We like to start off with a nursery rhyme from our Mother Goose Treasury. Usually I chose one based on the Exploring Nature with Children curriculum, so for example for the Night Sky week we used Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sometimes I will use some finger puppets (we love this set) or musical instruments.

After this I like to read a seasonal poem. This month we used A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davis, which is AMAZING! The pictures are by the incredible print maker and artist Mark Herald who I adore. To be honest I am tempted to cut out some of the images and frame them!

After we’ve set the tone with our nursery rhyme and poem its time for a spot of phonics. I have been using the ABC See Hear Do book which I really like. Its super basic, colourful and easy for little ones to understand. After I do one letter I move on with the Waldorf Alphabet book. Ive had this for a while now and its one of my favourites. The way we use it is in conjunction with the See Hear Do book. I look at the same letter we covered in the phonics book in the waldorf alphabet book. What I like about this book is that it has a gorgeous illustration for each letter with lots of items to find that, of course, begin in that letter. I have seen older students use this as a book to copy art from too which is a fun idea. I also like to read a My first Bobs Book pre reading skills book at this point too. These little pre-reading sets (they also have a series for more advanced stages) are so engaging to a young child and they are Rupert’s favourite thing in the morning basket.

-If you wish to get links to all the books mentioned you can find them over on Amazon her e(UK) and here (USA) Thank you for your support 🙂

At this point I’ll bring out the books that are specifically themed around the topics suggested in Exploring Nature with Children. This month we covered the winter sky, the moon and the winter tree. The winter pond was also a suggestion but we never did it as we ended up stretching out the moon for two weeks instead of the recommended one week.

Here are the books I used:

Usborne What is the Moon?-Rupert was obsessed with this. A great find.

Usborne Little Lift & Look Woods- a sweet book perfect for my 18month old.

Zoo in the Sky-A charming look at the night sky. Very inspiring for children.

Usborne My First Outdoor Book- A brilliant library find! Covers a few topics in one such as stars, moon, trees.

Slow Down by Rachel Williams- EVERYBODY needs this book. Its so stunning with a double page covering a nature story for eg the life cycle of a frog. I think this book will stay in our morning basket for a looooong time!

If needed now is the time for snacks 😉

My son has a hunger for books that cannot be sated so I carry on at this point with a few more books but if you find your child getting tired or restless at any point just wrap it up and move onto a more physical activity or perhaps some music and dancing!

Ok so moving on, we now do a little bit of art study or work on shapes or numbers. For art we used the Usborne Famous Painting Cards and the brilliant Katie and the Starry Night which is pure magic and a great series to invest in. For numbers I do some counting with our Schleich animals and a simple touch and feel book like this one. And for shapes we have been reading two books mainly; Brown Rabbit’s Shapes and Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh. I like to use balloons as a prop for the Brown Rabbit book and cut out paper shapes for Mouse Shapes. Sometimes Ill find activities for our Hape colour and shape sorter or our Yellow Door Sensory Shapes.

To wrap up the morning basket I’ll do a short read aloud. This works well accompanied by some tea and a snack. This month I used our Whole Family Rhythms Winter Guide which is sadly no longer available so I am hunting out some alternatives to share with you next month.

 I hope you found this interesting and if you have any Qs do leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them 🙂