Morning Invitations
Have you ever heard of morning invitations? With these simple additions to your family’s daily routine you can make mornings a lot smoother and more enjoyable for everyone. Morning invitations require very little prep work and work for kids of all ages, especially on days where there’s no school.
What are morning invitations?
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They’re pretty self explanatory: morning invitations are quite literally an invitation for children to get creative and keep busy in the morning. By setting out an activity the night before it allows kids to wake up and have something to do independently. Not only does it buy you a few more quiet moments first thing in the morning, it also helps children (especially preschoolers) start the morning slowly.
While your child works on their creative project you’ll (hopefully) have enough time to wake up, get dressed, or make yourself a cup of coffee. Instead of running into your room or getting into mischief, young kids will have something to look forward to in the morning. It won’t be long before they get used to the routine and are excited to see what activity is waiting for them.
How do you set morning invitations up?
It’s quite simple. Actually, the whole point of this is simplicity! Make sure you only choose activities that don’t take longer than 5-10 minutes or so to set up. In the evenings after the kids go to bed put their activity together. It’s important that it’s always set up in the same spot so that kids will know exactly where to go when they wake up.
Morning invitations can be anything you’d like, but usually crafts and activities work best. The tricky part is making the task clear without needing instructions. An example might be setting out some paint and paper with a demonstration of what it should look like. Or have some glue, paper, and shapes ready – they’ll know what to do.
You can also set out some books that fit with the theme to keep them occupied just a little bit longer.
What ages are they good for?
Morning invitations work best with preschoolers who aren’t in school. For most people, school day mornings are too hectic to fit in an extra activity. With older kids, save the morning invitations to weekends and school holidays.
What’s nice about making morning invitations for school aged children is they usually can read directions. That means an opportunity for even more creative ideas!
Why should you include morning invitations in your day?
Of course it’s a great way to make your mornings a little bit more calm, but are there other benefits to morning invitations? Absolutely! By the time your kids are finished with their activity they’ll be ready to start their day, too. That means no more grumpy temper tantrums in the morning from toddlers who haven’t quite woken up or super tired kids who aren’t ready to speak to anyone.
Morning invitations allow everyone a few minutes of calm while breakfast is being prepared. By the time your kids are finished with your activity you’ll find they’re usually more chipper and pleasant.
It sets kids up for a day of learning
Ever notice that the way the morning goes can sometimes set the tone for the whole day? Well you have a chance to control how the day starts with morning invitations. By encouraging kids to be creative or even learn as soon as they wake up they’ll already be in that mindset. Curious preschoolers and homeschooled kids will keep that going throughout the day.
It also means kids won’t be running right to the TV in the morning because there’s something else to do. (We all know how hard it can be to get kids off screen time once they’ve started it.)
You’ll be more relaxed too
Kids seem to have so much energy in the morning but chances are their parents aren’t feeling the same way. Morning invitations might give you enough time to drink your coffee while it’s hot or at least get a few minutes of quiet while you wake up in the morning.
As kids get older, their morning invitations just might turn into you getting a few extra minutes of sleep!
Some ideas for morning invitations:
- Stamping or bingo dabbers
- Painting
- Drawing or coloring with crayons, pencil crayons, or markers
- Glueing shapes onto paper
- Cutting out pre-drawn shapes or on lines
- Worksheets and writing practice
- Playing with tape or stickers
- Sorting or matching small objects
- Play dough or slime
- Stencils or tracing
- Toys, especially building toys like blocks or LEGO
- Tackling some things you’re working on like writing skills or early reading (in a fun way)
What kind of materials will you need?
It’s good to keep some general arts and crafts supplies on hand if you’re planning to start morning invitations. You can usually stock up on lots of cool things at the dollar store, too! Generally you’ll want some paper, pencils, scissors, colouring materials, and glue on hand. It’s also nice to save a few recyclables like toilet paper and paper towel rolls, tissue boxes, and boxes to turn into craft ideas.
If you’d like to add books to your morning invitations your local library is a great resource. That way you can set out a couple new ones each morning (especially if you have a themed activity) for your kids to explore. Later you can read them together.
Some tips to make morning invitations go smoothly
- Explain to kids beforehand what’s going on and what your expectations are. If you’re not clear about this then they won’t understand, and it probably won’t be as effective.
- Plan ahead so you’re not scrambling for ideas right before bed. Try and choose things with quick set up times and keep general supplies on hand.
- Some activities will go over better than others and that’s OK! If something flops then change up how you do things the next day.
- You don’t have to do them every day! Set up a schedule that works for your family.
- Relax and make it fun! There’s no need for things to be perfect.
Remember, these are invitations
When you set up morning invitations make sure any expectations to go along with them are few. Let your kids explore naturally and play the way they want to play. (As long as they’re following household rules, of course.) The craft or activity might come out totally different than you expected but that’s part of the fun!
By adding morning invitations to your family’s routine you not only save yourself some sanity but put the kids on the right track for the day too.
