The Best Entertaining Morning Meeting Activities for Children

Morning meeting activities are must-haves for starting the day in a classroom. They can be fun and enjoyable for kids, motivating them to attend school or kindergarten. When played regularly, these games offer learners a wide range of advantages. In this article, we provide ideas for activities for children of different age groups. 

The Importance of Morning Meetings in Kindergarten

Above all, they are part of the educational structure and daily schedule. Meeting activities set a predictable start to the day, which helps kids feel safe and ready for learning. They help establish a daily routine, which is especially important for preschool children. 

Apart from that, these exercises help build a sense of self-awareness. The kids express their emotions, feelings, and moods. During fun morning meeting activities, they have an opportunity to be heard and valued. This is critical for their emotional well-being and building social skills. 

The children learn to empathize with each other and show their understanding and respect. This helps create a sense of community and safety, which can be very beneficial for young kids. Overall, this activity helps foster a healthy environment for a child’s education and encourages relationships with other learners and teachers. 

Building a Strong Classroom Community 

A classroom community helps set a positive tone for the educational process for all the participants. It creates a sense of belonging and encourages social interaction. When children share something about themselves, they become more than just learners but valued participants in a group. 

Activities involving teamwork and collaboration improve communication and essential social skills like negotiation, sharing responsibilities, etc. They also develop emotional intelligence and help kids become more mindful of their feelings. 

Interactive Morning Meeting Activities

Here are a few suggestions for engaging morning games to start the day actively and create a fun and welcoming atmosphere.

1. Welcome Song

This is a fast yet enjoyable activity in which the learners sing a fun welcome song to greet each other. Learning the lyrics helps develop language and memory skills. Besides, when there are actions or dance moves, the children also work on their motor skills. As a rule, singing a song doesn’t require any equipment. The teachers only need to choose an easy-to-learn, age-appropriate song. You can even go for several songs, for instance, a special one for every day of the week. 

2. Morning Message

This morning meeting game involves familiarizing with a brief written message or agenda for the day. It often includes a greeting, a date, and a few sentences about what will happen. You can read them together with all the learners. It prepares the kids for daily activities and provides a sense of routine. 

Before that, make sure all the children can read at a sufficient level; this activity will be suitable for at least 4-year-olds or older learners. For elementary school learners, you can write the tasks for the day with the students. You can write the message on a whiteboard, a large piece of paper, or a chalkboard. By the end of the day, you can talk about things you’ve completed and tick them. 

3. Calendar Review

The children review the date, day of the week, weather, and any special events and discuss them. This Friday morning meeting activity helps kids understand the structure of the day and introduces the concepts of time and weather. It also encourages discussion and participation. For this one, you need a calendar chart, weather icons, and markers or stickers. 

4. Daily Question

This activity is focused on developing social-emotional intelligence and empathy. It requires very little preparation. All you need to do is find age-appropriate and appealing morning meeting ideas for daily questions and ask one at a time when starting your day. Asking kids promotes critical thinking and curiosity and encourages children to express their thoughts and opinions. The children can answer it verbally or in writing, depending on their age or the time you dedicate to their morning routine.

5. Share Chair

This activity provides a designated time and place for children to share stories, experiences, or show-and-tell items. It helps develop public speaking skills and improve confidence. Besides, it encourages active listening and helps create a sense of community. To organize it, you need to set up a comfortable spot for all the participants, create a schedule so each child gets a turn, and familiarize them with the rules for respectful listening and sharing.

Fun and Engaging Morning Meeting Games

These are the morning meeting activity ideas to turn your classroom into an interactive learning environment. They may be more time-consuming than the previous category and require more preparation, but these ice-breakers can set a positive mood for the entire day ahead. 

6. I Spy

In this morning meeting game, the players take turns describing an object they see, and others guess what it is based on the description. The kids can describe toys, clothes, or school supplies nontrivially. It is very enjoyable and doesn’t require any tools or preparation. This activity teaches patience and encourages creativity and attention to detail. 

7. Beach Ball Toss

During this exercise, the kids stand in a circle and toss a beach ball to each other. Each player who catches the ball has to answer a question or complete a task written on the ball. Apart from encouraging physical activity, it promotes social interactions and quick thinking. You only need a ball and a marker to write questions or tasks. You can dedicate them to a certain topic or subject, making this game more focused on learning activity.

8. Silly Motion Game

The participants take turns performing a silly motion that others have to mimic. The sillier the motion, the better. For this game, you won’t need any equipment or preparation. All you need to do is think about the ideas of silly poses and facial expressions, especially when you play it for the first time. This game helps reduce stress, encourage creativity and laughter and break the ice while starting a day. It will be beneficial and enjoyable for kids of different age groups. 

