For example, if you're at home, you might ask your child to come and sit near you, away from toys or other children. This gives your child a break from other people or activities, as well as a short consequence for their behaviour. Quiet time works well outside your home too.
Quiet time is a short period of the day that your child (and you!) spend doing independent and quiet activities. Your child can spend this in their room or play area, wherever they have books and quiet toys.
6-7 years old: 30 to 40-minutes of quiet time (you can start with a 15-minute quiet time and build up to 30 to 40-minutes) 8 years old and up: 45-minutes to one hour of quiet time (you can start with a 30-minute quiet time and build up to 45-minutes to an hour)
4-6 years old – 30-40 minutes of quiet time alone.
Check in with your child every 15 minutes or so for the first few days. Set a timer so they can see how much longer quiet time will last. Be sure set them up with a quiet activity before leaving them alone.
How long should quiet time be? Ideally, quiet time should last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. When you start to implement quiet time, start with a 15-minute time increment and work your way up. As you probably know, children thrive off of a consistent and predictable routine.
20-24 month olds should attend to an activity by themselves, or with an adult for 3-6 minutes. 25-36 month olds can typically pay attention to an activity for 5-8 minutes. 3-4 year olds should be able to attend to an activity for 8-10 minutes.
Some kids may love quiet time so much, you may have a hard time getting them to stop playing on their own once they've started! I recommend anywhere from 1 to 2 hours of quiet time.
When should I introduce quiet time for my child? Ideally, your child would continue napping until at least 3 years of age and then once that nap was disappearing, you would start to introduce quiet time (more on how to do this below). I caution you not to introduce quiet time too early though.
Average Attention Span by Age Group
3 years old: 6-8 minutes. 4 years old: 8-12 minutes. 5-6 years old: 12-18 minutes.
The child may need extra validation from their parents. They might need practice at having face-to-face conversations. Since their thumb is often glued to their phone these days, advocate for less screen time. Preference for solitude can also indicate that she's introverted.
Quiet time gives children a chance to process, organize, and synthesize new information. This helps deepen their learning. Time resting, but awake, helps kids solidify the things they've learned throughout the day. Quiet time provides an opportunity for this solidification to occur.
There could be a variety of reasons why a child is quiet within a children's setting, including selective mutism, being shy, and English being their second language.
Make the first quiet time very short so they trust you and feel okay about it (if they are engrossed in play, quietly stand near their door and wait for them to look up. Let them know that they may join you when they feel ready but let them know there is no rush. Gradually add on 5 minutes at a time.
The length of quiet time can range anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending upon the child. Proper use of quiet time can actually make your late afternoon and evening activities more pleasant, as well as helping with bedtime.
Quiet Hours means between the hours of 10:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M. on any day.
Quiet time replaces nap time in the afternoon. In quiet time, a child plays with low-key toys or activities and takes a (safe) little break to reset for the rest of the day. Quiet time is just as crucial as nap time – to kids and caregivers.
On average, children are able to sit at the table for 2 to 5 minutes per year of life. For example, a 3-year-old can sit still for 6 to 15 minutes, a 5-year-old can sit still for 10 to 25 minutes, and by around age 7, children can sit still for about 15 to 35 minutes.
3-year-olds: 5–10 minutes. 5-year-olds: 15 minutes. 7-year-olds: 25 minutes. 10-year-olds: 40 minutes.
Let's start with understanding the developmentally appropriate expectations for a child to play independently. Many children between the ages of 2-4 are able to keep their attention on a task for up to a half-hour. Kids between 5-7 can often focus longer, up to an hour or more on their own.
Finding moments of silence can have significant psychological and mental health advantages and give you a greater sense of peace. With all of the constant noise you hear on a day-to-day basis, embracing silence can help stimulate your brain and help you process information.
In a nutshell: “children will autism live with extensive external stresses and they need quiet time” – to regulate and flourish. Quiet time can be 10 or 15 minutes in each 60 minute cycle or 5 minutes in every 30 minute cycle – depending on your individual child.
Talking: What to expect when
By age 3, your child will probably have words for almost everything. And by age 4, he'll talk in sentences using five or more words, though his vocabulary will vary widely. He'll also be able to answer simple questions and mimic adult sounds well enough for most strangers to understand him.
Research shows, though, that quiet time has huge benefits for her developing brain. Most childcare programs include a “quiet time” in their schedules for this reason; even if your toddler doesn't nap, she can take advantage of the peace and calm by sitting quietly, snuggling a stuffed animal, and looking at a book.
Quiet time can be as long or as short as you want. I recommend a minimum of 20 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours. If necessary, you can start shorter and build up to something longer. Especially if your child is having quiet time out in the open, some type of visual marker can be helpful.