What is a morning menu?
A morning menu is a binder of worksheets and activities to use on a daily basis. It makes for a simple way to reinforce fundamental themes or skills with your pre-schooler. Despite the name, a morning menu can be implemented any time of the day, whenever best suits you and your family.
Such binders may include:
- Tracing or writing practice
- Numbers and counting
- Letters and reading
- Calendar work
- Patterns, colours and shapes
- About Me (spelling their name, age, birthday, how they feel etc…)
- Emergency information (contact numbers and addresses)
- Telling the time
- Observation tasks
- Matching or sorting activities
The benefits of utilising a morning menu
So why do I need one?
- Information retention – Children are more likely to retain information if it is presented to them regularly. Implement a morning menu into your daily (or almost daily) schedule to ensure they are repeatedly exposed to information you need them to know.
- An easy, no prep option – Having a folder set aside that to bring out at any moment will revolutionise your home-school mornings! Think, no prep, no effort, no thought, it’s all in there ready.
- Set a foundation for critical skills – Think reading, writing, counting. All the fundamental skills your pre-schooler needs to know can be addressed within a morning menu.
- A simple routine – Children thrive on routine. By setting the expectation that each morning (or afternoon) they will be spending a small amount of time working on their morning menu, they quickly adapt and are often able to do a lot of the tasks independently.
- Quiet time/ independent work – On the subject of independent study, if you have older children who require 1 on 1 time, this is a brilliant option to keep your pre-schooler engaged.
Where do I begin?
Setting up a morning menu binder couldn’t be easier. You can certainly make your own, however there are lots of printable options on the market you can simply print, slip into a display folder and call good. Choose one that focuses on skills you child is currently (or will be) learning.
Alternatively, our printable binder bundle has 78 pages to choose from. Including:
- Letter formation pages for every letter focused on fine motor skills, tracing and drawing.
- Number, shape and line tracing pages
- Days of the week
- Months of the year
- Patterns
- Telling the time
- About me
- Address and phone number memorisation
- Seasons, weather and dressing appropriately
- Continents and Oceans of the world
- Planets of the solar system
- Colours
- 5 senses observation task
- Fractions and percentages
- Addition and multiplication
Furthermore, there are lots of options for different developmental stages so print out a selection of worksheets that best work for your child’s level, then swap them out as they grow.
So if you’re currently feeling overwhelmed with home-school prep or simply don’t know where to start for your little ones, here’s your sign!
Get yourself a binder, dry erase marker and a printable morning menu and you might be able to finally enjoy your coffee whilst it’s hot!
Other blog posts you might enjoy:
Unlock The Benefits of Nature Journaling – Enhance Your Home-school – The Home-School Emporium