When I taught preschool, I always seemed to have one or two children who wouldn't sleep. My rule was that the first 30-45 minutes was quiet time for everybody. I used that time frame because I knew that in that time period, the children who were going to sleep would be sleep by then. And after 45 minutes or so, the children who were still awake were likely the ones who were not going to nap anyway.For your classroom it may be a different time frame - use your judgement. I kept shoe boxes filled with quiet activities that children could take to their cots. I normally kept 4-5 of these boxes in the closet and I would mix up the contents occasionally. Some items to include:
- Books (consider adding books that are not normally on your bookshelf every day - books that the children have never seen before)
- Magazines (I kept a supply of Your Big Backyards)
- Soft puzzles (like these from S &S)
- A small bag (I used little felt bags because they were more quiet than paper bags and less dangerous than plastic bags) with a few maniplulatives inside (interlocking stars, legos, etc)
- Small notebook and a few crayons
- Flannel "board" (made by attaching a piece of felt to a file folder) and felt pieces.
- Puppets
- Laminated sheets of blank tagboard, tissue, and dry erase markers (to make an individual dry-erase board)
- Lacing Cards or large beads to string
- Peg boards
I would decorate the outside of 4-5 shoe boxes (and add 3-4 activities to each box) and let the non-sleepers take one to their cots. It helps keep the non-sleepers occupied and quiet! The trick is to keep changing up the items inside to keep them busy and happy!
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