Quiet Time Activities
In a perfect world all children in family child care would take a nap at the same time. However, sometimes there are children who do not nap. It is understandable when newly enrolled children don’t want to nap, and often they do begin to take naps once they have become used to being at your home and have been active all morning. For children who are not napping, being prepared with quiet activities for them is helpful for giving them an opportunity to rest and keeping the room quiet for those children who are napping. Suggestion: Before naptime begin to prepare all children by reminding them that it’s almost nap time or asking, “Who knows what comes after lunch (or story time)?” Prepare your nonnapping child or children by reminding them that the other children are tired, need to, and like to nap. Let them know that they need to rest quietly for a certain amount of time so the other children can fall asleep before they begin a quiet activity.

Quiet Activity Ideas: 1. Look at books and children’s magazines 2. Sequence cards 3. Cut pictures from old catalogs 4. String beads
5. Sort counting bears (or other manipulative) 6. Sort items into egg cartons 7. Matching games (colors, numbers, animals, letters, etc.) 8. Jumbo magnifying glass and a magazine 9. Folding dress up clothes 10. Rip or cut paper for art projects 11. Practice buttoning, tying or buckling 12. Pattern cards with small wooden blocks (or tangrams) 13. Plastic shapes and pattern cards 14. Make a picture journal 15. Lotto or bingo game 16. Memory match cards 17. Peg boards or Geo boards 18. Puzzles 19. Magnetic board (or cookie sheet) and letters/numbers 20. Stack and sort small art foam shapes Most of the activities suggested are typical items found in every child care setting. Some can be made or modified from other sets of toys or old books.