11 Simple Craft Ideas To Add To Your Summer Morning Baskets

We started our morning baskets this week and while I was planning on which small crafts that the girls can do on their own (you can see more on morning baskets and their checklist here) I saw so many great ones. So of course I had to share some with you, here are eleven simple ideas to have up your sleeve this month.

I am probably only going to have 2-3 directed crafts like the ones below, and leave the rest as open invitations to create (more on that here). For these crafts I plan on just giving them the supplies for them, some inspiration by printing out a picture of the craft and then just letting them go with their own version.

1. Nail Painting Salon, this one is easy peasy and can be done with nontoxic nail polish or water color paint or even markers.

2. Hand Butterfly Puppets, love that you can use toilet paper rolls and another hand tracing activity. Add any accessories that they would like to decorate.

3. Popsicle Stick Unicorn (I would print out a picture and put out all of the supplies to make a few of these)

4. Magic Wand Reading Pointers

5. Rainbow Paper Plate Craft

6. Paper Plate Snail, this one is fun they can glue gems, tissue, foam stickers whatever you want to put our to decorate the snails.

7. Yarn Wrapped Monsters, this one is fun!

8. Big Beautiful Cardboard Birds, Since we spent the Spring learning about birds I thought this would be fun! I would cut out pieces, leave out ribbon, fabric, craft accessories and leave out some inspo for them to make one. (this cardboard castle and these cardboard insects look amazing too!)

9. Phone Number Craft - I want the girls to learn O's number so we are going to do this one too.

10. Car tracks with washi tape & paper tunnels.

11. I love these fun "junk" necklaces! Love to reuse recycled materials and anything goes here, going to pick up some yarn this week so the girls can make these.

Have you started planning your morning baskets yet? If so, please tag me I'd love to see! I know this type of activity isn't for everyone but for those of us working at home with kiddos this summer and past summers we know how hard it can be to keep them off screens and entertained so I hope this whole series really helps!

xoxo

Natalie

Summer Morning Baskets

Keeping the girls entertained in the mornings when I am most productive (with a large coffee) is my main priority all summer, so I started putting together little activities to leave out the night before. And that is the birth story of the morning basket.

The activities do not have to be extravagant or excessive, just simply something that will give me some time int he mornings. Here are things I have gathered for this summers baskets.

Puzzles,

I did a mix of small ones for just Ami and harder ones for the girls to do together. I found some really great ones at the Dollar Store and on Amazon (we have something like this set of 6 great for themes, Ravensburger puzzles is our favorite brand, and the girls love this Disney one, this set is also great, this one on the human body is also really awesome learning and fun)

Coloring books.

Another dollar store specialty, supermarket, amazon has great ones too. My girls LOVE coloring books (these are great to put away for gift bags or playdates, this fashion design one is so cute and love this brown girl coloring book with affirmation)

I spy books are a favorite in my house, and these Highlights ones I found are just great, and I'll pop it in with her magnify glass as a morning activity)

Water Color Set with paper and brushes is such a great morning activity, I find watercolors so easy to clean and great for even the youngest artists.

Sketch book, Notebooks, Journals ( I got them this draw and write summer journal to use every day, will be fun to look back on)

Flash Cards, Pre-K set, this math flash card set for 3- 4th grade, Ami has these sight words which Zoe plays teacher with her,

Workbooks, I posted all of our favorites here. These the girls will have to a few pages of every day in order to ask for earned screen time!

Summer books, we are going to be rotating a few books in them int he morning.

And finally craft and art supplies for different small activities,

I love Michaels for this and found some great ones for curbside pickup,

this pinch bowl,

these paddle boards

these foam stickers! sea foam sticker

Tissue paper craft

So many other summer crafts, and so much cheaper online so make sure you order online and pickup!

If you are worried about a mess, putting down some craft paper, newspaper or an outdoor tablecloth will help!

I also like to have the usual suspects at hand, glue sticks, tape, ribbon, crayons, markers, paper, pencils and erasers. The girls also have access to their other art supplies ( a kit like this is a great way to start or if your looking for something organized for you this one is awesome, and a great way to give kiddos creative freedom which I have a lot to say about but will leave for another post! hahaha!)

Now onto how I am actually planning for the mornings.

I keep everything I've found in a large bin in my room not giving them access keeps these activities fresh, it's the same idea as rotating toys. And every night I will stock their basket with some paper, their summer journal, few workbook pages, a couple books, and then something they can create (like an actual directed craft which I have been collecting on Pinterest, or just some materials for them to get creative!).

I will also print out and laminate this checklist so they can keep track of what they have to complete before asking for screen time. It may take a week of sticking to it but it does work.

My hope in these baskets is obviously to keep them entertained, but it's also to help retain what they have learned this year, and keep the learning fresh! And if your kids aren't school age this may be an incredible way to start a routine, and start some learning.

Both of the girls did mama school Pre-K (Ami will be home with me again this year) so it was important that on top of a lot of play we also do a lot of pre-reading, pre-writing, pre-math work with play and activities. I am also very lucky that both girls LOVE workbooks and love playing school!

PINTEREST Board with Morning Basket activity ideas!

Blog post on how I plan out themes and activities (I love having a theme during the week! we are learning all about the US States this week with puzzles and a coloring table cloth)

I am going to share more about my thoughts on giving access to certain supplies to kids (changes for age group) and how it's really influenced my girls to create with no boundaries. But I thought that by sharing these basket ideas on this rainy Saturday, you could start to plan for your days next week too!

Happy Fourth of July weekend!

xoxo

Natalie

Oatmeal & Chocolate Bites for Nursing Mamas

Well hello there, greetings from the first few days of summer vacation.

My sweet friend, cousin in law and more like bestie had her third beautiful baby last week and this week I dropped off my favorite little energy bites that are nourishing, easy to eat and perfect for nursing mamas who barely have time to eat or hands to feed themselves. So I thought I would share the very easy no-bake recipe, so easy that you can recruit your kiddos to make them!

I swear to you mama, that allowing your kids to cook, bake, prepare meals, shop for food with you is the key to having less picky eaters. The girls sample every ingredient and when they got to the oats they remembered how much they love them, and Zoe told Ami I use to make them these bars in NYC. Which got her excited, we quickly whipped up another batch for snacks and breakfast on the go.

Here goes a non-recipe, recipe.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups old-fashioned oats

• 1/2 cup ground or milled flaxseed

• 1/4 cup of shelled hemp seeds

• 3 tablespoons brewer’s yeast (I skip this when making for the girls but this helps boost milk supply!)

• 1 cup sunbutter or almond butter (you can use peanut butter but we have an allergy)

• 1/2 cup honey

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 cup mix of dark and milk chocolate chips

** Optional:1/2 chopped nuts (such as almonds or walnuts) and 1/2 cup dried fruit or coconut flakes, you can also melt chocolate and dip them in and sprinkle sea salt (I'm going to make them like this next time!)

RECIPE

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add all ingredients except for the chocolate chips. Mix on low speed until mixture is well combined. Stir in chocolate chips and any other additional ingredients.

Roll into 2-tablespoon sized smooth balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, this way they harden a bit. I freeze them if I am taking them on the go (especially during summer months!) Once the bites have set, transfer them to an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

NOTES You can press the mixture into an 8×8-inch baking dish and cut into bars, if you'd like! I just leave out the yeast when I make these for the girls.

Perfect perfect for these 100 degree summer days. I hope you all enjoy as much as we do!

xoxox

Natalie