In today’s post, we look at the importance and benefits of periods of ‘quiet time’ for toddlers and children under five. Toddlers are busy little people, often rushing around, going from one toy or activity to the next. They’re at a stage where they realise the world is an exciting place and often want to experience it all at once. However, when they are so ‘on-the-go’, playing and learning from everything and everyone around them, their brains and body have a lot to take in and process. It can be extremely tiring! So, this is where some much-needed quiet time often comes in, bringing with it a whole range of benefits. Studies also back this up.
10 Benefits of Quiet Time for Little Ones
1. An Opportunity to Relax
With so much going on around them, children’s young senses of sight, hearing, touch and smell are experiencing a full-on assault. Their minds are also being challenged with learning new skills. This can all be very tiring for our youngsters, so a period of quiet time will give them a break, to allow them to breathe and unwind.
2. The Space to Reflect
Quiet time gives children the space to reflect on the day, task or activity that they’ve been a part of. A period of quietness and relaxation will give toddlers time to think about what they have done or encountered. For example, they may reflect on the animals they have seen at the zoo or the feeling of excitement playing on the swings at the park. A little period of reflection may indeed allow their minds to ‘join the dots’ and make conclusions and even learn from what they’ve been doing.
3. Some Time to Re-charge
Slowing down and relaxing for a while will help to re-charge children’s batteries. Perhaps some soothing music can be playing in the background, or relaxing videos of underwater sea life can be played on a screen. These are great opportunities for the children to sit, slow down, be mindful and re-charge quietly.
4. An Opportunity for a Refreshing Nap
After prolonged activity or concentration on the part of the child, a well-earned nap may well be on the agenda. As well as giving the toddler a chance to re-charge their batteries, sleep is hugely beneficial to children in their early years. For example, after sufficient sleep, children will be refreshed with improved mental and physical energy, responsive memory, better cognitive performance, increased attention spans and so much more. Their growth hormone is also produced when they sleep, so it is incredibly important in their early years. Click the bold link in this paragraph for more details. By the way, an added bonus, of course, is that a sleep session may also the parent/caregiver a chance to relax a bit and enjoy a few minutes of calm!
5. Renewed Energy to Refocus
After a period of quiet relaxation, a solo task like looking at a book should now be easier for children. They have recharged their metaphorical batteries and are now likely to have renewed mental and physical energy to really focus on a new task.
6. Time for Some Creativity
Quiet time provides an opportunity for children to develop their own, natural creativity. During quiet time, they have the opportunity to make up a game or activity, without intervention from others. This time is totally unstructured too, so children can be as free as they like to explore and adapt the game or activity. They can create their own little environment and immerse themselves in their own new world. Their imaginations are set free and opportunities to be creative will come naturally.
7. A Boost to Independence
As we can see above, during quiet time, children can engage in activities that they have chosen for themselves. This can greatly help them to become more independent and self-reliant. That’s a great skill for them to develop as they approach the time to transition to school. There, they will need to rely much more on such skills.
8. Precious ‘Alone Time’
Research has shown that toddlers and children that regularly have a period of ‘alone time’ often have a more positive outlook on life. During this time without distraction they relax and can then be more in control of their feelings, emotions and any anxieties. As they get older they also learn to use this time to become more content with their own company, with space to gather their own thoughts.
Of course, not all toddlers will want to be on their own. For those that don’t naturally take to it, it may help if perhaps you are sitting in the same room as them. Maybe read quietly to yourself or complete a task of your own, but quietly so the little one isn’t distracted by you. This will help them transition to some alone time.
9. Improving Sleep
Incorporating quiet time into a daily routine can help children to establish a healthy sleep schedule. It can also help them to relax and fall asleep more easily at night.
10. Improved Overall Wellbeing
When combined, all these benefits will help children to develop a sense of calm and inner peace. Stresses and anxieties will generally reduce as children’s minds and bodies relax and rest. They’ll feel refreshed and rejuvenated and ready for the rest of their day. Children’s overall mental and emotional wellbeing will benefit in a myriad of ways and it’ll help them to feel great and to accomplish tasks more easily.
How to Start Your Child on Quiet Time
When you first introduce quiet time to your child, start slowly and begin with short periods each day. This can be increased as your little one gets used to it.- Pre-plan and ensure you have some appropriate ‘quiet time’ toys or equipment already out. In this way, the child can get to them right away and begin interacting with them. This avoids the need for them to rummage through toy boxes or cupboards and keeps things more quiet from the outset.
