My 3 year old is now at the stage where she is starting to drop naps all together. Having no nap tends to result in a very cranky child by dinner time. It’s clear that she still needs that rest in the afternoon. As a result, we have started to introduce ‘quiet time’. Whilst Jessica will object to being told she is going for a nap, she is generally quite happy to go to bed and choose a ‘special toy’ from the quiet time box and then be left in her cot for a little while (usually about 30-45 minutes if she doesn’t sleep although most of the time, I’ll pop back upstairs 10 minutes into her quiet time and she will be fast asleep).
What’s inside our quiet time box
- Two cloth books – I especially like these as one of them has lots of puzzles – matching shapes and things like that – and the other one has a little teddy bear and each page has different activities involving getting teddy ready for bed. They were a gift for Jessica from Grandma who bought them at the Christmas craft fair at RHS Wisley.
- A box of small board books – currently we have Dora the Explorer ones. We also have a set of In the Night Garden ones so we can alternate them.
- Some small jigsaws
- A pack of cards – currently these are In the Night Garden pairs ones which were free with the magazine. We also have Something Special ones too.
Do you have a quiet time box? What kind of things do you put in it?
What a fantastic idea. Wish I’d have seen this way back when our little bear was in napping limbo!
Thank you – it’s working quite well so far! 🙂
What a brilliant set you have there! It’s lovely! I think there is so much to be said for just taking the pressure out of nap time and leaving them to it to sleep if they want to. My daughter gave up napping, then took it back up at age 3 when her days were so busy she actually *asked* if there was time for her to take a nap 🙂 We usually use jigsaw puzzles or threading frames for quiet time, or sticker activities. I love your books though!
Thanks for the great post 🙂
Thank you – I can imagine how they want to go back to it especially once at preschool and being busier which must tire them out a lot. Jigsaw puzzles and threading frames sound like great quiet time activities as do stickers – some more ideas there for things to add to the box. My daughter now asks for “quiet time and special toys” which is a bonus! 🙂
Love this!! I love those quiet time books – I have toyed with the idea of making my own!! Well I keep thinking about it. But such a lovely way to evoke some quiet moments in your house.
Linking from the #thelist linkie.
Thank you – they are lovely books and really good for quiet time. Good luck if you do try making some 🙂
Great ideas for ‘quiet time’! As I have twins it used to be a bit of a nightmare when one wanted a nap and the other didn’t.
Thank you – I can imagine that must be tough when one twin wants to nap and the other doesn’t! I love the (rare) moments when I can get my two settled down at the same time! 🙂
That is a great idea, I will be keeping it in mind for when the youngest gets to that stage with napping (although i’m sure he will nap forever, right?? no??) I always liked the idea of rotating the toy boxes to keep things interesting but i’ve never got around to actually doing it.
Thank you – it’s certainly been very helpful for encouraging her to have naps when needed. I used to rotate the toy boxes too but not quite as organised with that these days – it seemed to work quite well when I did do it though.
What a great idea! My little one stopped napping at 18 months and I could have done with something like this!
Thank you – it’s definitely helped keep the napping going for a while longer!
We have quiet time too and it’s been great so far. I love the idea of a quiet time box though, I’d never thought of anything like that and usually just leave my daughter to play with her toys. Having something more structured like a quiet box would be better though and those cloth books look great! I’m going to have to get my sewing machine out and see if I can make something similar.
The box helps keep the toys more special I think – Jessica refers to them as her special toys as she only gets to have them during quiet time. Good luck with making some cloth books.
Oh this is such a good idea, my soon-to-be three year old no longer naps unless very tired so we too have quiet time! Although it usually involves me snuggling with him! I’m going to try a quiet box too!
Oh I like the idea of snuggling as well – I miss the days of being able to have ‘cuddle naps’ together. Keeping the toys in the box ‘special’ because they are for quiet time only helps too.
OK I LOVE this idea. Reuben stopped having naps with me a good while a go – he only turned 2 in August, so it makes getting anything done pretty hard! I recon he would enjoy a quiet box though…I think I might introduce it as even just a little bit of time to himself seems to work wonders for his general mood!!
Thanks for linking up to #theList xxx
It’s so hard when they give up naps! Hope the quiet time box will help give him a bit of time out to recharge his batteries and give you a little bit of time as well. Lovely to link up to #thelist again 🙂