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Quiet Time Bins

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Quiet Time Bins Activities

Quiet Time Bins for Kids

My toddler is now 2 and 1/2 years old. Her nap time seems to be pushing further back in the day. I need something to keep her occupied and quiet for a few minutes a day – just for her to calm down and hopefully, fall asleep. Not to mention, with two little ones, I need a small window of time to regain my sanity and to build up strength to continue on.

What is a Quiet Bin?

You may be wondering what is a quiet bin or what is a quiet time kit. A quiet bin is simply a bin of activities that a child can do quietly and independently.

How do You Make a Quiet Time Box

After searching the web for quiet time activities and becoming overwhelmed by the vast amount of ideas that are out there, I decided to come up with my own. I had even pinned stuff on Pinterest but just could not find the time to sit down and figure them out. I decided to go to Walmart and Dollar Tree to find some stuff.

I use the term quiet loosely because I do not think my daughter fully understands the idea behind the quiet time bins, yet. For example, one of her bins contains some blocks (see them below). She dumped them all out on a noisy table and started playing with them…… In addition, life has been pretty hectic around here lately, so we have not been consistent with these. We kind of pull one out and use it whenever we feel like it.

Here are our bins and what’s in them – we went ahead and labeled them with the days of the week and the items in them. In addition we added 2 or 3  miscellaneous bins day. As you will see, we have quiet a bit of color sorting. Hey, at least she is learning her colors.

Daily Quiet Time Bin Ideas for Toddlers and Small Kids

Sunday: Minnie Mouse Jigsaw Puzzle and Monkey Math

Monkey Math: Last year, someone was having a garage sale and gave us this. Each banana has a number. The idea is to place them in each hand on the monkey until they balance out. For example – the number 5 may be placed on one hand. Then on the other hand, the numbers 3 and 2 which equals 5. Of course, learning to add is far away for such a little toddler, but at least she can have fun playing with them.

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Monday: Popsicle molder color match up and Sight Words Game

I am not really a big fan of the Dollar Store kitchen stuff (I think they are just too cheap), but I saw those popsicle molds and wanted to try them out making popsicles. When we got home she started playing with them, taking the tops off, matching the colors, and then placing them back on the molds. I immediately thought, “forget about making popsicles”, we will just use them for a quiet bin. I had bought 2 different kinds. She likes using the ones on the right.

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The sight words – I believe I found a pack of 3 different games at the Dollar Tree. I decided to add one to a few different bins. It would be nice to get them laminated for longer usage.

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Tuesday: Animal puzzle and Shapes and Colors game (See instructions for making the Animal puzzles here).

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Wednesday: Pom pom color sorting

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I found these little serving bowls at the Dollar Tree. Then I labeled the different colors on construction paper and attatched them with tape to each bowl.

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The black pom poms scared my daughter so I had to remove them and replace them with another color from the pastel pack.

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Thursday:  50 piece wooden ABC blocks by Melissa and Doug

Some of our friends, the Godoys, gave this to my daughter for her 1st birthday. Their family blog can be found here.

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Friday: Macaroni pasta color sorting – see my instructions here

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 I found these little Sure Fresh Bowls at the Dollar Tree, too

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I wrote the colors in English and Spanish on coordinating construction paper. Then I attached them with tape to the bottom of the bowls. They are fully covered in clear tape to protect the labeling.

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Saturday: Numbers and Letters on a magnetic white board (see my post on this here) and ABC’S game

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Miscellaneous bins

Pattern Blocks by Melissa and Doug (Once again, given to my kid by the Godoys for her second birthday). These are double sided.

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And last but not least, one of my favorite creations: Rigatoni pasta bead thread. See my instructions on how to make it here. Why do I have it as miscellaneous? Because both my daughter and I love it so much, we can use it almost all the time:)

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For more ideas on quiet time bins, visit these sites:

Jenae @ icanteachmychild.com

April @ holistichomemaking.com

Crystal @ moneysavingmom.com

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3 thoughts on “Quiet Time Bins

  1. These are super fun activities! Thanks for sharing another posts in my Little Luxuries linky party. I haven’t tried doing any quiet time bins activities for my daughter but I’ll try this!

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