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Quiet Boxes

We have snack time every day and each child brings their own snack and obviously eats their snack at their own pace. The time right after snack, when some children are still eating but others have finished, used to be tricky. It was hard to keep the chaos at bay. Now, I create Quiet Boxes. Each child has a Quiet Box under their cubby and each week I shift the Quiet Boxes so that each child gets the opportunity to try every Quiet Box before the end of the year. So, when a students finishes their snack and cleaning up, they walk over and pull out the Quiet Box that is under their cubby and play with the contents until every child is finished with their snack. I have a couple of guidelines with Quiet Boxes that I have found helpful maintaining order. Students are required to only play with their own Quiet Box, not a friend's. Also, students must play quietly. If they are not interested in their Quiet Box, they are allowed to draw in their journal or look at a book instead, again as long as they are quiet.
Quiet Boxes include activities such as:
*pattern blocks
*buttons and pipe cleaners
*cotton balls and tweezers
*magnets
*linking cubes
*popsicle sticks with Velcro on the ends
*clothespins and number cards
*dice games
*patterns and counters
*pom pom, cups and tweezers
*lacing cards
*marker board and markers
*felt pieces
*wooden blocks
*letter blocks
*magnetic letters and a marker board
*dominoes
*letter tiles
*rocks and magnifying lens
*matching games

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