I will never forget when Olivia and Charlie stopped napping (it was around the same time). I pretty much panicked if I’m being honest. I NEED that time each day to myself just to unwind and think…alone. So I decided that it would be easier to actually have some time alone if I plan out something for them to do each day during their rest time which starts at 1pm when Hayes and Vivi lay down for a nap.
I am in no way saying that they don’t ever watch a show during this time, but I try (key word is try) to keep their shows to no more than two a day. They seem to play together better when they watch less TV, and I just like for them to be doing activities or playing outside most of the time if I can help it. So- I came up with a list of some of our favorite rest-time activities to rotate through. Most of the time I choose for them, but some days I let them each do their own thing.
We got these light up geometry light up activity boards for Christmas from Lakeshore. If you have never checked out that site, I highly encourage you to do so. They have so so many neat activities geared toward learning. The kids love them and will play with them forever. Even Hayes enjoys playing putting the shapes on the board when it’s lit up.
Another thing we like to do during rest time is cook. Now this one does require some help from me, but sometimes I will do my part ahead of time and let them come in to complete their part before I actually put anything in the oven. They love to make their own pizzas, homemade bread, fruit salad, no bake cookies, etc. Charlie’s school curriculum comes with a recipe each week so they love to do that together, and a lot of times it’s just easier when Hayes is napping.
My kids all love to paint, but the one time I thought I would be super mom and let them all paint (including Hayes), we all ended up in the tub before 3 pm, and Hayes ate too much paint and ended up with a tummy ache. The paint was nontoxic, but still- it was a disaster. So- with that being said, we do our painting when he naps for now. I will set it all up for them, and we have some cafeteria trays that we use to contain it so no big messes.
They also love to draw so we keep markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc. handy for them. We have a wooden IKEA table top paper holder and drawing paper that we can roll out and tape to the table for them that makes for easy clean-up as well. Anything drawing-related is usually a big hit especially for Olivia. She loves to draw and as Charlie gets older he does too.
Another cool thing they love are Magnatiles. They are little magnets in different shapes that they build different things with. We received them as a gift a while back, but they love to sit and build different things with them. I actually need to order more because we are missing quite a few.
Both of them LOVE books. We haven’t started teaching Charlie to read, but Olivia is almost there. They will sit and look at books together quietly so we set up a bookshelf downstairs with plenty of books that they can reach for easy access. I can’t wait for Olivia to get better with her reading so she can read to Charlie. I know he will love that so much. Some favorites for them right now are the Usborne Shine-A-Light books. They use a flashlight to see the “secret” pictures on each page so it keeps them entertained even when they aren’t quite reading.
One of my favorite things for them to do each day is get plenty of outside play time for a few reasons. The main one is I love seeing them out there playing and imagining together. I can remember doing this exact same thing as a kid. The other reason is that they honestly have a need to burn off some energy each day. Once they go outside and breathe in some fresh air and exert themselves, they aren’t bouncing off my walls inside and they rest better at night.
They each got some puzzles for Christmas (even Hayes) so this is a fun activity they can do together. Olivia is more into it than Charlie right now, but that’s ok. If she wants to do a puzzle and he doesn’t, I find something else for him to do like the Magna-Doodle. He seems to enjoy that more than Olivia anyway so this works out well. We got some really neat puzzles from Fat Brain Toys so I will link that here.
We all love a good board game and thankfully they will sit and play one together. I keep them in a cabinet where they can reach them so they can take them out, but also- so they can pick them up and put them away when they are finished. Some favorites are Checkers, Guess Who, and Sneaky Squirrel.
Play-Dough is a huge hit around our house. They have some little cookie cutter tools that they use with it so we pull out the cafeteria trays to help contain the mess. These IKEA trays on Amazon are so cute and have been a necessity for most crafts. They will sit and do this for hours, and I usually have to force them to put it away when it’s time.
Ok so this one really surprised me, but they have really gotten into foam blocks. We normally do this when Hayes is awake so it’s not technically a rest time activity at our house, but it takes up so much time that it totally could be. We like the foam ones that aren’t loud when they get knocked over.
The last one I’m going to talk about is some good ol’ pipe cleaners and wooden beads. They enjoy making their own bracelets so much and usually make and pass them out to the rest of us too. They call them their friendship bracelets, which is really sweet. This is really good for their fine motor skills too.
I hope this helps you in finding some fun stuff for your littles to do when they decide to stop napping. I tried to link as much of the items as I could. Let me know any other nap activity ideas that you have in the comments!
