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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>what age for "blanket time"
mamamanda 04:00 AM 05-26-2015
I've started doing "blanket time" as a regular part of our day again. Basically for the half hour prior to lunch I put out a small blanket for each child and they get to choose 1 or 2 activities to keep on their blanket. It calms them down after playing outside all morning and it teaches them how to sit and play with something. I have a couple shelves for activities in a closet that are strictly for blanket time so that they are more exciting than other toys and everyone is doing well with it. My question is, How old do you think a child should be before realistically expecting them to stay on their blanket to play. All of my 3 and ups do fine with it and I put my own baby in the pack n play with a few special toys during this time, but my just turned 2 y.o. dcb just wanders around the whole time. I haven't really worked with him on this yet b/c he's so young and we just started doing this again last week, but I'd like to be able to allow my older preschoolers to use some activities with smaller pieces like legos that they love but can't have out around the babies. Of course that means this guy needs to stay in his own space b/c he still mouths everything. I'd like to encourage him to sit on a blanket with his own special activity during this time, but dont want to be unfair to him since he's so little. What do you think? Is he too young to start working on this? If so, can you think of something special I could have him do during this time? Thanks!
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cheerfuldom 05:03 AM 05-26-2015
It sounds like he isnt ready for this concept yet. I personally don't have an issue with setting him at the table in a booster seat with activities or in a high chair. If licensing allows that. and assuming he wont scream and freak out with it.
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Play Care 05:19 AM 05-26-2015
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
It sounds like he isnt ready for this concept yet. I personally don't have an issue with setting him at the table in a booster seat with activities or in a high chair. If licensing allows that. and assuming he wont scream and freak out with it.
This is exactly what I do with my younger kiddos. My licensing has said that as long as a meal is forthcoming, this is okay. And I've never had kids get too upset - I'm chatting with them, they have wooden spoons and small plates to
"help" etc.
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childcaremom 05:35 AM 05-26-2015
Originally Posted by cheerfuldom:
It sounds like he isnt ready for this concept yet. I personally don't have an issue with setting him at the table in a booster seat with activities or in a high chair. If licensing allows that. and assuming he wont scream and freak out with it.
This is what I do with this age group, as well. I have special table activities for them to do and they enjoy it.
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jenboo 06:14 AM 05-26-2015
I've done it with brand new twos. Took a few times to train them.
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