Did you catch the first week of quiet boxes I shared? If not, you can see them right here, This Week’s Quiet Boxes. As promised, here is our next week of quiet boxes.
As always, these boxes are very, very simple. They are calming, quiet activities, ideas for letting little ones relax and slow down, something my boys need frequently. We use these boxes at various points throughout our day, but almost always during the witching hour. That whacky little (but it’s not little) stretch of time right before dinner.
Just before we get into the activities, I think you’ll LOVE these Quiet Time Playmats. Print them out to make a giant doll house on the floor, use them in page protectors with some playdough or dry-erase markers, or tape them to the back of boxes for a big DIY doll house! Grab yours right here:
***Update: I have received so many questions about quiet time and how, exactly, we implement it in our family, so I have made a video for you. This video is all about the idea of living my a rhythm – expanding and contracting – and how we make quiet time happen each day. Here it is for you:
Quiet Boxes: Week 2
You may be interested in trying quiet boxes in your home if you have a child that has recently dropped a nap or you need something to keep your kids busy while you nurse a new baby. You can use quiet bins in your daycare, preschool, or kindergarten classroom (and beyond!) if you notice restlessness or behavioural issues at a consistent time of the day. Toss a few into a small box, and you have a busy box for car rides, trips, and long waits.
And back to this week’s quiet boxes…
We kept the last ones for over two weeks, actually. The kids loved them and were able to use them in many different ways. Since they had started to become quite familiar with them and the novelty had worn off, I decided to switch it up.
Easy, Calming Quiet Boxes for Week Two
1. Button Bracelets. Lots of pipecleaners and oodles of dollar store buttons make this bin a big hit with my 4-year-old. He loves making bracelets to give away as gifts. I used buttons instead of beads this week to add a new element. Now he threads through one hole of the button, and back through the second hole to make the buttons lay flat.
2. Cutting Bin. This bin is mostly for Benjamin (who is 2.5) He loves cutting right now. I threw some odds and ends into this bin. Some cut up scrap paper, ribbon, string, feathers … Really anything that is thin enough to be cut with one snip. This could be adjusted for various ages, by adding zigzag lines, or curved lines for preschoolers to cut.
3. Googly Eyes on Paper. I glued some googly eyes on paper (hence the name of this bin, gosh, do I state the obvious). The idea is for my boys to draw some amazing creatures, people, animals – whatever two-eyed being their little minds come up with.
4. Paper Chains. Sam adores making paper chains and has since Christmas (2013). It’s kinda his thing. We recently made a birthday paper chain countdown to his birthday, which made me think of doing this as a quiet bin. I put some strips of paper, tape, and markers in the bin.
5. Farm Animal Paddocks. A few handfuls of popsicle sticks mixed with a few barn animals, and you have the boys’ favourite bin. They use popsicle sticks to make little paddocks for all of the various animals. They generally take four popsicle sticks, make a square, and pop an animal inside. Sometimes bigger animals get bigger paddocks, or friendly animals get joining paddocks. Their imaginations run wild with this one. Who knew?!
And there you have it! Another week of peaceful play and quiet. Well, at least a few moments of it daily!
Thank you for reading, Have you made any quiet boxes yet? Let me know by commenting below, please!
xo
Sarah
P.S. Don’t forget to grab your FREE Quiet Time Playmats!
If you like these ideas, you’ll love The Quiet Time Club!
28-weeks of daily independent activities to help your little one settle into quiet play:
You might also like:
Sensory Activities for Toddlers
Teaching Kids to Stop and Think
Love these! The google eyes on paper are always a hit!
So happy you do! I agree, you can pretty much never go wrong with googly eyes … Thanks for reading!
Sarah, I’m going to copy you and do ALL of these over the next week or two with Will. Thanks for the great ideas!!
I love these. I can’t wait for week 3.
Thanks so much AJ – will have week 3 out soon!
One thing I like to do for my “Kinders” is create an open squiggle on plain paper. They add to the squiggle to make something, and then write a sentence about what they drew. My K’s love this activity!
What a great, open-ended idea!
the witching hour! Yes! I thought we were the only ones, but I’m so glad this “hour” is not just a curse in my household. I love these ideas! Thanks!!
Oh goodness, you are certainly not alone Monica! So glad you like the ideas, thank you so much for taking the time to comment!
Love this idea! I’ve used quiet boxes in the past but think I will introduce them for wind down time after pre-school. One question – how do the pipe cleaners fit through the buttons holes? it seems to me they wouldn’t fit?
Thanks!
Hi Emma – Quiet Bins are awesome for helping little ones wind down, you are absolutely right. Pipecleaners compress quite a bit, they are really just wire covered in fluff so they fit through almost any button holes – give it a try 😉 Thank you for reading!
What a great idea! I’d love to see some action shots if you have any?
Hi Jade, if you pop over to my Facebook page (https://Facebook.com/HowWeeLearn) you can see a video that shows these bins in action 🙂
Hi, I purchased the book shown above on my kind and it doesn’t have the pictures? Do you know if any of your ebook versions have the images as I would find them really helpful. Thanks
Absolutely Lauren, I have two versions. I have just emailed you the original version which has a picture for each bin. Thank you so much for ordering one of my eBooks, I hope you love it!
i loved these quite bin ideas of yours… they are easy to arrange and kids wont get harmed by them.. thank you
I am so happy they work well for you Chandni – thank you for your encouragement!