Monday, August 19, 2013

Morning Table Work - An Easy Way to Start the Day

(42 Months)

We have been doing morning table work since Wild One and Little Miss were about a year and a half old.  The beauty of morning work is that it is something that the kids will want to work on and allow us time to make coffee, breakfast, and empty the dishwasher.

Little Miss loves discovering what's on their table each morning.  Once there, she usually gets right to work.  Lately, she's been trying to finish all of her work before Wild One enters the playroom.  She's been on a competitive streak lately.  Kids!

The only guidelines I use to determine what goes on the table for morning work are: (1) they can work on this independently, and (2) they are reinforcing a particular skill (they have already learned how to do this work, this is to reinforce it).  Our work is almost always in the form of play, so I know they will work on it happily for at least ten minutes (that's usually our stopping point - some activities they will engage in for an hour or more, it just depends upon their mood and the activity).  

If you need a few extra minutes to start your day, or want to incorporate some independent work time, here is a quick and easy way.  Below are some ideas to get you started for morning table work:
Knobbed Cylinders and Tangrams

Unifix Cubes










Magnetic letters and a cookie sheet- match the letter, or practice spelling, or place the letters in alphabetical order






















Art invitation - Cover the table with easel paper with crayons and markers

Legos and blocks

Clay rolled into logs- can be used to form letters, or they can practice cutting with a small spreader knife, or they can just play with it and exercise those finger and hand muscles

Sticker Work












Uppercase and lowercase matching












b, d, p, q Review








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