Screen-Free Morning Routine with Morning Bins
If you are in a rut of starting your day with screens and then struggling to bounce back for the rest of the day, this post might be for you. If you are looking for a way to start your mornings that is slow and quiet, yet still engaging and meaningful for your littles, this post might be for you. If you are a new stay-at-home parent trying to establish a healthy and productive morning routine, this post might be for you!
I want to start off by saying that I am by no means against screens. When my oldest was a toddler, we began every single day with SEVERAL episodes of Daniel Tiger. It worked fine for us at the time. Over the years, and after adding a couple more kiddos to our crew, we’ve made adjustments along the way.
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I started to notice it getting more and more difficult for my kids to turn off the TV (without arguments and meltdowns coming with it), and I noticed better behavior in general on days we watched less TV. I now have 3 kids ages 8, 5, and 3, and we mostly save screen time for weekend mornings. We will occasionally use screens throughout the week as needed.
A few reasons why we might use screens during the week are:
- to extend “quiet times” in the afternoon just a tad
- if the weather doesn’t allow us to get outside
- if someone (including myself) is under the weather or if we had a late night and everyone is exhausted
When we utilize screens during the week, we try to keep it to 1-2 episodes tops, OR we turn on a movie so there is a clear beginning and end and there is no begging for “JUST ONE MORE episode.”
Keeping the TV off as much as possible during the week has allowed for more independent, creative play, and I’ve also found that my kids ask for it MUCH less. It’s a treat for them, rather than something that is expected.
So what do our mornings look like, and how do we start our day WITHOUT screens? It can feel difficult, even impossible, especially if it’s become a major part of your day-to-day routine. I’ve been there and it can definitely take time. You’ll want to expect an adjustment period, but it’s possible!
My 2 big kids have both been in school (some shape or form - few days a week, half days, etc.), for the last few years and my youngest is starting preschool 3 mornings a week this fall. School mornings look very different for us, so this routine that I’m sharing about in this post is one that we use during the summer when all 3 of my kids are home all throughout the week. You might adapt this as a summer routine too, or if you are a family whose kids are not in school yet, or you are a homeschooling family looking for a new routine, this routine might also work for you during the school year!
In our family, our kids are up before us. In a perfect world, I’d be awesome and wake up hours before my kids. I strive to someday be one of those people but it’s not in the cards for me right now in my current stage of life and I’ve come to terms with it.
Since our kids are up before us, and we don’t let them turn on the TV, they need something to do before we get up that doesn’t involve reeking havoc on the house. I rotate through bins of open-ended toys, activities, puzzles, books, games, etc. and set different things out for them to quietly play with until we are up to make breakfast. I typically set something out at the table that they can do, and also set out some bins of toys and/or puzzles/games in our living room that they can play with.
Depending on how much the activities and toys get used or played with, I typically keep them out for at least a couple of days, and then switch to something different. Something as simple as moving a toy into a new room, presenting it in a new way, and putting it away/bringing out something new every couple of days can be enough to peek a child’s interest.
Here is a list of links to our favorite open-ended toys/activities that I typically rotate through. These are also the toys that we use for quiet times in the afternoons. You can read my blog post about quiet times here, though I will say that this routine is ever changing as well. During the summer, we do less quiet times because we spend much more time outside. This is why it works for us to use a lot of the same toys/activities in the mornings!
Once I’m up and ready for the day, I’ll come downstairs and start making breakfast while the kids play. We typically clean up from the morning and clear the table for breakfast and while they eat, I start to bring out their morning bins. My oldest is able to accomplish everything in his morning bin independently, but I usually need to explain/model something for my younger two before they can get started. I set them up with something they can continue on their own while I quick make something for myself to eat.
Once I’m able to sit and join them, I provide support for my younger two with the rest of their bins. I usually work with my daughter a little longer, so my oldest can help and/or read to my youngest while I finish up with her.
Let’s dive in to what’s typically included in each bin:
For starters, I include this “weekly list” in each of my kids’ bins. There are 4 things that I try to include in each of their bins so I break the list up into two weeks to get more use out of them. We were originally going to work towards earning stickers as they check off their lists and then earn a reward once we reached a certain number of stickers, but then we decided to start a positive behavior system filling up a jar of pom poms.
They work as a team to fill the jar by doing a chore each day, completing their bins, and anytime I catch them using “first time listening ears", helping a sibling, or doing something kind for someone without being asked they can put one in too.
Because we switched up the system, we now mostly use the checklist in their bins just as a reference to make sure they are getting through each of their items. They each get to put a pom in the jar when they complete their bin.
Toddler Morning Bin (2-4 years)
The number one thing that I always include in my kids’ morning bins is their learning journal. At the beginning of the summer, I batch-prepped 25 activities for each of their journals knowing that we would not get to our bins every single day (if we have a week of camp, or plans for that day, we don’t always get to our bins). It has been so nice to be able to just turn to a new activity in their journals for each day and grab whatever materials are needed.
