Do you have a preschooler who doesn’t nap but needs a mid-day break? Enter quiet time. Here are my best recommendations for independent quiet time activities that keep preschoolers occupied while they chill out.
When my older child stopped taking a nap when he was 3 years old, I panicked. I had a 1-year-old who definitely needed to nap and I still desperately needed a mid-day break from the onslaught of parenting. I had to figure out a plan to keep the 3-year-old happy, the 1-year-old napping, and the mom from pulling her hair out. It was a tall order indeed.
Luckily, I came across the concept of quiet time as a transition for preschoolers who have stopped napping but who still needed a mid-day break to reset for the rest of the day. This was exactly what our family needed. But what quiet time activities could facilitate this break and set us up for success?
We have had some sort of quiet time for about two years at this point. We have tried all the independent quiet time activities, some successfully and others not so successfully. If you have a kid who is struggling with quiet time or your kid is getting ready to put naps on the chopping block, I want to share the best quiet time activities that keep preschoolers engaged while letting them relax. Good quiet time activities are priceless, so get ready to increase your net worth, folks.
Quiet Time Activities
Legos
I am starting off this list of quiet time activities with a bang. Pound for pound, Legos win as the most consistently successful quiet time activity we have tried. Now, I’m not talking about kits that require your preschooler to build a specific thing. No, no, no. That’s not independent play for most preschoolers. Instead, I’m talking about the big box of Legos that can be used to free build whatever comes out of your preschooler’s active little brain.
Not only do Legos provide a completely open-ended, independent activity for quiet time, they also lead to parent-child bonding too. My son is always excited to show me his creations at the end of quiet time. I sit down with him for a few minutes and he explains what it is and how it’s used. I usually even get a demonstration! He typically likes to keep his creations for a few days at least, so the only problem with Legos as a quiet time activity in my house is keeping my 2-year-old from destroying my son’s hard work.
Magna-tiles
When I was a relatively new mom, I didn’t understand the hype about Magna-tiles. What could possibly be so special about plastic shapes with magnets embedded in their sides? Honestly, all I saw was the potential choking hazard that the magnets could pose when the plastic shapes inevitably cracked. Oh, how naïve I was!
Magna-tiles are amazing. Yes, you do need to monitor them regularly to make sure they haven’t cracked and tiny magnets aren’t available to be mouthed by a child or a dog, but that’s a small price to pay for their magic, my friends. Magna-tiles give Legos a run for their money in the race to be King of the Quiet Time Activities. They’re easy to maneuver, they make tremendous castles, and they’re very easy to clean up when quiet time is over. In fact, cleaning up the Magna-tiles can be part of the fun!
If I’ve convinced you that you need to include Magna-tiles in your repertoire of quiet time activities, you’ve got options. Sure, you can opt for the brand name tiles, but there are also lots of high quality alternatives that work just as well. And they come at a much lower price.
Train tracks
More building materials, a theme arises! This time, it’s not buildings your preschooler is building during quiet time, it’s train tracks, which can be equally fun. In addition to being a creative building activity, train tracks also give your preschooler a fun activity to do once they’ve built the tracks. I don’t know a preschooler who doesn’t love to push a train around a track (especially when there are hills) and make choo choo noises. Heck, I’m almost 40 years old and that sounds like a good time to me!
Don’t feel like you need to invest in an expensive and extensive train table if you want to offer train tracks as a quiet time activity. Just a simple set of train tracks is enough.
Audio player
If you’re like me, you’re probably trying to limit your kids’ screen time. But you also live in the real world and know that your kid probably won’t just quietly play with building materials during quiet time every day. When your kid needs to mix up his quiet time activities, an audio player is a great option. And there are some good audio players directed at young kids.
