Morning Basket is a great rhythm to incorporate into your family morning routine. Get inspired with our Summer Morning Basket + easily plan out your own morning basket by downloading the FREE printable planning sheet.

This year I have been on a mission to makeover our morning routine. I don’t know what mornings look like in your house, but one thing I do know is that the peace (or lack thereof) of our morning tends to set the tone of our day. One of the rhythms we have slowly been incorporating into our days has been using a morning basket. Which has actually become more of an all day basket because we don’t actually use it just in the mornings. In case you’re looking for some fresh ideas and rhythms for your mornings, today I’m sharing what’s in our Summer Morning Basket.

When creating a morning basket without getting really overwhelmed I have found it’s really helpful to pick 3 main focus areas that are important to your family (See these 5 Tips for Creating a Morning Basket for more helpful ideas for getting started). When I chose our top 3 I thought about what our family really values and if I could only do 3 things in one day what would those things be. For us that is growing in our relationship with God (diving into the Bible, worship, and prayer), learning, and reading aloud. Keep in mind that there’s no ‘perfect’ morning basket and no two families will look the same. Fill your basket with what’s important to your family.

I should also add before I share what’s in our Summer Morning Basket that we do not do all of these things each and everyday. My purpose of having a morning basket is not to do everything, but have it all organized and ready to go so that I can easily pull from it. Some days all we make time for is reading the Bible and praying together. But it’s been so helpful to have everything ready to go so I’m not spending my time and energy searching for the tools each day. Ready to see what’s in our basket?

What’s In Our Summer Morning Basket:

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1. Growing in Our Relationship with God (Diving into the Bible)

Here’s what we’re using in our morning basket to point our hearts to Jesus:

• Read The Jesus Storybook Bible or The Ology (The Ology says it’s for ages 6+, but I like reading this to the girls so that they can start hearing theological truths—the illustrations are really beautiful and they love looking at them while I’m reading)
• Read Scripture (This summer we’ll be going through Camp Littles & Me: Fruit of the Spirit)
• Scripture Memory (Say our memory verse out loud together)
• ABC’s of Theology Cards
• First Bible Basics (This is a fantastic board book!)
• Sing Worship Together (Some of our kid favorites are: The Ology, Hidden in My Heart, Rend Collective, and Getty Kids)
• Act out Bible stories with Bible Character Peg Dolls
• Invite Jesus into our day and pray for our friends, family, community, and world

2. Learning

I’m a firm believer that learning happens all day everyday. With that said, while I love setting aside some time for more intentional learning, I do try to incorporate it into our normal everyday moments (ex: talking about measurements while we are baking, counting how many kids are in the pool, pointing out letters on signs when we’re grocery shopping, etc.). Here’s some of our favorite tools we’ll be using this summer for learning:

• Days of the Week Song (sung to the tune of oh my darling clementine)
• Months of the Year Song
• ABC See Hear Do (Letter Sound/Recognition Work)

We have been using this amazing tool for the past month and the girls absolutely love it. We were generously given the ABC See Hear Hear Do book, but when I saw that the girls loved it so much I purchased the Printable Flashcard Memory Game to pair with it.

ABC See Hear Do combines visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles to help increase phonemic awareness. The combination of fun animal pictures with hand motions helps young children easily remember each letter sound. We will definitely be adding more of their products to our learning collection!

• Alphabet Tracing Cards (Letter Formation)

These cards are great to throw in your purse or bring along in the car. I laminated them so that the girls can trace the letters and then wipe them off over and over. We use these markers with them.

*Tip: If you’re looking for more ideas to weave learning into the normal day to day moments of everyday life, I have loved reading through Lifestyle Homeschooling. It shares so beautifully how to nurture a love for learning with your family. It’s totally not just for homeschool mamas—whether you homeschool or not there are incredible opportunities for learning and life happening in your home all the time.

3. Read Aloud

We most definitely don’t read from all of these categories each day, but I like having all of the books that I might want to read from in one organized spot. As we finish books I will rotate them out, but here’s what’s we are starting with in our Summer Morning Basket.

• Summer Stories (I will rotate a few of our favorite summery books in our basket. Some from our own collection and others from the library. Two of our new favorites are Goldfish on Vacation and Summertime in the Big Woods).
• Poetry (Here’s a Little Poem)
• Chapter Book (Currently we’re reading Little House on the Prairie)
• Aesop’s Fables

If you are looking for more ideas for books to read aloud with your kids, be sure to check out The Read Aloud Revival blog and podcast. I have also enjoyed reading through Sarah’s book The Read Aloud Family. I will be referring to her age specific book suggestion list in the back of her book and on her blog for library trips this summer.

To plan and organize our morning basket I created a printable that I’m sharing with you today. I have found it to be really helpful to plan it out, slip in a page protector, and be able to refer to it when I’m looking for things to do. At the bottom of the sheet you’ll also notice that I have a space to write ideas of what your kids can do when you’re reading aloud. This was an idea I found and loved in The Read Aloud Family. I made a list of things that I can easily bring out for the girls to do while I’m reading aloud just in case I need a few ideas in the moment.

Be sure to download the Morning Basket Planning Printable by Clicking the Button Below:

Will you be creating a morning basket for your family this year? I hope that seeing what is in our Summer Morning Basket was helpful and gets your wheels spinning. I’d love to know what you’re including in yours! Be sure to download the planning printable to help get you started. Happy morning basket planning!

Love this Summer Morning Basket? Pin the image below for later or share it with a friend!