What Are Some Good Ways to Start "Quiet Time"?

Sometimes when my son doesn't want to take a nap but really needs quiet time, I put on the radio softly in the living room, and put him on the couch with all his favorite blankets and his pillow. More often than not he falls asleep for a little while. If not, then he reads a book or plays with a small toy while I move around the house doing things. Works pretty well.

I just told my son that if he tried to sleep for 10 minutes (I would check on him) and couldn't, then he could have quiet time. That meant he stayed in his room, could look at books, play lego, playmobil, other quiet toys or games. We did 1-1/2 hours (same as his nap which used to go 1-1/2 to 2 hours, boy do I miss naps) and told him when quiet time was done. I thought it would be a challenge to convince him about quiet time but he simply accepted it. He did not try to come out or ask me to play with him during quiet time.

I just started letting my DD pick three books to take to bed with her, and put a coloring book and crayons on her bedside table. I set a timer for one hour in the kitchen, and tell her she can get up and play again when I come get her when it goes off. The rule is that she HAS to stay in bed during this time. If she was sleeping, I typically let her wake up on her own, unless it was getting late enough to interfere with bedtime.

I allow her to do anything she wants, as long as she can do it sitting in bed quietly... Which is quite limiting. Lol. I like that though, because I kind of prefer that she gets a little bored.... It makes actually falling asleep more likely, and if she doesn't sleep she is learning to quietly entertain herself. Win win. :)

I would find a good lullabye CD of a CD of soothing music or you could make a playlist on Pandora or your IPod. Put her in her room and in her bed and turn the CD on. Tell her quiet time ends when the CD is over. Give her a basket of things she can do on her bed. Give her books to read, a coloring book and crayons, a few of those wooden puzzles. Quiet things. Tell her she can play with them QUIETLY as long as she stays quiet and stays on her bed. If she gets rowdy or keeps getting up the music turns off and nap time commences. I always liked audio books that my kids could listen to with headphones.

My son can play quietly in his room or the playroom upstairs. He can play with whatever he wants, as long as it's quiet. He'll play with legos, cars, he'll write or draw (he is in 1st grade) and sometimes he even plays board games against himself. He doesn't have access to any screens. He started right after he turned 5 and dropped his nap. Depending on our plans for the day, quiet time is usually 60 - 90 minutes. He can tell time, so I just tell him when he's allowed to come down. If your daughter knows her numbers, you can tell her something like "you can come out when the first number on the clock is a 3." Otherwise, get an alarm, or just tell her you'll come get her when it's over.

id say read a book or do some coloring. just something low key.

I tell mine that they need to lay in their bed until the clock says XXX (with that time being about 20 minutes later). If they are still awake at that time, they can play quietly in their room until their music CD is over (the CD is 1 hour long). Often they will fall asleep, and if they don't, they have at least had 1 hour of down time.

I don't put any restrictions on what they can do after the 20 minutes is up. If they can lie in bed without their eyes going shut for 20 minutes, probably they are not really that tired.

I used to just have them go in their room, close the shades and turn the lights off. I set a timer and said they are to stay in there until the timer goes off. They can play, nap, read as long as it's quiet. Worked fine at our house. Funny that now that my kids are 9 & 6 we have an unspoken quiet time, which actually turned into "me time". So everyone does their own thing.

Picture books, jigsaw puzzles, art materials and a timer so that your little one can see how much time has passed/is left.
My daughter now prefers to read or play in her room for 20 min. It's just enough time for me to breathe and hear myself think.

At four they can understand the concept of quiet time.
I wouldn't make her lay down, but I would sit and read a story or two, tell her she needs to play quietly in her room (she can look at books, do puzzles, play with dolls or blocks or whatever.) No TV or electronics, unless she likes to sit quietly and watch a DVD? My daughters didn't like that so much but my son did. He often crashed on the couch after preschool with a PBS kids video (didn't sleep but he rested!)
Use a timer if you think it will help, but once it becomes a routine it's not too hard, she'll get used to it.
And make sure you're getting stuff done throughout the day too. Kids shouldn't need you to be constantly entertaining them, at four she should be fairly good at independent play, so encourage that.