- You could try separating a few ‘quiet activity’ toys into separate baskets, so the toddler has a small choice of them all within easy reach. Examples might include a basket of puzzles, reading books or a basket of colouring books and crayons. Over time, remember to rotate the choices, so that your little one doesn’t become bored with the same options each time.
- Books are a good quiet activity, but also consider audio books. In this scenario, try settling your toddler with their favourite teddy and then they’re all set to listen to a story quietly and comfortably.
- Soft, relaxing music also makes an ideal backdrop to your toddler playing quietly too. Hand pick the music tracks, though, to ensure a quiet, relaxing mood.
- Other great ‘quiet time’ activities include mindfulness and breathing exercises, observing nature, building and constructing, using play dough and even, under supervision, yoga poses and stretches.
When you first introduce quiet time to your child, start slowly and begin with short periods each day. This can be increased as your little one gets used to it.Quiet time helps the whole family recharge their batteries if only for 20 minutes to begin with. Everyone will benefit, including not only the children but parents and caregivers too — we need a bit of quiet time too!
Streatham Nursery & Pre-School Places
Little Cedars Nursery: a Wonderful Childcare Service in Streatham offering Childcare Places for Children Under 5
Little Cedars is a nursery and pre-school in Streatham, which provides the highest quality childcare service for babies, toddlers and children under five. The nursery is a warm, welcoming home from home for under-fives and represents a great choice if you want your child to have the best start in life. We’re not just a childcare service; we provide a full early years education. Our key goal is to help children to absolutely thrive and achieve their best potential in all areas of the curriculum, in their personal development, and in life generally. The setting is conveniently located for those in Streatham Hill, Streatham Park, Streatham Common and Furzedown as well as Tooting, Tooting Bec, Tooting Broadway, Tooting Common, Balham, Norbury and Colliers Wood.
Contact us to register your child for a place, ask a question or book a guided tour. We’ll be happy to help!
It’s easier and often quicker for adults to take the lead in getting toddlers and under-five children dressed, fed, washed and suchlike. However, at some point, our little ones have to become confident and self-sufficient at doing these – and many other things – themselves. After all, they won’t have Mum or Dad around when they’re starting at school. So, today, we look at the ways we can help children under five help themselves and become more independent, including in their learning. First, though, let’s look at the many benefits of encouraging their independence.
Increased self-esteem: Children feel a sense of accomplishment when they are able to do things on their own. This can give a healthy boost to their self-esteem.
Better self-management skills: Children who are used to taking care of themselves and making their own decisions are better able to manage their own learning and behaviour. This is important, particularly once they move on to a school setting. Studies published in the Journal of Educational Psychology have highlighted better grades and higher levels of achievement in this regard.
A greater sense of responsibility: Children who are able to do things independently may more easily learn to take responsibility for their own actions and decisions. Learning from one’s own mistakes is also one of life’s most important lessons.
Encourage self-care skills: Help children learn how to dress themselves, 
Provide opportunities for children to make their own decisions: Give children small choices and let them choose what they want to do. This helps them feel a sense of control, encourages independence and builds confidence. A good example is allowing them to choose what they want to wear.
Set realistic expectations: Children are still developing their skills and abilities, so be realistic about what they can do independently.
In today’s post, we explore the benefits of using positive language around under-fives. All too often, it’s tempting to say ‘No!’, ‘Stop that!’ or even ‘Don’t Eat That!’ and similar around little ones. This is particularly true when you want them to cease the offending activity urgently or are simply exhausted if it’s been a challenging day. There are good reasons for such negative commands, of course, not least that of their safety in many cases. However, such commands can sound stern and cause stress for the little ones. What’s more, if a child hears too much negative language and cannot understand why they’re not allowed to do a particular thing, problems can begin to arise and, indeed, the issue can become insidious. It may even result in worsening behaviour. Let’s explore, therefore, the issues around negative language and the simple solution that’s available in the form of positive language.
Sometimes, though, constantly hearing ‘no’ can spark tantrums, particularly if a child doesn’t understand the reason they are not allowed to do something. They can feel particularly frustrated when they receive a succession of negative commands and, in the end, may feel they simply can’t do anything right. This can lead not only to stress for them, but also to possible low self-esteem. Furthermore, if they hear ‘no’ and other negative language too often, they can begin to ‘tune out’ to it. They could then go on to develop challenging behaviour due to this, their confusion and frustration. Stress levels can then rise for the parent too, the infant can pick up on this and it can become a real vicious circle. It doesn’t have to be that way, though …
Stop shouting!
