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5 Ways to Find 5 Minutes of Mum Time

5 Ways to Find 5 Minutes of Mum: Preschool Activity Ideas

Some days I find that I just need five minutes of quiet. Five minutes to sit. And drink a cup of tea. Five minutes without the “Mum, play with me,” or “Help me, Mum,” or simply, “MUUUUUUUMMMMM!!!!”

In order to create my five minutes of quiet I have a couple of fall back activities which are simple to pull together, require minimal input from me as they are reasonably independent for a toddler to complete, and are therefore perfect for five minutes of quiet Mum time out!

1. Tape: Cut off some lengths of masking tape or coloured electrical tape and line them up along the edge of the table. Add an assortment of small boxes, lids and cardboard rolls, and felt tipped pens, and invite your toddler to create. Whatever they like, however they like.  Similarly, a sheet of stickers works well for young toddlers. For older babies, loops of masking tape are fun to un-stick from the high chair tray.

5 Ways to Find 5 Minutes of Mum: Preschool Activity Ideas

2. Glue stick: I recently got through a 30+ minute conference call thanks to a brand new glue stick, some brown paper bags and a whole pile of little shapes and pictures. I love that glue sticks aren’t as messy as other forms of glue.

3. Washing: Toddlers and preschoolers love to wash up. Dishes in the sink. Toy animals, cars, dolls, or even dolls clothes, in a tub. Add a squirt of dishwashing liquid, a washcloth and a towel to lay the clean items on.

5 Ways to Find 5 Minutes of Mum: Preschool Activity Ideas

4. Sensory tub: Fill a shallow tub with rice, lentils, small pasta (or aquarium gravel or small decorative stones for older children). Add a funnel, measuring cups, plastic bottle and spoons and let your toddler or preschooler fill and pour til their heart’s content. Put down a large tablecloth on the floor and set the tub in the middle to help define a play area and minimise the mess.

5. Sorting (and threading): Present a small muffin tin or egg carton base and a collection of objects to sort – buttons, decorative stones, large colourful beads, shells, or small seedpods, flowers and leaves from the garden. Buttons or beads are our favourite; Immy will play with buttons for ages, whilst beads have the added bonus of encouraging sorting AND threading activity.

As a general rule, each of these activities will give me at least five minutes of relatively quiet play, and oftentimes much longer. My toddler is happy and engaged in an interesting activity and  I get a quiet moment of Mum time out to regroup and enjoy my cup of tea, enjoying the novelty of drinking it while it’s still hot!

What are your fallback activities for a little guaranteed quiet time?

You might also like:

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

Filed Under: Parenthood, Preschool Play, Toddler Play Tagged With: motherhood, preschoolers, toddler

Previous post: Mum 2 Mum: Cleaning House
Next post: Literacy Spot #3: Party Invitations

Read the comments or scroll down to add your own:

  1. sarah says

    January 16, 2011 at 2:29 PM

    I love all your ideas here Christie! Our favourites are: playdough with props (little plastic animals, cars, sticks, flowers, etc) a sheet of stickers and a scrapbook a pair of scissors and a magazine a basket of fabric scraps, yarn and other sewing supplies to explore 'sewing' or threading objects with needle and yarn - leaves, paper with holes punched in, little squares of old knitted or open weave fabric, penne pasta. We hang these from the ceiling of our stairwell and change them over seasonally. I'd forgotten how much fun washing up can be - I suppose because I see it as such drudgery but kids do actually love it!
  2. SquiggleMum says

    January 16, 2011 at 8:43 PM

    I do numbers 1, 2 and 3 regularly!! I also find an empty tissue box is good for younger toddlers. They love "posting" things into the top, and you can cut a hole in the bottom for easy removal of items ready to repost again.
  3. Eleanor says

    January 19, 2011 at 6:05 PM

    These are great ideas and so similar to my own! I do a plastic tub of water with all different sized cups and a watering can in our courtyard. Water goes everywhere but it certainly keeps my little guy happy!
  4. Krystal says

    January 20, 2011 at 4:48 AM

    We do "washing up" all the time. My boys love it. I have also found that ping pong balls and empty spice containers will entertain my toddler for awhile. My boys are also really into cars, so if I make them a masking tape town on the carpet, they'll drive their toy cars around for at least five minutes.
  5. Marita says

    January 23, 2011 at 9:51 AM

    Great ideas, I find any kind of water play will get me 5-10 minutes of peace. As my girls get older books are another great distraction, Heidi gets her tag reader pen and books and reads to her toys while Annie will research in her non-fiction books and write up papers to help 'teach' Heidi new things.
  6. Julia Deering says

    January 24, 2011 at 1:43 AM

    And of course NEVER let on the real reason why we've set up such a lovely activity - otherwise they'll never give us a chance to get that cuppa! You've listed some great ideas for activities that encourage them to find their flow... washing up is a great favourite in our house. Or as my Nana calls it 'ploutering about' in the water (Scottish). Our other favourites include me setting out one or two toys - just the garage and cars, or the fairy-boot house with characters - something they've not had out for a while. Or just our collection of balls or balloons or bubbles (outside), old copies of children's magazines with felt tips and scissors, or our Miscellaneous Plastiques Box (full of all the random toys from stocking fillers, presents, freebies with magazines etc) - they love sorting through those and it often leads to them setting up a General Store - and a good game of shops.
  7. Steph at Modern Parents Messy Kids says

    February 2, 2011 at 10:26 AM

    Thanks for the fabulous ideas... really can't wait to try them!! Sorting is on my list of activities to introduce and I posted on the "diggers and dumpers" sensory box I made for my 2 yr old's Christmas here: http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2001/01/entertain-your-kids-and-get-stuff-done.html

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  1. Sponsor Meet & Greet: Childhood 101. « Li'l Magoolie says:
    February 2, 2011 at 3:23 AM
    [...] as this is a conundrum I’m facing right now and I’m currently taking a leaf out of her “5 ways to find 5 minutes of Mum time” post! I also find the comments from other Mums helpful as it’s good to hear how other Mums [...]
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