Screen Free Quiet Time Ideas that Encourage Independent Play

We made it a long time. We really did. But, my daughter Lisa, at four and a half years old, is officially done with taking a nap during the day. I am now presented with the new challenge of what to do with a preschooler for 2-3 hours while my other two children are (hopefully) taking a nap at that same time. I need to come up with some great quiet time ideas that encourage independent play. I need her to have this quiet time because nap time is usually one of the blocks of time during the day that I spend on the computer blogging and working on my business (as well as numerous other things, like napping, showering, eating lunch finally, making phone calls, and so on). And, she just needs a downtime herself, and I, a downtime from her cuteness.

But, I don’t want to allow her just to watch a movie everyday, or play on the iPad (even if on a educational or quasi-educational app) the whole time either. First, it’s not really fair to her twin sister if she gets to watch a movie while she sleeps or have uninhibited access to the iPad. Plus, I don’t want her glued to a screen everyday for a few hours. My kids may watch one movie a day, and I would prefer it to be when all my children are awake, not giving special treatment to the non-napper. Also, when I have given her the iPad, she seems to think she needs it all the time, everyday, and frequently outside of quiet time hours. It’s obnoxious. And I’m having none of that.

So, I usually tell her some quiet activity she can do. I give my preschooler daughter the option of looking at some books from the library by herself, coloring/drawing, painting, doing a puzzle, or playing with Play-Doh. I also throw out the option of just playing upstairs in the playroom by herself, but she doesn’t usually pick that one for whatever reason. But, those are about the only options I have for her, well, other than sometimes when I tell her she can clean something, help me with taking out the trash, get the mail with me, or just play outside. Sometimes I’ll read books to her, or do some art with her, but pretty much everyday, she still comes over to me as I’m working and asks, “What should I do now?” It’s her polite way of saying “I’m bored.”

Which is why I asked some of my blogging friends (and Facebook fans – are you following me there? You should be!) what they recommend, or if they had written about a project or craft they set up for their kids. Here are some of the great ideas I got that don’t involve a screen.

Screen Free Quiet Time Ideas

Betsy of Betsy’s Photography said that for her toddler’s quiet time, her son often goes to his room and “reads.” But, if quiet time in the bedroom won’t work, they try a corner of the living room, complete with a comfy kid chair, or floor pillows, and a basket of books. A change of scenery can often be enough of a change to engage them for longer. If he’s not in a mood to read, they also have an arts and crafts bin as he enjoys unstructured crafting time. Finally, depending on the weather, she may bring in some snow (or nature items) and let her son play with them in a sensory tray.

Over on the website Learn With Play At Home, Debs shared four great posts with me on some great quiet time activities to try! I really think the “Busy box” or “Quiet Box” would be helpful and encourage some unique crafts, I’m sure! And if my son is asleep, I won’t mind her playing with these things, because he won’t be messing with them and eating or using them inappropriately. (Click on the picture to be taken to the corresponding post.)

I loved the suggestion I received from Danya of Danya Banya. They absolutely love long audio books in their house, borrowing them mainly from the library (aka for free!).  They do this because the quiet time activities that would normally only entertain her active 4.5 year old for about 10 minutes could then be stretched out to an hour bliss, as long as she is listening to a chapter book at the same time!  

Amy of Wildflower Ramblings does something similar, in that she gets Books on CD/tape. She wrote about how it all works in this post. In other post she explains how she put together her own quiet time box ideas.

Mom Inspired Life created an entire literacy learning station for her preschooler to get him to work during quiet times, that she explains in her post:

Valerie from Occasionally Crafty says her five year old builds with LEGO Duplos or even regular LEGOs, colors in his Color Wonder books (so she doesn’t have to worry about any mess), or plays with toys. She has them sorted by type, so on different days she pulls out a different bucket. They feel newer that way. She also has a box of easy puzzles and a few single player “games” like Castle Logix he can do on his own. Valerie spent time teaching her kids when they were younger that during quiet time, they must stay in their rooms and play quietly with the door closed. She says it’s been a huge help. {Affiliate Links}

 If your child likes to play with LEGOs, then you will probably enjoy this post from Epic Fun For Kids, on how she both scores some cheaper LEGOs, and taught her son some basic building skills over a month’s time, so he could then build and play independently more efficiently, especially by using “interesting” blocks and pieces.

Jamie of Hands On As We Grow has a great post with even more quiet time ideas for preschoolers like setting up weaving stations, photo block building and others!

Another great idea is to just let your preschooler play outside during quiet time, assuming it is safe to do so, and weather permits. Outside they can play in your outdoor water table, or sand box, or trampoline, swing set, go for a bike ride, or whatever. Being outside gives a lot of options, even without lots of equipment!: collecting acorns, making leaf piles, playing in the snow, mud, or puddles. These simple outdoor activities can be very delightful and engaging for quiet, independent play for preschoolers.

A few other quiet time ides for preschooler would be playing with dolls and tea sets. But, honestly, having them do a chore or two is a pretty great idea too.

What are your screen free solutions for quiet time? How do you encourage independent play so that quiet time last longer than 15 minutes?