It is amazing how much one little body can change the dynamic and flow of a day at home. And with us nearing the end of the school year (when did that happen?!) I’m already looking ahead to summer.
With the big boys being in school, my 2 littles at home have gotten into a great rhythm and flow. Spring break gave me a good taste of what it is going to be like to have all 4 at home all day long again.
Naptime, in which I only had one child awake for the past year, quickly turned from a break for Mommy into a noisy play session where I was constantly telling my oldest two to turn their voices down for fear of waking a sleeping child. (And those sleeping moments are so precious!)
While I do absolutely love having them all home, they are at the ages where some structure is still needed so I don’t pull my hair out. Just me?!
So, I decided to put together some quiet bins to keep the peace and sneak in some academic moments over the summer!
*This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying orders at no additional cost to you.
Materials:
- Small bins to hold the quiet materials
- Lacing letters
- Small puzzle
- Index cards
- Markers
- Kid scissors
- Googly eyes
- Small animals
- Popsicle sticks
How To:
When setting up a quiet bin, take a few things into consideration:
- Child’s age
- Interests
- Length of time
- Independence
Child’s Age
As your child gets older, he/she is able to complete more on his/her own. If your little is 3 and just stopped napping, you are going to have to keep the activities very simple so you don’t have to sit there the entire time.
If you have a school aged kiddo who is home for the summer, the activities that you will be able to provide are much more expansive and you will generally be able to hold his/her attention for much longer.
Interests
Be sure to pick items and topics that your child is interested in. I have an animal lover who could literally play with animal figures all day. If I place small cars in a quiet bin, there is a good chance that he won’t want to play with them. However, if I include small animals, I’ve got myself covered for naptime!
Length of Time
Be aware of how long you want your kiddo occupied for. Do you need 30 minutes or 2 hours? The more time you need, the more activities you will need to include in your bin. A great filler to add time to a quiet bin is books. They will typically engage your kiddo for a lot longer than expected.
Independence
Simply providing quiet bins will not automatically create the quiet environment that you crave. You have to know your child’s level of independence and how to teach the quiet skill.
My 3 year old has two volumes; loud and sleeping…that’s it! So, quiet bins aren’t really something that I can successfully expect him to execute for more than 5 minutes at a time right now (luckily, he still naps!).
However, my 5 and 7 year olds have practice being quiet and can complete tasks independently. Although we have to practice and may need some reminders, I can realistically expect them to do an hour of quiet bins independently (as long as I choose the right materials).
Build the Bins!
There are two main ways that you can build your quiet time bins. You can either place one activity in each bin and create a few (I would say 5 to rotate) or you can put a few activities in one bin and create a bin for each child.
If I only had one awake during naptime, I would create 5 different bins (1 activity per bin) to rotate and allow my child to choose and switch as desired.
However, I currently have 2 non-nappers at home. So, the better solution for us was to create 2 bins and put 3 activities (plus a few books) in each bin. My boys each start with the bin I hand them, and when they are done with all of the activities, they are allowed to switch bins.
Related: Getting your little ready for Kindergarten? Check out our NO PREP 8 Week Program that will get your kiddo ready in just 20-30 minutes per day!
5 Activities to Keep Little Hands Busy!
Keeping those little hands occupied during naptime is essential for Mommy’s sanity during the day! Here are 5 of our favorites:
1. Lacing Letters
I grabbed this wonderful lacing letter kit for Christmas last year, and we are just loving it! We’ve used the kit as is (stringing letters on the laces) and we’ve also used the letters in sensory bins, alphabet soup play, building words, and so much more!
For this quiet bin, simply use the lacing letter kit as intended and allow your child to lace the letters.
For an added challenge, place index cards with words in the bin and see if your little can build the words.
2. Small Puzzles
You can go in a lot of different directions when it comes to small puzzles. We found a few great small box sets of 100 piece puzzles in the Target Dollar Section last year (we are in love with them!). Those puzzles are perfect for my 5 and 7 year olds.
Then, we also love the two piece match up puzzles where you are joining capital and lowercase letters, letters to pictures, or opposites. Puzzles are a great way to extend an activity and keep those little hands busy for a while. Use whatever your little is interested in here!
3. Cutting Cards
Scissor skills are extremely important to practice during those younger years. Once your child is old enough to correctly hold scissors, there are some great safety scissors to start with.
Grab some index cards and a marker, then draw different lines going across the card (see the photo).
Your child’s job is to cut along the different lines using his/her scissors.
4. Googly Eye Monsters
Grab some more index cards, a marker and some googly eyes (I prefer to use the larger eyes so they are easier to find if dropped).
Draw a monster on each index card (without eyes), then write a number in the corner of each card.
Your child’s job is to read the number and add the same amount of eyes to that monster.
For an added challenge (and to extend the activity a bit) do not write numbers on the cards, but include a dice instead.
Have your child roll the dice and add that number of eyes to the monster. For those early elementary kids, have them roll 2 dice and add the numbers together to find the amount of eyes to add.
5. Building with Animals
For this activity, grab a bunch of small animals and some popsicle sticks (you can also include a few small blocks).
Related: Do you think your kiddo would love this one? Check out our favorite Balancing Dinos Activity for more inspiration!
Your child can use the popsicle sticks to build for the animals. He/she may make houses, bridges, fences, etc. The point here is to flex the imagination and really get into the open ended play potential here.
This is the activity that my 7 year old could do all day long!
Get Busy with Quiet Time!
Now that you have 5 ideas to get you started, what are you waiting for?! Get busy and set up those bins! I promise, if you have all of the materials these 5 bins will take you no more than 5-10 minutes to set up and you’ll be on your way to the quiet time of your dreams!
And don’t get discouraged if you struggle to get past the 10 minute mark with quiet time in the beginning. Your busy bee is used to talking, moving, and interacting with you all day. You have to teach the quiet time skill.
Your little needs time to recharge just as much as you do! Keep at it and quiet time will become a loved time by all in the house!
Thank you so much for reading, sweet friend! I truly appreciate you stopping by. Curious about what we are up to? Follow along on Instagram and check out our latest inspiration on Pinterest.
Looking for another quiet time activity to add to your routine? Check out our beloved Name Building Car Activity!
