Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Quiet Time

A very important part of our day is what we call Quiet Time. Some days it turns to nap time, but we don't talk about that :) I have some activities that they are allowed to do during quiet time. The rule is that they are to stay on their bed and be quiet. I let them take milk in a sippy cup, because that often soothes them to sleep.

Other things I let them take along are...
puzzles
books
crayons w/paper, coloring books, or activity books (only Mary Helen since I don't trust Anna to not decorate the walls yet)
magna doodle


Things I plan to do this year. . .
Themed quiet time packs! I hope to include lacing cards, felt board activities, wipe off games, etc. to go with whatever theme we are doing. Should keep things interesting!

Do you do anything like this? What are some things you let your kiddos take for quiet time?

9 comments:

Homeschool Friend said...

Roaring with laughter..."Sometimes it turns into naptime, but we dont talk about that." You are hialrious!

We do Quiet Time too. I first heard of it when Sally Clarkson shared that they did Quiet Time for all of their children through the years. This is how we do it:
The boys are encouraged to pray, read, write, draw or color. But they are not to play with toys. I remind them-It's not playtime. It's quiet time!

This happens between 3 and 4:00 for the whole hour. We have doen it for years, but here lately it is more spuratic. I'd say once maybe twice a week. I'd love to get back to 4 days a week though.

Thanks for posting about this. I'm enocuraged to get back to it!

~Maria said...

Thankfully both of mine still nap for a good 2 hours every day!! :) However, I know eventually my oldest(who will be 5 next week) will start to transition out of the actual sleep. I do plan to keep at least an hour of quiet time each day though. We do Quiet Reading time often right now and I would like to see that put in the place of naps when they outgrow the need to sleep.....even though I may never!

Jenny said...

My daughter has never been a good napper, so we've never had a specified quiet time. It would be awesome though!

Jenny said...

Oh and I love the themed activity ideas you have!

Unknown said...

We do quiet time with my oldest. My youngest still naps everyday. I allow her to look at books or play with stuffed animals or some other small item. Our rules are the same...she must be quiet and she must stay in bed.
I don't know what I would do without this time each day!

Anonymous said...

My daughter is not even 3 yet, so I don't let her take anything to her crib that would create messes. whereSo crayons are positively out. We still have her in a crib, and she has "a quiet time" between 2 to 4 pm, when we expect her to sleep. We experimented with books, but every time she would end up entertaining herself for hours and not sleeping. She has access to a sippy cup of water and a full shelf of stuffed animals, so quiet time is only quiet (i.e. kid-free) for us. There is a lot of giggling happening there during the quiet time.

Paula @ Organizing Tips For Moms said...

I used to do quiet time with my daughter when my son was little when he and I needed naps. I didn't do this with my son, though. I am sure I will with my third as long as I can!! It was such a nice thing.

Christy Killoran said...

I need to implement this in my house.

Jessica said...

Oh my goodness...we have "Quiet Time" too. It used to be called naptime--and Benjamin was always a big napper (2-3 hour naps DAILY!). But, when he turned 4 I noticed he was not able to fall asleep every day--yet, he was still sleepy & "needed" a nap. So, we started calling naptime, "Quiet Time" and yes, we have similar rules. He must stay in his bed--he may sing & talk to his "friends" but he must stay there for an hour to relax. And, yes...ours also turns into a nap every so often, too!