Personalized Placemats as Morning Conversation Starters

Everyone knows that breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. With a newly minted Kindergartner, it is even more important for me to focus on building a better breakfast with our hectic morning routine with the main goal of getting everyone out of the door in time.

One area that I'm focused on right now as a mom is being more cheerful in the morning. Often, I'm finding that I'm raising my voice out of frustration with making sure everyone has what they need. 

I'm making a pact with myself and the kids to be more cheerful, which in turn will keep them happy so that they have a great start to the morning. That sounds so simple in writing, but in implementation it's so hard. But I'm trying.

I'm also trying to think outside of the cereal box for their breakfasts. With my weekly stop at Walmart for groceries, I found the Del Monte Fruit and Veggie Fusions in the canned veggie aisle.

Part of the morning routine also includes us going electronic free and having a good conversation in the morning! One of the things that helps with this are the breakfast placemats that I've created out of their artwork. It definitely gets the conversation going in the morning! You can do the same time. It's so easy (just as easy as fruit cups, toasted bagels and a glass of milk)!

Supplies

Kids Art and School Work
Self Laminating Sheets

Directions for Personalized Placemats Made Out of Kids Artwork

1. First, straighten the artwork up. You may want to use an iron on low with the art facedown.

2. Follow the directions on the self laminating sheets, which is typically going to tell you to take their artwork and place them face down.

3. Put the top adhesive over it and you are done!

You can also do with with a heating laminator machine too! I prefer doing the self-adhesive laminating sheets because it is faster and I don't have to plug anything in! Laminating allows it to get semi messy, but easy enough to wipe off. If it gets too bad, you can just throw it away without feeling too guilty!

How do you make your morning routines a little less hectic?