How to Make a Morning Basket (Free Printables)

Many homeschool moms love using a morning basket routine to get their days started off right. If you are not a morning person and most of your family members are night owls, you  can still have a morning basket routine. 

Does a Morning Basket Need to be Used in the Morning?

You do not have to do a morning basket in the morning. To be honest, ours is usually done mid- to late-morning or early afternoon in the living room or at our kitchen table. You could even create a bedtime basket!

Sometimes we wake up late, or I have to work first. If that happens we always try to regroup and sit down together even if it is after breakfast or during lunch time. As long as we are sticking with the routine, there will be benefits to all of us. 

What are the benefits of having a morning basket routine?

It is a great start to the day.

A morning basket concept is is a gentle way to help with the start of the day. Sitting down together helps to connect with God and each other.

We love bringing everyone together to start our day with Bible and devotional time before we move on to their other studies. This is also a great time to do family prayer requests and work on scripture memorization.

Creates family bonds.

Older kids can benefit from sitting with you each morning and praying and reading together. As our kids get older they don’t spend as much time doing school with you one-on-one.

It also keeps siblings close as they spend this time together each day. It really is a fantastic way to create bonds during this family time.

Helps with focus and concentration.

Small children may bounce around and be ready to go before you are even awake. Morning time helps to create good Charlotte Mason style habit training with them. 

They will learn to be still and listen to what is being read to them and to participate in the activities, books, songs, or poems.

What do you put in a morning basket for homeschooling?

There are so many morning basket books that I like to include in our basket. Here are some of my favorite books and activities to keep in our morning basket:

• Chapter books – These are usually family read-alouds that we read together.
• Bible Stories – Bible story books are a great way to start your morning especially if you have young children.
• Nature Books – Any field guides, or nature books and nature notebooks that you will want to pull out for nature study.
• Picture Books – Picture books, like nursery rhymes are a great choice if you have little ones. 
• Poetry Books – We enjoy reading a new poem out loud each day.
• Art Book – If you are doing an art or artist study an art book full of beautiful art is nice to look at each morning.
• Composer Study – Do you enjoy composer studies? Keep your music or books about the composer you are studying can go in your basket and you can listen while you are eating breakfast.
• Picture Study – Enjoy great works of art (separate from an artist study) through picture study. 
• Memory Work – I like to keep the scripture that we are working on in our basket to review with my children each day.
• Vocabulary study – There’s no need to keep all school work for table time, you can incorporate a simple vocabulary study into your morning basket routine!

Daily Skill Building has some amazing resources that are perfect to add to your morning basket and work through with your children. The best part is that they are open-and-go and there is no extra planning involved (or teacher’s guides!).

Here are some of our favorites to include in a morning basket:

Stories of Great Composers – This easy to use unit study will introduce your children to 12 different composers with a story about their life starting from childhood. There are reading comprehension questions for written narration, and even map work included.

Famous People Notebook: Artists – Artist study is a favorite of ours, but I don’t like having to do the research and gather all the materials. This notebook is open and go and covers the life and works of  as Picasso, Monet, Rockwell, Van Gogh, and more.

Scenes from the Old & New Testament – Biblical Art Appreciation – Combine stories from the Bible with beautiful works of art. Each story includes the text of the story retold for students, a full page highlighting a piece of classic art related to the story, and two art cards.

Genius Fact Cards – These fact cards are a fun way to drill and review key facts in 5 different subjects and are perfect for morning time. The full set has more than 3,000 facts on over 1,000 cards that can be used over and over for many years.

Free Resource: Morning Virtues

Morning Virtues is for the homeschool family who prioritizes “first things, first” each day. Bring your first through high school students together to complete artist study, composer study, read-aloud, hymns, scripture recitation, Bible reading, poetry, and handicrafts together!

Morning Virtues: Courage has everything you need for a beautiful morning collective, with all of your students, including a schedule to make it convenient and enjoyable for everyone in your homeschool!

Morning Basket Ideas

Morning baskets can function in a lot of different ways. Some people use them as a way to do a specific subject with multiple ages at once. Others use it to give their young children a routine each morning.

Each child could even have a notebook of independent morning work in the basket that they know to grab when it’s time to start the day.

However you choose to use the morning basket is up to you. The point is to do what works best for your family. But if you’re feeling a little lost and need some great ideas tips, we’ve got you covered with these ideas.

Morning Basket Resources for Protestant Homeschoolers from The Unlikely Homeschool – A detailed post about their morning basket routine and a break down of how they do it.

A Morning Basket Bringing Multiple Ages Together from In All You Do shares how you can incorporate kids of all ages into your morning basket routine.

High School Morning Time Basket – This gives an honest look from one of our contributors as she dives into Masterbooks with her high schooler.

Simple Homeschool Morning Basket – If you’re looking for a simple morning basket, you are going to love these simple tips.

Loop Schedule for Morning Time If you know what Loop Scheduling is, then you’re going to love this article from Pam Barnhill. It’s a genius way of incorporating your learning style into your morning basket time!

50 Homeschool Morning Basket Ideas – If you’re stuck on ideas of what to put in your morning basket, this post has you covered!

Rhythms: 5 Tips to Create a Simple Morning Basket  – This is a great post that give you ideas on how to choose what you want your morning basket to look like. 

New School Routine: Morning Basket  – Their morning basket is filled with non-fiction books, vocabulary, picture books, and more. Find out how to create a variety in your homeschool.

Homeschool Morning Time for Smooth Days  – Her basket is filled with the essential coffee, as well as, scriptures and hymns, music, art, and more.

How to Make a Morning Basket – Free Printables

These resources and printables can help you keep your morning times organized. They will help you have a plan to make your own morning basket and get your kids involved as well. 

Morning Time Binder Printables – This DIY binder kit will walk you through creating your very own morning routine. It is perfect for the mom who isn’t sure how to come up with a morning time plan. These printables will help you organize your thoughts by planning them out in your own morning time binder with a schedule.

This is available in our subscriber freebie library under the Free Printables for Moms category.

Morning Time Basket Planning Page This planning page will help you to keep track of what you are using, what days you want to focus on a specific subject or book, and a space for notes to keep track of what you are doing and how it’s working. 

Our Homeschool Morning Time  – Learn all about morning time and grab a free printable that will help you remember what activities you want to include and use each day. The printable is editable to customize it to your own family.

Preschool Morning Work Binder Printable – This morning work binder has over 30 pages of sweet busy work for your little ones to work on in the morning. It will help them to review basic skills each day.

Morning Basket Plans & Printables – Sometimes it can be hard to incorporate everything you want to use each day if you are short on time. You can try planning your morning basket books and activities in terms. This free printable planning grid will help you do just that.

Tips for Morning Hour – Focus on things that are good and beautiful during your morning time. Get some help with ideas and planning with this free printable.

Printables for Planning Morning Time – Learn more about what morning time is and how to implement it with these planning printables.

Free Preschool Activity Binder Printables – A preschool activity binder is easy to make and is handy when you’d like to keep your young child busy. My preschoolers have also enjoyed having their own morning work to complete alongside their older siblings.

Our Preschool Morning Circle Time Schedule – Find out about Circle Time with preschoolers and get a free printable circle time schedule. 

Morning Time Menus Printables – This is a simple way to keep your morning times organized and everything in one place. Lots of free printables to help you get started. 

DIY Calendar Morning Board – A morning board is a modified version of morning time and is perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Set up your own calendar morning board with these free printables.