Kindergarten Morning Activities FAQ

I’ve had a wonderful week chatting with kindergarten teachers who are getting ready to use my new Kindergarten Morning Activities in their classrooms this year. Not being able to allow our students to share manipulatives and supplies presents a challenge in all grade levels, and that challenge is felt deeply in our kindergarten community. However, we always do what we need to do for our students’ safety and we will find ways to adapt!

Earlier this summer, many kindergarten teachers mentioned that they were sad to not be able to use morning tubs in their classrooms. Since students can’t share materials and that’s one of the ways tubs are structured, I knew that we needed to do something. Our students still need hands-on activities and they thrive with a consistent start to their school day. Morning tubs provide teachers with a little more freedom to do all of those housekeeping tasks such as attendance, plus the ability to welcome students into the classroom without so many disruptions.

I introduced my new Kindergarten Morning Activities a couple weeks ago and I believe that they are a great alternative for typical morning tubs this year. Each activity is printable and doesn’t need to be laminated and cut. Most importantly, students use individual supply kits to complete the activities each day. No sharing required!

Since creating 20+ supply kits can be challenging, I made sure to only include supplies that I believe are essential to a successful morning activity. I want to make sure the activities are fun and engaging, but I also know how difficult and expensive it can be to locate and purchase tons of extra manipulatives.

I went into a little more detail about the activities in this blog post. Since writing that, I’ve received several questions about the Morning Activities and I’m going to answer some of them here.

How many activities are in each set?

Each set has 25 activities.

How many sets do you have?

I currently have two sets and I will make six more!

How do these compare with your regular morning tubs?

There are many similarities and some key differences between these activities and my morning tubs bundle. Here is a comparison of the two.

What types of activities are in the sets?

There’s a variety of activities to keep students’ interest, but also some repetition. I feel that having similar activities (with a different focus or skill) throughout the year helps build independence!
Some types of activities are playdough letter and number building, cutting, counting with beads or mini erasers, color-by-number, paper tearing, puzzles, and sorting activities. Some are strictly fine motor practice and others are more academic-focused.

The skills in the first couple sets align with the beginning of the year, including phonemic awareness, letter identification, first sound isolation, 2-D shapes, colors, patterns, number identification, and counting. The skills will increase in difficulty throughout the year, but the activities will still be designed to ensure students can complete them independently. Morning tasks aren’t designed to introduce new skills, so if there’s ever an activity with a skill you haven’t covered, just skip it.

What do I put in the supply kits/ Where did you find ____ for the supply kits?

You’ll need the following for each supply kit:

Pencil Boxes (or pouches like these may work, too)
A Pencil
Crayons
Mini Plastic Jars
Beads
Glue Sticks
Scissors
Color Dice
Mini Erasers
Regular Dice
Foam Dice
Playdough

In addition to those supplies, you’ll need the following materials to hand out as needed. These are not stored in the supply kits.
Dot Stickers
Construction Paper

Will each set use the same supplies?

Yes! You might need to replenish some of the supplies throughout the year, especially the glue and crayons. But the activities will use the same supplies each month so you won’t have to do a frantic swap-every few weeks!

How can I use these for distance learning?

My favorite thing about these activities is that they can be used with all of your students, whether they’re in-person or distance learning. You can forward the files to your students’ families so they can print at home. They’ll love that the activities require no color ink and little prep. They can show their child the instruction slides as well. Although morning activities don’t serve quite the same purposes at home as they do in the classroom, they’re still a great warm-up to the school day!

I LOVE these! Can you please make a growing bundle?

Yes! I recently posted a growing bundle of the activities. It will eventually have eight sets total and two of them are already in the bundle. To say “thank you” for your confidence in me and your patience, you can buy the growing bundle at a special buy-in price. I’ll increase it slightly each time a new set is added.

When will the rest of the sets be added?

I’ll add one set each month until January 2021.

If you’re interested in grabbing Set 1, Set 2, or the Growing Bundle, they can all be found in my TpT store!

Do you have a question that I didn’t cover here? Send me an email or contact me on Facebook or Instagram!

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