Are you trying to establish a quiet time routine at home? Here is what I did for my four year old! Read on to know how I introduced quiet time activities and which ones really worked.
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As a 4 year old’s mother I’m sure you know the difficulty of keeping your child engaged. Add that to Covid restrictions of staying at home and you have a toddler of a child running, screaming and fussing all day!!
Till Steve was 3 I didn’t stress too much on quiet time. He was taking his nap post lunch which used to give me enough time to relax in peace. So even if he jumped and played the rest of the day, I had enough time in between to reset my mind.
When he turned a little over 3, though, afternoon nap time became a battle! If I did put him to sleep he would get up at the slightest noise and then not want to sleep at all.
I would sometimes force him or allure him but this was creating more stress for the both of us. Finally when he turned 4 I gave up.
When did I start the quiet time activities
Now that he had extra time on his hands, Steve wanted to do anything and everything under the sun. He wanted my involvement to paint, act like a dinosaur, play ball, while making mess and a hell lot of noise!!
I on the other hand rebelled at the smallest request of participation, post lunch because I was still used to the old routine of resting and relaxing.
Covid added to our stress further. We couldn’t meet friends and they could not come home. All this brought forth more tantrums. Steve and I were both desperate for a solution.
This is when I made up my mind to establish a quiet time routine that many experts talk about!
How I introduced the quiet time activities
It wasn’t easy because I missed the window of opportunity when it was easy for him to transition between nap time to quiet time. Now it was a task to get him to transition from play time to quiet time.
So I started preparing him for it. After lunch I started telling him “Steve, Mama is really tired now after all the cooking. So Mama is just going to lie down next to you and rest. You cannot wake up Mama ok? And you can’t make noise. Because otherwise her rest will break!”
This always triggered a response “Why”
I then said “Rest is good for mama’s body. When Mama rests, she becomes happy. And while Mama rests, you can sleep too.”
“I don’t want to sleep!” he would immediately say.
“Hmm If you don’t want to sleep, then you can sit quietly next to me and colour this book ok? (and then I handed him the colours).”
Of course the first few times the rest used to last only a short 15-20 minutes and soon he would want my involvement in some way.
But slowly and steadily he understood the concept. He started looking forward to the activities I prepared for him during the time. A little prodding and acknowledging “hmmms” during the time became enough to keep him going.
Now Steve decides his own quiet time activities. In fact he looks forward to the time (which is now about 45 minutes-1 hr long) because he is excited to show me what he came up with during the quiet time! He rather enjoys this small break of independence.
I am also able to do other things in this quiet time, other than lying down.
Quiet time activity rules
Steve came up with a name for the quiet time. It was called “teacher time” because he felt like I was acting like a teacher!
I knew that without rules Steve would try and get his way into doing whatever he wished. So I made some and encouraged him to follow in a way that excited him.
For example- he was allowed access to some exclusive activity material only during this period.
Additionally I asked him to check on me too if I broke these rules!
The rules were simple –
When Mama says “It’s teacher time” we will both gather our “teacher time things” and sit in the space till Mama says “teacher time over”.
There will be no phone, no TV, no bright lights and no noise (no screaming, yelling, shouting).
Quiet time activities for 4 year olds- a few ideas
1. Puzzles
Puzzles have been a favourite since my son was 3. They are such a non-messy, focus-building activity. You may have to help your child, the first few times but after that they can be very much on their own. If you are a DIY person make some of your own from their favourite cartoons and objects.
Types of puzzles you can try with your child
Activity duration- 30 mins- 1 hr
2. Sorting clothes
Steve loves to help out with the clothes from the washing machine. When he became 4 he even showed interest in sorting and folding them.
So now sometimes for quiet time activities, he helps me with the washed clothes.
This takes a good amount of time because he not only sorts it as Mama’s, Dada’s and his’, he also has to straighten them out, fold it (I had to teach him initially), bundle them together and also keep his clothes in his closet.
We usually do this together though, so he doesn’t feel overburdened.
Activity duration- 45 mins- 1 hr
3. Colouring and drawing
Kids love to draw and colour. As they develop these skills, make it challenging for them with time.
The easiest thing you can do for starters in colouring is pick some used one sided sheets and draw objects from their environment like a bus or a tree or flower or a dog.
