a month to introduce them to more difficult games. Hopefully, we’ll play each one a few times during the month so they can become comfortable with it. Sometimes the hard part is just figuring out the rules to these more complex games!
Morning Basket Planner Printable
I’ll be using my Morning Basket Planner to work out all of the details this year. I was in a minimalist mood when I created this, so it’s very easy on the ink! So much of what we print out is full of color, and I was in a mood to conserve ink and money. You can add your own color and style with gel pens and doodling!
This free Morning Basket Planner will help you…
- plan an overview of each month’s theme. Not everything has to fall within a theme, but this will help guide you in creating a book and activity list that mostly centers around a common theme.
- brainstorm all of your ideas for different categories. Keep this handy when searching for books and activities. There’s space for books, games, music and art, hands-on projects, and memorization. You’ll also find a blank brainstorm page for you to create your own categories.
- plan the books and activities you want to do each week. You can use my topics and headings on these pages for guidelines, or create your own using the blank page without topics and headings.
Adding a morning basket (or book basket) to your homeschool routine is a fantastic way to expose your kids to a wide variety topics and ideas through quality books and meaningful activities. Join me this year in being more proactive about planning these amazing collections to share with our kids!
Get started planning your Morning Baskets!
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