They watch TV in this house. I love it now that they can control all the remotes without any help. I get truly left alone every afternoon. It's great! And there is no mess!

Since they don't go to school, they have lots of opportunities to play quietly all day long, and I love my 2 hours to myself, especially when baby sleeps the whole time.

When my kids were younger and each was in Preschool, which they attended for 1/2 days part-time... they both napped once we got home. It was not forced naps and they needed it and knew it.

Then, when my older child for example, outgrew naps, then it was quiet time, while her younger brother napped in the afternoon.
How?
I just said "afternoons are quiet time... and brother is napping. It is quiet time for Mommy too."
And that's it.
My daughter understood.
She was 4 at the time. My son was just born etc.
And it was fine.
Afternoons were quiet time.
No "method" or formula to it.
But on days when even my eldest was tired, she would nap, too, if she needed it. And she would do so after school.

I did not use TV for quiet time. I did not confine them to their rooms for quiet time.
Quiet time for us, even me, was just spent anywhere in the house, as long as it was quiet, things. And whispering.
My kids could do what they wanted, as long as it was quiet, things.
And as far as "signaling" that quiet time is over.... it does not have to be complicated. You just tell your kids "quiet time is over."
That's it.
It doesn't require methods or gadgets or anything complicated.
It just takes, you as the Mommy, telling your child. And then, having a daily routine, about it.
Both my kids, KNEW the afternoon routine.
Because it was a routine.

Mine dropped the nap at 2.
There is no way my 4 YO would do quiet time, ha!
They go, go, go all day.

I sent him to a preschool that's all day because there they have some downtime at least (with low lights and stuff). At home he would not go for that, but at school, the structure, etc. makes it work. He does not sleep, just rests.

At age 2 the child would be pretty tired and did watch more TV than usual. I wasn't going to fight a screaming kid for a nap, so some vegging was fine.

I always told my children they could play, they could read (one read second grade books by 4, the other just looked at pictures), they could nap - it didn't matter what they did, but for one hour, they were going to entertain themselves quietly in their room. I would go get them, and yes... sometimes it'd be a little bit longer than an hour if they were especially tired or it was an especially exhausting day...

Quiet time was tv time in our house. It was really the only time they had tv during the day anyway. They sat on the sofa and usually I would put on a movie. Sometimes, if they were tired they might fall asleep, but usually they sat quietly and watched the movie while I went about my housework and cooked supper.

I would turn everything off all TVs, computers and any other noise makers. Turn on, on low volume soft music. Have the children sit on couch or crib, chair with color book or read, I too would join in on the sit-ins. This also help train them, for libraries, theaters and church, weddings when they need to be quiet.

We have "rest time" instead of nap time (when he hears the dreaded "nap" things don't go well). I let him pick out a half dozen books or so, read one to him and then leave the lights on low enough that he can sleep if he wants to or look at the books if he doesn't. My son is 2.5 and naptime had been a nightmare, once we started this routine he actually falls asleep more often, and if he doesn't he still gets at least an hour of quiet time (as do I). I'm not a fan of using the TV for quiet time, it's been shown that screen time actually gets kids more riled up than restful even though they are technically sitting still.

Unless you are sitting in the room with her she's not going to be quiet. She'll need to be in the same room with you. She's going to get up and play toys, come find you every 5 minutes, etc....

Your kiddo is going to be taking a nap in kindergarten if she goes to public school. A lot of schools still have them taking a nap after Christmas break. So I'd really work hard to keep her napping.

My kids can do whatever they want during "quiet time" but they are older. We still take it when we need it though.

Even when they were younger, they could go to the basement and play, watch a movie, play on the computer, read a book, do a puzzle, whatever they wanted to as long as it was something they could do alone and it was quiet.

Quiet time was an hour in our house. Often times the kids would fall asleep, but 20 minutes just wasn't enough to get them to fall asleep.I would go get them at the end of the hour and if they were asleep, I'd let them stay sleeping.