9. Pass the Bean Bag

In this activity, the kids sit in a circle and pass a bean bag around while music plays. When the music stops, the person holding the bean bag must answer a question or perform a task. This easy-to-set-up game focuses on social interactions, listening skills, and quick thinking. 

10. Listen, Listen

In these morning meeting activities kindergarten, the person tells a short story or gives instructions, and the others listen carefully and answer questions about it afterward. This activity improves listening skills and attention to detail. You may ask the kids to prepare a story in advance and create a set of rules for respectful listening. In some cases, the teacher may need to tell their story first and set the example themselves. 

Educational and Cognitive Morning Meeting Activity Ideas

These exercises are focused on enhancing cognitive skills and learning or recalling the information from previous lessons. They will be an excellent way to start a day in a fun yet educational way. 

11. Counting Practice

These are engaging activities in which children count objects, numbers, or actions. They often incorporate visual aids or interactive games. They are advantageous for developing basic math skills, such as number fluency, and cognitive skills, such as concentration. You need to think about the objects to be counted and gather them. They can be toys, school supplies, beans, etc. 

12. Alphabet Games

These interactive games focused on recognizing, matching, and sequencing alphabet letters. They strengthen letter recognition and phonemic awareness, setting the foundation for early reading skills. To design them, you need a set of alphabet cards or puzzles and ideas for tasks for your learners based on their skill level. For these activities, you can also use online resources. 

13. Rhyming Words

During these activities, the kids identify, match, and create rhyming words through songs, poems, and other exercises. These games are great for developing vocabulary, phonological, and reading skills. Before introducing these exercises, you need to make sure all the participants have sufficient skill levels to be engaged in them. You can prepare different poems, songs, word lists, and other materials for these games. 

14. Storytelling Prompts

These activities involve giving children prompts to create and tell their own stories. They help develop creativity, narrative, language abilities, and critical thinking. You need to prepare story prompts, puppets, and other tools when needed. 

15. Simple STEM Challenges

These games are concentrated on solving problems and building projects related to science, technology, engineering, and math. They encourage critical thinking, problem-solving, and sometimes cooperation skills if the activity is completed in teams. 

These exercises require substantial preparations, such as gathering materials for the challenges, planning the activity steps, and familiarizing the learners with safety guidelines. When selecting a task, you need to ensure it is engaging, age-appropriate, and relevant to the kids. 

Social-Emotional Learning Activities

Unlike the games we described above, these have little to do with academic skills. Such exercises help develop emotional intelligence and social skills and encourage building lasting relationships. 

16. Kindness Chain

Participants share acts of kindness they’ve witnessed, heard about, or experienced, forming a “chain” of positive and enjoyable stories. For instance, you can ask the kids about these things after holidays or weekends. Apart from improving communication, it also helps set up a positive environment.

17. Compliment Circle

This one can be suitable for all ages. The members sit in a circle and give each other sincere compliments. It is useful for communication, team bonding, and positive reinforcement. The teacher only needs to explain the guidelines for giving compliments and facilitate the process. They can also take part in it and make the participants feel valued and heard. 

18. Meditation and Mindfulness

The participants practice meditation and mindfulness techniques during morning meeting activities for kindergarten. They can help kids deal with anxiety, relieve stress, and enhance overall mental well-being. You can get a meditation app or guide for assistance and set up a quiet and relaxing environment. 

Keiki World App: Best Educational Activities for Kids

You can also incorporate online learning into your child’s routine to make the educational experience even more fun, relatable, and entertaining. For this, you may use online platforms like Keiki World App. It includes a wide range of games and other activities focused on learning. Here are the key benefits of using this app. 

• Various learning activities. You can engage your kids in fun, interactive, and age-appropriate games that appeal to their interests and meet learning goals. 
• Productive screen time. The kids get to use their gadgets to learn new things and improve essential skills. 
• Safe, educational environment. All the content on the platform is age-appropriate, with no ads. 
• Parent control features. You can monitor your child’s progress in an app. 

This app offers a wide range of plans based on the kid’s age, interests, and skills to be developed. So, you will definitely find something exciting and rewarding for your child.

Conclusion

Fun morning activities are great for starting the day on a welcoming and positive note. They not only help learners greet each other but also encourage them to share and interact with each other. You can go for those that meet your group’s interests and needs and work for their age. We hope you chose the ideal ones for your group from our article.