Have you ever heard of quiet time boxes? They’re kind of in the same family as activity boxes or busy boxes but only used during times when you need some peace and quiet. Hence the name. We recently began using these quiet time boxes and they have been such a life saver, that I thought it was worthy of a post. There’s different methods and systems in utilizing these boxes and if you do a good ol’ Google search on them you can find a lot of inspiration. But today I just wanted to give some insight on how we’ve been implementing them in our home.
Our daughter just started Kindergarten and our son is in preschool for 3 days a week and still takes naps (Hallelujah). So with this new difference in their schedules we have started using quiet time boxes to fill certain time gaps where one child may need to be spending their time quietly or if they need something to keep busy. Our daughter gets a quiet time box on the weekends when our son is taking his naps. And our son gets his on the days that his sister is at school and he is home. He tends to get bored when she’s not around so having this box keeps him intrigued and gives him something to do.
We rotate the items in their boxes pretty frequently so that it stays fresh and interesting. Currently we are just using one box per child and swap the items as needed but I’ve seen some mamas set up a box per day of the week so that everything is already pre-made and ready. Anything can go in these boxes really, but the key is to provide things that can be done independently and that is age appropriate. If your child likes to put things in their mouth, you obviously want to avoid anything that can be a choking hazard. The point about these boxes is that you want your child to be able to use them without supervision. We have included coloring and activity books, stickers, puzzles, hidden picture workbooks, small toys, and independent games like tangrams. Be sure to make it easy for your child to access everything in there. That they can open a box of crayons easily and already know the rules of the game, etc, etc. This has provided hours of engagement from both our kids and it’s something that’s a staple in our current routine. I’ll be sure to share more ideas on quiet time boxes in future posts!
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