Bedtime Basket
I love thinking of ways to incorporate learning opportunities in to our regular daily routines.
When my kids were younger, we did a lot of reading aloud while we’re gathered around the table eating, listened to our Scripture memory music while we’re out and about in the minivan, and sang the days of the week, the months of the year, the alphabet, and the vowel song while we’re taking walks in the neighborhood.
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Not only does this approach to teaching and learning help to consistently foster a love of learning, it also removes a little bit of the pressure that comes with feeling like you always need to be sitting down to “do school” – especially with your younger children.
Did we sit down and have focused learning time where we traced letters and created patterns and sorted shapes and read books? Absolutely!
But when you’ve engaged your children in learning while they’re going about their day-to-day, much less time is spent sitting.
Much of the “work” has already been done! You’ve already been singing and memorizing and reciting and discussing so many things on the “to-do list”, and it’s happened in a way that is comfortable and enjoyable for everyone.
This approach has always worked so well for our family, and I’ve always liked thinking of ways we can extend this idea. Which got me to thinking about our bath time/bed time routine.
How could we use this time in the evenings to engage with our children even more?
The answer to that question for us was this idea of a Bedtime Basket! Well, I actually started out calling it the “Bedtime Box”, and my children quickly corrected me, “Mom, it’s a basket, so we have to a call it the Bedtime Basket.” They won! 😉
What is a Bedtime Basket and how does it work?
Well, what I did was gather a variety of items from my Homeschool Closet, and I put them down in a basket – a basket set aside for bedtime.
Suggestions for Your Basket:
- a few picture books/storybooks: Bedtime Books for Kids
- a box of One Sentence Bible storybooks
- learning games – eeBoo games are such nice quality.
- a small matching puzzle
- an animal activity
- View Master
- Bedtime Shadow Book + a Flashlight
- shadow puppets
- math flashcards for playing math games
- Brain Quest Cards
- Tell-a-Story Cards
- Joke Books – Bob Elliot’s have always been our favorite!
- States and Capitals Flashcards
- Bedtime Math Books
Making it Happen
After bath time is over, everyone gets in their pajamas, brushes their teeth, and it’s time for the Bedtime Basket.
Each child takes one turn [per night] choosing something they want to do, and the entire family engages in the activity together.
After a few weeks, you can swap a few of the items out for new ones – making sure to include a variety of things that will not only peek the interest of older kids but younger ones as well.
Here’s a peek inside our family’s very first Bedtime Basket from years ago:
In more recent years, our basket has looked more like this:
A Couple of Family Rules We Suggest:
Rule #1: Take turns with patience.
Depending on the numbers of kiddos you have, you may want to allow only one child to choose per night.
Rule #2: Have a good attitude even if you don’t like what someone else chooses.
Rule #3: Mom and Dad reserve the right to cancel “Bedtime Basket Time” due to a late night out somewhere.
Maybe there are nights your kids have AWANA or swim lessons, etc. until later in the evening. Let your kids know that these nights will look a little different – but they know that all other nights are wide open for Bedtime Basket.
The key to Bedtime Basket Time going smoothly is getting started early in evening.
I once read that making sure your child is getting enough sleep is JUST as important as making sure they are eating well. I have never forgotten that, and it always impacted how we handled bedtime when our kids were little.
Try starting the bedtime routine long before you actually want your kids to lay down.
- bath
- pajamas
- brush teeth
- Bedtime Basket
- prayers
You don’t want it to feel like one more thing you have to do. You want to give yourself time to enjoy the time together as a family.
By following this same routine most every night, your kids will know what to expect – which will help to limit meltdowns.
The two best things about the Bedtime Basket:
Perk #1: I’ve mentioned before that my husband works long hours, and ideas like the Bedtime Basket have given him an opportunity to engage in learning activities with our kids.
He loves playing Number War with the kids (whoever draws the highest number wins!). This kind of thing gives him the opportunity to a part of their math learning. He enjoys doing the Tell-a-Story cards, too – something that has given him a chance to listen to our kids use their imagination to tell stories.
Perk #2: Very much on purpose, I have included activities in the Bedtime Basket that reinforce concepts we are working on in our homeschooling. Moving on to some new concepts? Swap out what’s in the basket.
When learning opportunities are presented this way, the kids are having so much fun, they don’t even realize that teacher mom is at work…even at bedtime.
Would this work for your family?
Would a different time of a day be a better fit for your family’s schedule? Could this be tweaked in a way to better suit your specific daily routines?
Do you have older children who would also benefit from something like this – maybe with a different variety of activities, of course?
Faith-Based Resources for Your Basket
Maybe you want to include gospel-focused items in our basket!
We have used a variety of different children’s Bibles for our family Bible time before bed, but one of our favorites over the years has been the The Jesus Storybook Bible.
We come back to it often as it is written in such an incredibly powerful way: “Never Stopping, Never Giving up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love.” Goodness gracious, I love that part.
When our kids were younger, we would play either classical music, nursery rhymes, read-aloud chapter books, Scripture memory music, Bible stories, or Adventures in Odyssey. For many kids, this can be a very calming way to end the day.
Quick Story: When my oldest was in Kindergarten, I decided we would memorize “The Lord’s Prayer”. When it came time to dive in to our Scripture memory practice of it, my little guy looked at me and said, “I already know this.”…and he did. He sat right there and recited the entire thing for me. How was this possible? Because he had heard it many times already as he fell asleep at night.
Moms and Dads, please do not underestimate the power of your children learning God’s word. It’s the most important thing they will ever learn.
As our kids have gotten older, we have found other fantastic resources to work through together at bedtime.
I totally agree about how much they can take it at bedtime story listening with the audio books. I like how you’ve pulled itogether your bedtime basket too. Gives me some ideas and inspiration on working with ours.
Thank you for being here and being so encouraging – We have really loved these ideas over the years!
Hi,
Thanks for all of your posts. I found your blog at a time of feeling lost with being a newly stay at home mother trying to do something productive with my child – something that would make me feel better as well. Your blogs have been inspirational.
So happy to connect with you, Dee – Appreciate you taking the time to share this with me!