preschooler

Quiet Activities for Preschoolers

Quiet activities for preschoolers- We just had a baby two weeks ago. Our other daughter, who is 4.5, sings from the moment she wakes up to the moment her head hits the pillow. She runs everywhere! She squeals when excited and loves to wrestle her Daddy. All of these things make me so happy and I love her excitement and joy for life. What I don’t love is feeling the need to shush her when the baby is sleeping in the room. I feel terrible, like I’m shushing her joy. I’ve come up with a roundup of our favorite ‘Quiet Activities for Preschoolers’ that she’s been enjoying the past couple of weeks.

quiet activities for preschoolers- DIY Mama

Quiet Activities for Preschoolers

Easy DIY Projects

Here is a list of easy, low prep DIY projects you and your husband can put together that your child can play alone.

10 Easy Busy Bags by Powerful Mothering: these are great because your child can easily see what’s inside the bag. With inexpensive supplies you could make tons of different learning and play activities.

busy bags quiet activities for preschoolers- diy mama

Block Puzzles Printable by All Our Days: I love this simple printable that you can print out to make block puzzles. Don’t have little blocks? Buy a pack of sponges at the dollar store and cut them up yourself!

Block Puzzles Printable- quiet activities for preschoolers- DIY Mama

Color Matching from The Rigneys: This is awesome because you can get free paint samples from any hardware store. Get a pack of clothespins and you’ve got a very inexpensive activity that uses matching and fine motor skills.

quiet activities for preschoolers- color matching- DIY Mama

Activities You Can Buy

Here is a list of activities you can buy at your local store or online at Amazon. There are affiliate links included.

Bananagrams Word Center by Bugs and Beaches: Use the popular game Bananagrams and these printables for your child to learn sight words.

bananagram- quiet activities for preschoolers- DIY Mama

Coloring books are perfect for this age group. Getting a book with stickers is even better! It helps with their concentration as well as their fine motor skills which leads to better grip for writing. Easily find Disney Coloring Books or coloring books with animals anywhere. Pair it with this ultimate crayon kit with 152 crayons and they’ll be set for a while!

coloring books- quiet activities for preschoolers- DIY Mama

Lego sets are now becoming even more kid friendly with smaller sets geared towards younger kids. Our daughter loves the LEGO Friends Set because she can open all of the packaging, separate the pieces and follow the instructions all by herself.

lego- quiet activities for kids- DIY Mama

Nature Shapes with No Time for Flash Cards: There are TONS of activities you could do with Play-Doh. Kids love seeing what shapes they can make with their toys, alphabet magnets or even things found in nature.

quiet time activities for preschoolers- play-doh

What other quiet time activities do you suggest for little kids to be engaged while you feed the baby, have some meditation time or just need a little quiet time?

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quiet activities for preschoolers

Summer Schedule for Your Preschooler

Summer schedule for your preschooler- This summer I wanted to try something different with my 4 year old Sophia. Because there will be a lot of change in our schedule with not going to school and the new baby being born in July, I wanted to have a weekly calendar we could loosely follow so she understands what to expect. During the school year she did well with knowing which days we were going to the YMCA (my work) vs. which days she had school so I had a simple calendar up on the fridge that she could check each morning. I do believe summers are for more freedom and play but I know that our daughter does very well with routine. She feels more confident when she knows what to expect throughout the week without having to ask us.

Summer Schedule for Your Preschooler

summer schedule for your preschooler easily made in Google sheets

For this weekly calendar I wanted to use it to work on her learning the order of the days of the week as well as be able to follow a chart with data. It printed on two pages so I cut it and taped it together to make one larger sheet. It was simple to make on Google Sheets and I am not posting this for download because these images are not mine to sell. I wanted to be able to give an example of how you can make your own to fit your family’s needs.

When I introduced this schedule to Sophia I let her know that nothing, other than the YMCA times, are set in stone. I let her know that the breakfast, snacks and activities are suggestions that we can change based on what she’s hungry for or what she wants to do. Of course she got excited to see the smoothie as a breakfast option and said she wanted to have that every morning for breakfast.

No TV During the Week

We are continuing with our ‘no TV’ rule during the week even though it’s summer because she is so creative and imaginative without the crutch of the TV. We have Friday Family Movie Night each week and we often will let her watch cartoons in the morning on Saturday and one more show or movie on Sunday while we work on a project. I did add computer time on this schedule because we bought the ABC Mouse learning game and want her to become familiar with using a mouse and figuring out computer games on her own. Once the school year begins we will add a few more advanced games to help with coding. You’ll notice that I made sure her chores were on the same day as the computer time and she is not allowed to get on the computer until she finishes them.

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Chores for Your Preschooler

We only have three chores listed on her summer schedule because the other ‘chores’ are expected. Folding and putting away her clean laundry, emptying all the trash bins and cleaning up all toys/books/crafts are the three chores she’s responsible for. She will not get allowance for these chores but will get to do fun activities if she completes them. TIP: schedule your children’s chores around your chores. We do all laundry on Sunday/Monday which is why I have it set for her to put all of her clothes away on Tuesday. I have her picking up all toys/books/crafts on Friday because that is the day I vacuum and need all floors picked up.

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