10 Fabulous FREEBIES for Morning Tubs from Kamp Kindergarten

Gone are the days of little learners entering the classroom, taking supplies from their back packs, and sitting down to a morning worksheet.  Educators are becoming more and more aware of the benefits of a soft start to the day.  Morning tubs are the perfect way to provide a soft start that your little learners will love.

There are various approaches to morning tubs. They can be open ended or have a specific result in mind. They may be STEM or STEAM activities or other academic tasks.  They may or may not utilize recording sheets.

For morning tubs I prefer not to use recording pages.  I have found that with differing arrival times many students may not have time to complete the recording pages.  I would then have to decide if they should be required to complete it later.  I think requiring them to complete the recording pages later makes the morning tub just another assignment.  At some point that makes the morning tubs no longer a soft start.

I think that allowing them to leave the recording page unfinished unwittingly sends the message that the morning tubs are not important.  Plus it could reinforce poor work habits for learners who already experience difficulty completing written assignments. I decided that I wanted morning tubs to be a positive way to start the day with opportunities for social interaction, fine motor development, and stress free academic tasks.

Here are links to 10 Fabulous Freebies for Kindergarten and First Grade Morning Tubs!

These fun clip cards have ten frames for bus windows.  Little learners select the correct numeral (0 – 10) for the ten frames on the bus.  They are great for Back to School but can be used at any time during the school year.  Click HERE.

These cards allow little learners to match numerals (0 – 10) to a tally marks representation of the quantity.  This activity can also be used as an ordering activity to put the cards in numerical order. They can be used as a Back to School activity or at any time during the year.  Click HERE.

Your little happy campers select the correct numeral (0 to 20) for the quantities represented by the ten frames on these camping themed clip cards.  They are a fun math activity for a classroom camp out day, but can be used at any time during the year.  Click HERE.

Around the Room activity cards can be adapted to use in Morning Tubs. Little learners thread letter beads on chenille stems (pipe cleaners) to spell the CVCe Words from this ocean themed Write the Room activity. An optional recording page is included.  Click HERE.

Little learners select the correct sum on these farm themed addition clip cards. An optional recording page is included.  Click HERE.

These clip cards have CVC words printed at the top.  Little learners select the picture that corresponds to the CVC word.  Click HERE.

Task cards can be placed in 4 X 6 dollar store photo albums to make dry erase Write & Wipe activities.  Use an inexpensive black glove as an eraser.

Cards from this pirate themed Domino Add the Room activity make a great Morning Tub Write & Wipe math addition activity. They are perfect for Talk Like a Pirate Day, but can also be used at any time during the year.  Click HERE.

Little learners select the correct difference in this beach themed subtraction clip card activity.  An optional recording page is included.  Click HERE.

These apple number puzzles are a fun number sense activity for numerals to 20.  Little learners match numerals to quantities represented by counting fingers/hands. These puzzles work well with autumn/fall, farm, harvest, or apple themes, but can also be used at any time during the year.  Click HERE.

Write letters on seashells or other objects to make words for Spell the Room activities.  Cards from this CVC Spell the Room resource can be used with lettered seashells to adapt this ELA Around the Room activity for Morning Tub use.  Click HERE.

Helpful tip: The marks will not come off the seashells.  Please keep that in mind when selecting seashells for lettering.

I hope you and your learners enjoy these morning tub activities.

Kamp Kindergarten

Morning Tubs on Pinterest

10 Comments

  1. Hoda

    If you do morning tubs first thing, as in when you are doing attendance and they are unpacking, how long do you keep them at the morning tubs? Do you also do literacy centers later in the morning, while you work with kiddos at Guided Reading or other? Do you do math tubs/centers during your math slot? Just trying to wrap my head around the timing.

    • Kamp Kindergarten

      Thanks for your interest, Hoda. I kept mine learners in morning tubs until we dismissed to specials. Please be aware that we had specials immediately following morning announcements. The time spent varied for each student, depending upon their arrival time and whether they ate breakfast at school. That is one of the reasons I chose not to use recording pages with the activities. I did not want them to start the day off with unfinished work if their bus was late or the cafeteria breakfast line was slow that morning.
      Morning tubs did NOT take the place of our literacy centers or math tubs/stations during their respective scheduled times while I worked with small groups. I used different activities for the morning tubs than I used in literacy centers and math tubs. I did use more activities with recording pages during literacy centers and math tubs. I also utilized digital photos made with tablets and the classroom digital camera during literacy enters and morning tubs to address accountability. I found those photos to be valuable and useful for progress monitoring, portfolios, RTI meetings, parent conferences, and for my evaluation portfolio with our state teacher evaluation program. My principal also kept hard copies of some of the photos to be used during our school’s state accreditation process.
      I hope this explanation helps. Thank you again for your interest.

  2. Jeana

    I love all of these! Where did you find the small letter beads for threading on the pipe cleaners? I’d love to grab some of those!

    • Kamp Kindergarten

      Thank you for your interest. I have bought some at Walmart and some at Hobby Lobby. I am sorry but I can’t remember which beads I bought at which store.

  3. Sylvia

    This is great. I see myself using these great ideas in my tk/k/1st Aut Class.

    • Kamp Kindergarten

      Thank you for the compliment, Sylvia. I am happy that you find this post useful. I hope you and hour learners enjoy these resources.

  4. Jae hilgers

    Love all your ideas! One question – how do they know they are correct? For example, child spells S U N with seashells, how can he confirm he’s correct, reset seashells and move on to next word?

    • Kamp Kindergarten

      Thank you so much for your interest in morning tubs, Jae. I am happy that you like the ideas. Most of the activities may be made self checking by writing the word/number/answer on the back of the activity pieces. It has been my experience that it is best to use a pencil or lighter colored pencil to write on the back to make the tasks self checking. This will prevent the children from seeing through and reading the answers. If you are using card stock to print the activities it may not be as much of an issue as if you are using regular copy paper. (I have to be frugal and often use regular copy paper if I know I am laminating an activity.) The downside to that is that I have to be concerned about seeing through if I want to make the activity self checking.
      You can mark a small mark or circle on back of the clip card that will indicate the correct position of the clothespin if the answer is correct. I once had the bright idea that I could use a small sticker or star to mark the spot. I quickly realized the error in my thinking. Students could feel the bump and know exactly where to place the clothespin without even looking at the task!
      Many of the activities have answer keys included. Depending upon your students, you may want to print those and place them in a manila envelope or folder in the morning tubs. I have had students who would wait until the activity was finished, then use the answer key to check their work. Then I have had others who would take advantage of the answer key as a short cut to completing the task. You will learn your students and be able to determine if providing the answer key is a workable solution for your class.
      Thank you again for reading the post and asking the question. I hope you and your learners enjoy morning tubs. Have a great school year!

      Kamp Kindergarten

  5. Laurie

    Where did you find your clips?

    • Kamp Kindergarten

      Thank you for your interest, Laurie. I bought the clips with the rounded tips at Camping World a few years ago. Last year when I need some new ones I was disappointed to learn that Camping World had discontinued them. So far I have been unable to find any similar ones anywhere else. I am sorry that I can’t help you find them.

      Thank you again for your interest.

      Kamp Kindergarten

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