Rest Time Toys for Kids Who’ve Stopped Napping

Last week I detailed why and how I instituted a rest time when my oldest child stopped napping. Toys are a key part of this rest time.

My preschooler doesn’t have to sleep during rest time, but she does have to sit on her bed in her dimly lit room. As she sits there and relaxes, she may read books or play quietly with rest time toys. In today’s post, I’m going to describe what toys we’ve used for rest time.

General characteristics of good rest time toys

There are a lot of different toys that are suitable for rest time. Here are some characteristics of good rest time toys.

• Small or medium in size. Most children are going to sit on a bed or in a specific spot during rest time. Thus, large toys aren’t going to fit with them. You want toys that they can hold in their hands and manipulate without a lot of whole-body movement.
• Silent and free of flashing lights. Sirens, bells, flashing lights, and other attention-grabbing features don’t promote rest. It’s best to choose toys that are free of these so you keep the rest in rest time.
• Free of choking hazards. If you begin introducing rest time when your child is still young or if your child still places toys in his or her mouth, then you want to choose toys that don’t contain tiny pieces.
• Engaging. You don’t want your child to grow bored after playing with a toy for 5 minutes, so it’s best to choose toys that will hold his or her attention for the duration of rest time.
• Varied. Even if an individual toy is engaging, your child may grow bored with it if he or she plays with it during rest time each and every day. Therefore, it is beneficial to rotate through a few different rest time toys.

We reserve rest time toys for use during rest time alone. In other words, my girls can’t play with these toys throughout the day. They remain in a closet until rest time. This makes it so the toys seem new and exciting when I let my preschooler choose one to play with during rest time.

Rest time toys for 2-year-olds

As I noted last week, I began introducing rest time when my oldest daughter was just two. She would spend a few minutes having rest time before going down for nap. Here are the toys she played with at that time.

Flower Garden Build & Spin Playset

Magnetic Sketch Board
Beginner Wooden Pattern Blocks

Farm Animal Chunky Jigsaw

Rest time toys for 3-year-olds

As my oldest girl has grown older, her naps have nearly ceased and rest time has taken their place. Here are the toys she now uses during rest time.

Geometry Snowflakes

Story Box Farm

Magnetic Stacking Blocks
Mix ‘n Match Wooden Bear Puzzle

Lacing Cards

My husband and I didn’t go out and buy all of these toys in order to have them for rest time. We did buy a couple of them at discounted prices at consignments stores, but most of them were items that relatives gave to my girls as birthday or Christmas gifts. Look around before spending a lot of money on rest time toys—you may already have a number of toys that are suitable!

Do your kids have a rest time during which they read or play quietly? If so, what are their favorite rest time books and toys?

Shared at the following:

Modest Monday, Homemaking Linkup, and Tips and Tutorials.