Quiet Time activities can be a daunting task to come up with when you have non-sleepers in your class. The daily tasks for teachers can seem like a never-ending list of to-do’s. Even the most seasoned teacher doesn’t plan for that one child who never wants to fall asleep or in preschool is outgrowing their naptime earlier than the rest. I have just the resources that you need. I have many activities that range from tracing skills to fine motor activities.
In most cases, we know what we need to do to make this time of day easier but find we lack the time to make the magic happen. Creating activities that will be engaging and educational for nap time or other quiet times throughout the day might be a challenge to some. I have made this easy and with a little work on your side.
Pattern Activities for Preschool
When I think of quiet time activities that can be used during nap time I think of pattern activities for preschool. Patterns can take time to teach and the possibilities of pattern combinations can aid in the complexity of the skill. These pattern activities focus on simple patterns such as AB, ABC, and more. Learning pattern skills can also be a life skill for the future, such as teaching sequence skills of a story or following directions to complete a task.
Teaching patterns can be fun and when we add manipulatives that children like, it can make it easy to teach this foundational skill. Some manipulatives that work well with patterns are popsicle sticks, pony beads, chain links, and pom poms. I like using a variety of manipulatives to help provide children with a variety of options and each item uses various hand skills to create the pattern. The beads can go on a pipe cleaner to help see the pattern, and linking the chains together works on hand-eye coordination. I like to use colored popsicle sticks of varying sizes to make the patterns. These are just a few examples of the manipulatives you can use to teach patterns and work on fine motor skills.
Playdough Activities
Children love playdough activities they are the most time-consuming quiet time activities to include. Most children love free play with playdough. We can use playdough to help build hand strength and problem-solving skills.
We can learn letters, shapes, and numbers, when we are creating them with playdough it keeps children engaged and promotes brain permanence with these skills. Children learn many skills such as; rolling the playdough and then forming lines to make the letters, shapes, or numbers on the task cards. This can also aid in handwriting skills in the future. Playdough activities can seem like fun and games however; when used in a class this material can help build vital skills that keep children engaged in educational activities.
Pre writing activities for preschool
Most young children can use all of the pre writing activities for preschool to practice their handwriting skills. Prewriting skills can include tracing lines to free play with various writing media for exploration. Some of my favorite writing tools for preschool are dry-erase markers and highlighters. Dry-erase markers allow children to practice writing without feeling that they made a mistake. Highlighters are fun and not usually an option plus then children can go over the highlighted lines with a pencil. Some pre writing activities for preschool include tracing letters, numbers, and various lines.
Quiet Activities
Finding good quality quiet time activities that meet developmental skills can be challenging to even the most resourceful teachers. These activities can also be used as a reward for those who need a reinforcer to follow directions and expectations.
The downfall of file folder activities is that they can’t hold a non-napper’s attention span for a successful naptime.
Pre-K Task Boxes
Do you want to learn more about Quiet time activities? Click the image below to learn more about the activities in this post. The quiet time activities product includes all the activities discussed in this post. Do not let another nap time disaster hit your class this year.
Additional Resources:
25 Quiet Time Activities for kids
