Game Time / Quiet Time

It has been a long time since O has napped, but honestly I still need the break in the afternoon even if she doesn't.  So what's a mama to do?  Well, there are the old stand bys like books, quiet activity books (we have 2 of these and they work for O sorta...sometimes), she listens to audio books, and then occasionally (like once every three months) she actually naps.  Here are a few more things she enjoys doing.....

First up it's called Mighty Mind.  It is almost like pattern blocks, but not quite.  We have those too, but O plays with the Mighty Mind game differently.  The set we have comes with cards, that tell her which pieces she needs to make the shadow shape.  This game is great for dexterity, sorting, and cognitive development.  When young children do puzzles like this they are using logic and problem solving skills that they are not using when they are watching television.

Next are just regular old puzzles.  She loves her princesses.

Look at the expression!  Yikes! She does not love me taking photos during her quiet time.

 Memory is also a fun game that takes concentration and memory recall.  Again great for cognitive development.

Some other fun quiet time activities that we do (that I didn't take pictures of because in all reality it is rather distracting to O) are:

 Color Sudoku (we use a 4X4 grid, and we made our own, but this site has some you can just print out), 

coloring (usually with plain paper and something like crayons or pencils, less messy things), 

stickers,  

light table with salt in it,