Yoto
When we started our quiet time journey a few years ago, I did a whole bunch of research into audio players for kids. I landed on the Yoto mini player because it could be used at home during quiet time and when we are traveling. I also liked that this model worked on cards, which are easier to store, rather than figurines. Two benefits to the Yoto mini player that I didn’t even really take into account but that have been huge for our quiet time success are that the Yoto comes with a built-in radio station and a daily podcast that don’t require cards to play. My son likes the cards well enough, but he loves to listen to the radio station and the daily podcast during quiet time. I also love they the volume is color-coded, so it’s very easy to tell my son to keep it in the green so it’s not too loud.
My only complaint about the Yoto mini player is that it has been the subject of two pretty serious recalls, one for the charging cable and one for the battery, since we have purchased it. These recalls have taken it out of commission for a chunk of time while we wait for the fix. I’m hopeful that once we get the new battery installed, we won’t have to deal with the safety questions anymore. Fingers crossed the newer models don’t have these same issues!
Toniebox
When we bought the Yoto mini player, we very nearly opted for the Toniebox instead. The Toniebox uses cute figurines to initiate the audio experiences, and most of them are characters that your kids know and love. My nieces and nephew all have Tonieboxes and my kids love the character figurines that they have. One issue you need to be prepared for that you might not expect is that you’ll need to convince your kid that they can’t take their Toniebox figurines in the bathtub. So, if that’s not a fight you want to have, maybe the Toniebox isn’t for your family.
Books
At the risk of sounding obvious, consider offering books as a quiet time activity for your preschooler. Books are the original quiet time activity. I know I loved to sit quietly exploring my books when I was a young child. Just because we have more options for quiet time activities now doesn’t mean we should abandon a classic.
If your preschooler is still in the pre-reading zone, you can still offer books during quiet time. My son loves to flip through books looking at the pictures and making up his own story. What a great way to stretch the imagination!
If you need some recommendations for great kids’ books, I’ve got a great list here.
Puzzles
Age-appropriate puzzles are another great quiet time activity. But please, make sure they are age appropriate. If you give your preschooler a puzzle that’s beyond their ability to put together alone, that is a recipe for disaster. Where to find great, affordable age-appropriate puzzles for quiet time? The Dollar Tree has great options!
Coloring
If you have an artistic kid, or one who would like to be artistic, don’t sleep on coloring as a fantastic quiet time activity. It’s amazing how long a kid can stay occupied with a coloring book and a pack of crayons. Here again, I like the Dollar Tree for coloring books. As for what crayons to provide for your kids during quiet time, please make sure to limit what you’re offering to washable products. You do not want to come back to your kid’s quiet time and realize that permanent colors are all over their clothes, their walls, and their bodies.
Reusable sticker books
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, kids love stickers. And really, why wouldn’t they? Stickers are fun! And although you can definitely offer regular stickers and a small notebook as a quiet time activity, I really love reusable sticker books when I’m thinking of my top tier quiet time activities. Reusable sticker books come in all shapes and sizes, but I like the big ones for quiet time. Melissa & Doug makes some great ones that have gotten a ton of use in our house for years.
Dress-up
What better way for a preschooler to use an hour of alone time than for dress-up? Dess-up is a great solo activity for preschoolers, as long as you offer dress up clothes that they can get on and off by themselves (stay away from things that require closure at the back to be usable). Dress-up gives kids the opportunity to step out of their normal lives and be someone else during quiet time. They can spend quiet time as a superhero, a cowboy, or even a dragon. I have often found my son sitting on the floor of his room in a full-on Iron Man get-up building a Lego masterpiece when I go get him. These are the memories you’ll hold forever, friends.
Golf game
Recently, we have offered the basement as an alternative location for my son’s quiet time. That’s a huge draw for him because the basement is where we have installed a fun little Velcro golf game that he loves to play. I like to join him after he’s had some time to practice and challenge him to a little one-on-one game while his sister is still napping some days. Maybe I should stop letting him have some practice time, though. He beat me handily the last time we played. My ego still hasn’t recovered.
Other posts
If you have preschoolers and need some tips, feel free to check out these posts:
I hope you have a bunch of ideas for quiet time activities to set your family up for success. Is there anything I didn’t include that tops your list of quiet time activities? Please share below or on Instagram @sarainseason.
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