The end of the day is drawing near and your young kids need some quiet time activities to calm them down before bedtime. Here is a list of relaxing pastimes you and your kids can enjoy before it’s time for them to go to sleep.
Read a Book
What child doesn’t love a story before bedtime? A good book can be one of the best quiet time activities. If you don’t feel like reading aloud, listen to an audio book together or sing along to some favorite kids’ songs.
Do Some Puzzles
Kids love jigsaw puzzles. If you don’t have any at home, don’t worry there are hundreds of jigsaws for toddlers online. Not only are they good fun, but they are also educational and help young kids develop visual-perceptual skills and fine motor skills. Puzzles are great for quiet time activities.
Color Some Pictures
As well as being a fun, creative thing to do, coloring also helps calm kids down. It slows breathing and heart rate and lowers blood pressure. It’s a great pre-bedtime activity. You’ll find a great coloring app for kids here on Google Play.
Share Pictures
Pull out your old photo albums and talk to your kids about each of the people in the pictures and explain where they were taken. Teaching your kids about their family history is another wonderful quiet time activity.
Meditate Together
Get a guided meditation CD online or from your local library and teach your child how to be still and meditate. This technique will come in useful when she’s older and will help her cope with stress. Meditation is a fantastic quiet time activity.
Play a Card Game
There are a number of fun card games out there for young kids, like Donkey, Spades, Old Maid, Rummy, Go Fish, Snap, War, and Crazy 8s. These games make excellent quiet-time activities.
Do Some String Art
String art is a great way to pass some quiet time creating something pretty. Create an age-appropriate string board for your child, gather a collection of colored threads, and let her string her heart out. As it’s calming, string art is wonderful for quiet time activities.
Threading Beads
For younger children who are still developing fine motor skills, threading beads onto string or pipe cleaners is a fun activity and there are all sorts of ways you can set this up, by shape, color, or patterns. It’s ideal as a quiet time activity.
Play Dough
Who doesn’t love Play-Doh? It’s so much fun and so versatile, kids can make just about anything with it, and the only limit is their imagination. If you don’t have any at home, you can easily make some with this simple recipe. Playdough can be one of the best quiet time activities.
Finger Painting
Roll out the paper, mix the bright colors, and get down to some finger art. It’s fun getting messy and you can always give the kids a relaxing warm bath before popping them into bed.
Wool Wrapping
Wool wrapping is a fun activity that will keep kids absorbed for a long time during quiet periods, and at the end, they get a colorful pompom that you can put on clothes or make toys from. This is yet another quiet time activity to consider.
Create a Secret Code
Older kids will enjoy making a simple secret code that you can use to send each other notes. It’s good practice for writing and problem-solving — definitely one of the more engaging quiet time activities.
If you’re looking for more quiet time ideas, you’ll find some here.
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