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How to Set Up Morning Invitations for Kids

by Abbey Donald
April 1, 2025

Abbey Donald of Wild Wattle Folk shares why she likes morning invitations for her kids & gives ideas for caregivers to use at home. 

Updated April 2025

When I became a mother, I knew I wanted to surround my children with ways for them to express themselves through creativity.

Today our house is littered with little baskets with invitations for the children to get creative.  Invitations through musical instruments, paints, clays, or our big basket of “useful things”–– which is filled to the brim with recycled items they can turn into something new.

There are many ways to foster creativity within the home. These can be done while fostering a child’s independence AND allowing you a relaxing moment to enjoy a cup of coffee.

Here are some of the ways I set up our days with morning invitations for my children to harness their creativity and set their inner artist free. 

Morning Invitations for Kids

Each morning, my kids wake up to a creative invitation on the table. While they sleep, I set out different art materials—sometimes with a theme, sometimes not.

It’s just an invitation—they can jump in right away or come back to it later. Most days, they dive in, still full of ideas from their dreams.

I usually include one guided activity with an example, along with open-ended supplies so they can create freely. Lately, they’ve been obsessed with picking spring flowers, so I set up a flower-themed morning with ways to paint, glue, sculpt, felt, print, and draw flowers.

invitation to create
Photo by Abbey Donald

For this particular themed morning invitation, I chose needle felted flowers as the guided activity. This is a very simple and easy way to create on a new and exciting medium. 

Then I arranged some books with different illustrations of flowers and plants for them to look at and gain some inspiration. Finally, I filled some plates and bowls with an assortment of petals, both pressed flowers and dried flowers to allow my children the chance to create with flowers.

child painting
Photo by Abbey Donald

Setting up a Creative Station for Kids

I think having accessible art and craft items for tiny hands is so beneficial. It fosters a child’s creativity, as well as their independence. Often ideas of things to create will spark in my children’s imagination at the most spontaneous of times. And most likely it’s when I’m not available to go and gather all the items they want me to spread out for them. 

creative station
Photo by Abbey Donald

Our little “Creative Station” is an old kitchen pantry. I find it perfect for storing their paints, clays, paper and other mediums, well as my own creative resources up on top. 

It’s such a powerful tool to give your child access to art supplies the moment a creative idea strikes.

I hope this inspires you to create your own morning invitations—small setups that can lead to big moments of connection and creativity.

More Creative Invitations for Kids

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How to Set Up Morning Invitations for Kids How to Set Up Morning Invitations for Kids How to Set Up Morning Invitations for Kids

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