Our February Morning Basket with Shakespeare & St. Valentine

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What our February Basket Looked Like! 

It's the month of Romance, Non?  We can hardly think of February without a single thought of pink and red hearts, candy, teddy bears, and a literal explosion of Valentine's paraphernalia wherever we go. So how can we Educators get away from that typical vibe and celebrate the month with more meaning? 

Skipping the Pink Hearts & Conversation Candies 

First, let's look at the man responsible for countless Sonnets of love and Plays of love stories.  The William Shakespeare. Now I will admit, this was hard to wrap my head around when I was in school many years ago, but today we have so so many options for making Shakespeare fun for kids! Scroll down to see how we plan to add this man to our Morning Basket!

Second, St. Valentine himself.  It wouldn't be right to skip any mention of him. We often forget that our traditional holidays are always based on something much older, have a deep history, and are worthy of a yearly reminder. 
I've found a few resources about St. Valentine to add to your MB, but some might be better suited for older children while others are for younger children. 

In the event you are not keen on sharing resources with religious backgrounds, there are plenty of secular books for children about Valentine's Day at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. 

Morning Basket Contents

For our Reading: 

• How to Teach Your Child Shakespeare (This is an Excellent Book for memorizing parts of Shakespeare's Plays) 
• Complete Sonnets (Middle & High)
• Much Ado About Nothing (High School)
• Romeo & Juliet (High School) 
  
• Romeo & Juliet Graphic Novel 
• Usborne's Complete Shakespeare 
• Magic Treehouse Stage Fright on a Summer Night 
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
• Bard of Avon 
• Who Was William Shakespeare?
• Usborne World of Shakespeare Reference Book
• The Usborne World of Shakespeare
• Pop Up Shakespeare Book (Elementary)
• William Shakespeare's World 
• Saint Valentine 
• The Story of Valentine's Day 
• The Story of St. Valentine 
• St. Valentine Encyclopedia Britannica  (FREE) 

DVDS: 

• Romeo & Juliet (I'd opt for an older version)
• William Shakespeare, Bard of Avon (I recommend checking your library for this)

Crafts: 

• Shakespeare for Kids with 21 Activities 
• Calligraphy for Kids 
• Quill Pen with Ink 
• Antique looking Paper (You can have them practice their names, or write a sonnet in old fashioned font)
• Much Ado About Mad Libs 
• St. Valentine Love Coloring Book (Middle School & up)
• Usborne Quotes from Shakespeare Coloring Book 

 

Games: 

• Professor Noggins Medieval Times Card Game 
• BrainBox Shakespeare
• Simply Fun's Do You Know Shakespeare Board Game (Middle School & up)
• Shakespeare Quotes' Playing Cards 
• Munchkin Shakespeare Deluxe board game 
• Shakespeare Game by Asmodee (Acting Game) 

Adding Fun: 

The Usborne Pop-Up Theater

• The Usborne Pop-Up Theater is a great toy that includes A Midsummer Night's Dream! Kids of all ages will love this. 
• Peg Dolls of William Shakespeare & St. Valentine 
• Shakespeare inspired clothing such as a Renaissance Hat like this!
• Shakespeare's Magnetic Wardrobe 
• Magnetic Poetry Kit 
  February is a short month with a lot of great ideas we all want to have time for! Our Book List is short, but packed with loads of stories and fun things to go along with it! If you like this Morning Basket list, please pin, share, or tag us! 

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Miss last week's post? Head over here to see what NEW TOOL we added to our homeschool days!! It's GENIUS!