~Morning Basket For Toddlers/Preschoolers~

Good morning! I thought I'd share with you our current morning basket contents. First off, you can "Google" 'morning basket' and get all sorts of ideas on what to put in your basket and why. Basically, it is a basket or box that contains activities and books that you do with your children in the morning (or at night!). This can be anywhere from traditional school subjects like history, science, etc. if you homeschool. Or it can be family devotions/Bible study, or a mix of the two. I didn't really find much for ideas with preschoolers and toddlers, but here is what we put together and if your kiddos are in the same age bracket, maybe this post will help you build your morning basket too.

What's in it?

Bible story coloring book and reader. My mother ordered these for the boys. These are by Rod and Staff. They are a great pair and the boys love them! They are also budget friendly. Here is the link:Coloring Book:  Reader:

 Church History ABC's. This is a big, hard cover book which introduces a "hero of the faith" for each letter of the alphabet. From Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Owen, Saint Patrick, to Charles Spurgeon and more. It gives a short paragraph for each historical figure, so it is good for young listeners with short attention spans. The link: Church History ABC's

 The Beginner's Bible. After looking and looking, and reading several reviews, I bought this picture Bible for the boys. It has brightly colored pictures on every page, and the 90+ stories are short and easy for little ones to understand. The first day we read from this, Big Boy asked me to keep reading!
Hard cover. Link:

Favorite Hymns of praise. This is a nice, old hymnal with all the old favorites. You can either buy this online, or often times if you ask, when your church orders new hymnals they will give you the option of taking an old one (free) or purchasing a new one with the church's order.

 Crayons and clipboards. The boys like to lay or sit on the floor to color their pictures, so I put them on clip boards. Then we just have two jam jars with crayons in them. Do not give your toddlers/preschoolers a whole shoe box full of crayons and expect them to share nicely and not dump out the entire box of 200+ crayons. Just saying.

Previously in our morning basket: Sammy And His Shepherd. This is a beautiful book. Beautiful in how Psalm 23 is presented through the story of lovable little sheep, and beautiful in illustration too. The boys absolutely LOVED this book. We will revisit this one for sure.

 Link:

 Future books:
 Reformation ABC's. This is the same idea of the Church History ABC's, a person, place or thing about the reformation for each letter of the alphabet.
                                      
Then there are these books that I've had my eye on. I will be ordering from this bundle for future morning basket material. (Already have Sammy and His Shepherd). Link: You can also find these titles individually on Amazon.

 

*This photo is from Ligonier.org and I take no credit for it*

So what does "morning basket time" look like for us? First I'd like to say that I think the secret to having a pleasant morning basket time with little ones is this: Keep it short, keep it simple, picture books when possible. This can be a wonderful time to spend together, and introduce little ones to the Word and your faith. Don't make it something they dread by having too many things on your "to do" list. This is not about the quantity of time spent, but rather the quality of time spent.

First we gather on the couch and take turns praying.

Then the boys take their clipboards and crayons and head for the floor to color while I read the story that goes with their pages.

Little Boy LOVES coloring.

Then I read from our current book (Church history ABC's) and a Bible story from the Beginner's Bible.

Lastly, we sing two verses from a hymn. That's it. Short and sweet. 

The other day, Big Boy announced that he was going to sing that day. He took the hymnal and flipping to a random page, he began to sing "Rock of Ages". It was so cute! 

Sometimes if we have a story book that Big Boy is using for school, I will read it at this time if they are up for listening to more reading. Otherwise, they go off to play while I get school ready for Big Boy. As they get older I may also incorporate traditional school subjects such as history and science. For now, this is enough and we are enjoying it!

Do you have a morning basket? If so, I'd love to hear what you have in it! Have a great day! God Bless!