If you’ve never heard of a learning journal, you’ll want to pause here on this post and check out this one! When you get back, you can check out these examples of what a learning journal activity can look like for this age group:
When prepping their bins the night before, I make sure to toss in whatever materials are needed to go along with their journal activity for the day (ex: yellow dot stickers, a black marker, etc).
The next thing I always include in my toddler’s morning bin is one of my reusable activity books. I typically choose an activity that works on something separate from whatever the learning journal activity focused on. For example, if the learning journal focused on pre-writing, I’ll choose an activity that works on numbers or letters. If the learning journal focused on numbers, I’ll choose a literacy or pre-writing activity from one of my activity books.
My reusable activity books cover a variety of skills and include different types of activities. Because they are fully laminated, you can use different materials with them (dry erase marker, play doh, etc.) than what you would use for a learning journal activity which is done in a blank sketchbook. I offer seasonally-themed activity books, and non-seasonal, and they include a variety of activities that are great for ages 2.5-6.
Here are a couple examples of what these resources can look like for this age group:
The next thing I include in my toddler’s morning bin is one of these busy boxes. I rotate through the cases each day and then once we get through them all, I try to switch up what’s inside each one. It’s okay to repeat these activities or go back to ones you’ve already done, especially if there are certain activities that your toddler seems to be challenged by, or is especially engaged with.
Lastly, I include a couple of books in my toddler’s morning bin that are either interactive and I know he will enjoy flipping through on his own (like these poke-a-dot books, or books with lots of flaps), and/or books that he hasn’t seen in awhile that my oldest can read to him once he’s done with his bin.
MASTER LIST OF TODDLER MORNING BIN RESOURCES
Pre-K-Kinder Morning Bin (4-5 years)
My 5 year old’s morning bin also includes a learning journal activity, an “extra” activity which either comes from one of my reusable activity books or a busy box like the ones I use for my toddler (part 2 of this post coming soon with more ideas for this age group), and then she gets some sort of writing activity, and she does some sort of reading.
Here is an example of what learning journals can look like for this age group:
Here are some examples of what an “extra activity” might look like for this age group:
I include a writing activity in my 5 year old’s bin to work on either writing sentences, or to just work on writing letters and words. If I want her working on writing sentences, we use this summer writing journal, or a regular primary writing journal. With the regular journal, I will either come up with my own prompt for her, or let her write about whatever she’d like.
If we are working on writing letters and words, we either use my printable CVC word resource that works on segmenting sounds and writing CVC words, or we use sight word cards and a dry erase board to practice reading and spelling sight words.
For reading, I’ll either include some easy readers that we can work through together, or I include one of my decodable sight word fluency pyramids or my short vowel decodable reading passages that you can access for free by signing up for my email list!
MASTER LIST OF PRE-K/KINDERGARTEN MORNING BIN RESOURCES
Early Elementary Morning Bin (6-8 years)
The one thing that is consistent in all 3 of my kids’ morning bins is their learning journal. One of the many reasons I love using learning journals for my kids so much is because they can be adapted for several different ages and can work on a variety of skills to meet their varying needs. I can also use materials for each of them that I know will keep them engaged and I can incorporate fun, seasonal themes!
Here is what a learning journal can look like for this age group:
My 8 year old also gets some sort of an “extra activity” in his bin which typically involves a dry erase board just to switch things up. Sometimes it’s as simple as writing out a few math problems for him to solve, and sometimes it’s a grammar activity (like fixing a sentence with incorrect spelling and punctuation, or identifying parts of speech, or forming contractions). I’ve also done some creative writing prompts where I provide a themed vocabulary page and encourage him to choose 5 words from it to include in a short story.
The next piece that I include in my 8 year old’s morning bin is a devotional. This is a time for him to spend becoming more familiar with his Bible, and reading and writing scripture. We have been using this book as a devotional this summer. It has a passage for each day and Bible verses that correlate. He reads the passage from the book for the day and then looks up each of the verses and writes one in a blank notebook. There are also reflection questions included in the devotional book so I encourage him to write out just one answer to one of the questions.
This is not only a great way for him to grow in his faith, but it also keeps him reading and writing.
The last part of his morning bin routine is reading. He either reads books to my youngest that were in his bin, or he can grab his own chapter book or whatever he has been reading.
I’ve found that it’s very important to be flexible with these bins. We call them “morning bins” but there have been days that we pull them out at lunch time and that’s okay too! It’s great to have a routine but it’s also important to stay flexible. We enjoy the structure that these bins bring to our day, and I appreciate that they keep my kids learning in an engaging and meaningful way!
I hope you’ve found these ideas to be helpful - feel free to leave a comment with any questions you have and tag me on social media if you end up adapting this routine or adding any of these resources to your morning bins!