If you don’t like drawing yourself there are many websites that provide free printables for colouring such as this one. Over time encourage them to draw what they wish to colour!
Other things you can try with your kids!
Activity duration- 30 mins- 1 hr
4. Cardboard inspiration
When we moved to this house we had a lot of cardboard boxes as storage. Well they turned out to be so handy because Steve loves making things from them. Add some more interesting objects, a kid-friendly scissor and his imagination runs wild.
He makes dinosaurs, excavators, work-stations and whatever inspires him that day. Makes them and then goes on to pretend playing! What a good use of time!
Activity duration- 1-2 hours
5. Building toys
Building blocks was the first thing I had introduced as a quiet time activity. He already loved it and just needed more inspiration. We started with simple straight buildings, then boats, airplanes and so on.
I did not give any reference to Steve because I wanted him to work from his imagination. If he saw a helicopter on TV, he would attempt at making it with blocks. If he enjoyed a day at the playground, then he would attempt building it from blocks too.
So no idea was really done with because he would keep improvising based on his observations.
Some building toys –
6. Letter activities with toys
Another simple quiet time activity I do with Steve is to identify the starting letters for all his toys (For example D for dinosaur, A for ambulance, B for blocks). I keep all the toys together and write all the letters in different coloured papers. Then all Steve has to do is place all the toys under the letters given.
Activity duration- 30-45 mins
7. Cleaning activities
Some days I simply give him a damp cloth and ask him to wipe all his toys. With covid he now has a good understanding of germs and viruses. So he takes a good interest in keeping his toys clean. He does this once in a week.
Activity duration- 45 mins- 1 hr
8. Busy books
I haven’t tried these books myself but I have friends who love these and vouch for their usefulness. Found some on Amazon too-
9. Collage activities
Draw any object in a chart paper or any A4 size paper. It could be any cartoon character or a concept that your child has been recently learning about.
Then ask your child to tear off pieces of an old magazine or newspaper (coloured preferably) with their hand or with a kid’s scissor and place them in a bowl.
Now hand in a glue stick to your child and ask them to fill the picture up with the torn pieces.
Activity duration- 45 mins- 1 hr
10. Play-dough
I’m not much in favour of this activity because of the mess it creates but I’ve noticed that if I restrict Steve to one area he is willing to clean up after he finishes what he wants to make.
Give your child a rolling pin, some cookie moulds and additional interesting material and they will be onto this for hours!!
Some more ideas-
Activity duration- 1- 1.5 hrs
11. Balancing games
When Steve started understanding “heavy” and “light” it was easy to introduce him to a game of balances. We used a hanger to make the balancing scale and had fun comparing different objects. Here’s where we got this DIY idea!
Here are some more games from Amazon-
Activity duration- 30- 45 mins
More tips for quiet time activities
- You could use an alarm for quiet time so your child knows when it starts and when it ends. There is also an amazing tool for this on Amazon called the Time Timer
- Keep yourself calm when you start introducing the quiet time duration. It is a new concept so take it slow but be consistent. Show up for quiet time every day.
- Choose your activities before itself and choose different ones every day. This will keep the surprise going. Make sure that whatever tools or toys you give during quiet time are exclusive to that time in that particular day.
- I’ve realized that imagination with a little encouragement helps Steve to make and build things out of his own mind. So I don’t restrict him to my idea of the activity. If he wants to make something of his own, from the materials I give, I allow that.
- Encourage and praise them for doing so well in their quiet time. In fact you can use the quiet time to strike a conversation later. Ask them what they did? What they found out? Answer all their questions. If they want more information on something in particular, see if any book or educational video can follow after this.
- Encourage them to ask you questions too. How did you pass your time? How did it help you? This way they will know that you equally participate in this quiet time.
- I usually give Steve a small snack after his quiet time. Also these days since he has online school, his quiet time on most days is followed up by school time, which suits me since his brain has already calmed down!
Some outputs from our quiet time-
How do you establish a quiet time routine at your home? Please scroll down to comment.
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Hi! My name is Rubitah. I’m a Content Writer certified Life Coach, Counselor, Social Work professional and the Founder of Being Rubitah. Over the years through my professional and personal life, I have realized that prayers and love can do wonders to family life once you come to terms with yourself and surrender to God. Do you relate to me? Then you may like what I post here! Read more about me
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