• Home
  • Meet Sarah
  • Free Starter Kit
  • Shop Resources
  • Search

How Wee Learn

Out of the box learning ideas, playful art, exploring nature, and simple living - that is How We Learn!

  • Quiet Time
  • Letters and Numbers
  • Art
  • Science
  • Get Outside
  • Shop

Quiet Moments in a Jar

December 27, 2021 by Sarah 6 Comments

 


Another post on Quiet Time activities? Why yes. There is just so much more I want to share with you! Quiet Time is a topic that I could chat about for a very (very, very) (very) long time.

I have shared with you lots of Quiet Time activities in this space, and even written two books on the topic, but there is always more to share. I received an email a little while ago from a lovely Mama named JeAnne. She had a brilliant idea!

She had a bunch of big craft sticks and wanted to write NO-PREP quiet time activities on them for her 5 and 7 year olds to pull out when she nursed the baby, needed to make a phone call, or just generally needed 10 minutes of quiet. She reached out as she hoped I could come up with the activities for her.

Come up with no-prep quiet time activities? YES. That is absolutely in my wheel-house.

No-prep, no mess quiet time activities for kids! These quiet moments are great for when you need 10 minutes! #quiettime #quietgames #busybags #preschoolactivities #toddleractivities #kidsactivities #howweelearn

I thought this idea was fabulous and something I could definitely use around my house. So I thought you might enjoy it too.

Preparing these “Quiet Moments in a Jar” is super simple. We went to the dollarstore and got a package of the big thick craft sticks. If you go in with blinders (or have more will power than I do) you might just leave that dollarstore spending only $1.

No-prep, no mess quiet time activities for kids! These quiet moments are great for when you need 10 minutes! #quiettime #quietgames #busybags #preschoolactivities #toddleractivities #kidsactivities #howweelearn

Next, I wrote down quiet time activities on the craft sticks. JeAnne really wanted the quiet activities to be things her children could do straight away with things in the house AND be mess free. This way the children can pull a craft stick out of the jar and do the quiet time activity all on their own, immediately. No muss, no fuss.

No-prep, no mess quiet time activities for kids! These quiet moments are great for when you need 10 minutes! #quiettime #quietgames #busybags #preschoolactivities #toddleractivities #kidsactivities #howweelearn

After the quiet activities were written on the craft sticks I just stuck them in a mason jar. I have also included these quiet activities here as a printable for you to make it even simpler! Just print off and glue them to the craft sticks if you prefer: Get your printable here.

You could even just cut the strips of paper, fold them up, and stick those in the jar if your prefer. They just won’t last as long.

No-prep, no mess quiet time activities for kids! These quiet moments are great for when you need 10 minutes! #quiettime #quietgames #busybags #preschoolactivities #toddleractivities #kidsactivities #howweelearn

Here are the No-Prep, No-Mess Quiet Time Activities:

  1. Measure a room with your hand
  2. Measure a room with your foot
  3. Measure a room with a book
  4. How many things in the house start with “B”
  5. How many things in the house rhyme with “cat”
  6. Make a rainbow: find something red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet
  7. Sort a deck of cards by colour
  8. Sort a deck of cards by suit
  9. Sort a deck of cards by number/letter
  10. Find a circle, square, rectangle, oval, diamond, can you find more?
  11. Create an animal out of LEGO
  12. Look out the window and write/draw everything you see
  13. Bird watch: how many birds can you see in 5 minutes?
  14. Read a book
  15. Do a puzzle
  16. Draw a picture of a …
  17. Play Scribble Art: draw a scribble, then turn it into an animal
  18. Put a post-it note on everything green you can find, then collect and count the post-it’s
  19. Find something that starts with ‘A’ then ‘B’ all the way to ‘Z’
  20. Find something as big as one hand, 2 hands, all the way to 10 handsFREE PRINTABLE! These quiet time activities for kids are absolutely NO Prep and NO Mess! Grab an idea and have 15 minutes of peace and quiet. BRILLIANT. #howweelearn #quiettime #kidsactivities #freeprintable #noprep #nomess #messfree #preschoolactivities #craftsforkids #kidscrafts #playideas #simple

There you have them friends! Print of theses quiet time activities (get your printable right here), or write them on craft sticks, pop them in a jar and you are set for little blocks of quiet time whenever you need them!

One of the things I love the most about this idea is that it helps children to begin to engage in an activity. Once little ones get engaged with an activity, they almost always continue and extend on that activity all on their own. So while these quiet time activities are short, more often then not they will lead to longer periods of quiet, independent play with all of the amazing benefits that offers little minds and bodies.

And if you are looking for more educational and simple quiet time activities for your little ones, be sure to check out my eBook:

A Year of Educational Quiet Bins: The secret to peaceful days at home with kids!

A year of quiet time activities planned! Little to no-prep and mess free!! Awesome quiet time activities for preschoolers.

Thank you JeAnne for this wonderful idea – and thank you friends for reading! I hope these quiet time activities are helpful to you.

xo
Sarah

No-prep, no mess quiet time activities for kids! These quiet moments are great for when you need 10 minutes! #quiettime #quietgames #busybags #preschoolactivities #toddleractivities #kidsactivities #howweelearn

Filed Under: All Ages, Quiet Time

« A Rolled Paper Rudolph!
Establishing a Rhythm after the Holidays! »

Comments

  1. Evelyn says

    January 17, 2019 at 10:59 pm

    Excellent idea! However, I was taught that we should teach children to use upper and lower case letters like what they will read in a book. Your craft sticks are all upper case letters. Parents/teachers should be aware of this when preparing. No need to make things harder than they need to be.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 22, 2019 at 7:57 pm

      Hi Evelyn,
      Thank you for your comment and you make a very valid point. It is a great idea to use upper/lowercase letters appropriately. Thank you for taking the time to comment!
      Sarah

      Reply
  2. Marcela Fontelles says

    January 20, 2019 at 8:00 am

    Hello!

    I am brazilian and english teacher.

    Your work is just amazing. I’m following the blog about an year and I love each activity!

    Keep doing this wonderful job.. God bless you!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      January 22, 2019 at 7:56 pm

      Thank you so much Marcela!

      Reply
  3. Susan D says

    August 5, 2019 at 12:41 am

    I’m making these now. Love! Now to keep it going. Ty!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      August 9, 2019 at 8:22 pm

      Great Susan! Pop back to let me know how it’s going – I’d love to hear

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 512 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, other. Drop file here

I'm Sarah, teacher turned homeschooling mom of 4, reading specialist, and curriculum creator. I share our adventures, crafts, and learning activities right here with you.

While you're here, grab my Learning Letters Starter Kit absolutely free! Teaching the letters in this special order allows reading to flow naturally.

Learning Letters Starter Kit: Get Your FREE Kit!
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
Step 1: Play into Kindergarten Readiness
Step 2: Kindergarten at Home
Step 3: Family Unit Studies
Step 4: Core Skills Coursebooks

Visit my Sponsor Oak Meadow

For every step of your journey
  • For Ages 2-3
  • For Ages 4-5
  • For Ages 6-7
  • For Ages 6-12
  • For All Ages

Shop Resources


Copyright © 2022 · How Wee Learn · Privacy Policy · designed by blogger boutique · Genesis Framework

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
9811 shares
  • 98