Please use a much softer voice.
A nature-based, food-related activity that young children can enjoy indoors at any time of the year is cress growing. Today we outline how it can be made even more fun and creative for kids by growing the cress as little ‘egg heads’. These come complete with comical faces and amusing hairstyles made of green cress shoots! Children will absolutely love it when they end up with little egg faces with spouting hairstyles that each have real character. And, they’ll even be able to eat the results!
Cress is Easy to Grow, & Tasty!
Growing Cress for Small Kids and Big Kids
Next, find a vessel to prop the egg shells up in. This could simply be an egg cup or even an egg carton, like that shown in the photo. Then, decide what to fill the empty egg shells with. Children can choose either damp kitchen roll or damp compost/soil to grow the cress seeds on. Carefully fill the empty egg shells almost to the top with the chosen filler. (We tried both and each grew well. Interestingly, the cress seeds grown on kitchen roll tissue paper grew a little faster and therefore taller than those grown on compost. They therefore looked a bit more ‘wild’ — it was quite a surprise and had an amusing impact on the egg-people’s hairstyles).
Make sure you or your child add some funny faces on the shells — maybe even give them names. The faces can be drawn simply using a marker pen (Sharpies are ideal) or you can get even more creative using coloured paints. Children may find drawing the faces easier if they are shown some visual reference and perhaps they can practise first on paper. If too young to draw suitable faces, a parent or creative older sibling may be able to help.
Within a week or so, the little egg heads should begin to sprout green ‘hair’ shoots!
Both children and adults have a natural affinity with music. It’s one of life’s simple pleasures that just about everyone seems to enjoy in one way or another. Children will naturally start to move, dance, join in or even learn songs that they hear — such reactions seem instinctive to them. Learning to play a musical instrument is therefore a natural next step for them. Indeed, it’s one that parents, guardians and carers should consider encouraging, particularly given how beneficial such an endeavour will be to their child. Learning to play a musical instrument is not simply fun; it profoundly benefits children’s learning and development. With that in mind, we take a look today at the incredible array of benefits that learning a musical instrument poses for children, including under-fives.
Studies have also shown that learning an instrument or learning how to read music develops the left side of the brain. This area is responsible for processing language and reasoning. Hand-eye coordination skills are also aided when learning to play a musical instrument and reading music. As children’s playing and reading become more advanced, it requires the brain to work at a range of speeds, which is also great exercise for the brain.
Music gives children a really flexible way of expressing themselves. For instance, the way they choose to bang on a drum, shake a tambourine or strum a guitar can allow them to show happiness, anger, frustration, calmness and many other emotions. Playing a musical instrument gives them a real freedom of expression, even at a very young age. Then, if they reach a point where they are able to make up their own melodies and arrangements, music can become an almost immeasurably powerful tool for self-expression and communication.
Although playing an instrument is creative, music and maths are very much intertwined. Beats, rhythms and scales are all based on maths and children naturally need to work out some maths in order to understand the song and any sheet music. This will naturally help them to better grasp mathematics and illustrate a real-world example of how it underlies many things.
Whether your child is listening to a tutor, teacher, friend or relative, listening skills are very important. Music is a natural way to encourage listening and that’s even more true when children learn to play music themselves. Doing so in their early years will help them to follow instructions, listen out for smaller details as well as the bigger picture. Working together on a piece of music is also a fantastic way to hone group listening skills and teamwork and to encourage collaboration.
Indeed, music helps to support all 7 focus areas of 
When children master a song, no matter how basic, they get an enormous sense of achievement and even more so if they are praised by adults and peers. Such praise also encourages the child to progress further, of course. Boosting self-esteem and self-confidence in their early years is important for their future wellbeing too. Achieving something through learning, patience and practising regularly also teaches them that persistence and effort will help them overcome challenges. That’s a very important lesson in life.
Little ones can first practise keeping in time to music or a beat that an adult is demonstrating, perhaps. Maracas are also good starter instruments although, again, anything that makes a shaking sound can be made at home at zero cost. For instance using an empty carton or plastic container securely sealed with dried rice, pasta or lentils inside. Once they get the hang of such percussive or shaker-style instruments, you can consider transitioning them to more advanced instruments like recorders, ocarinas, keyboards, stringed instruments and so on. Often, children will be more than willing to give such instruments a try and some encouragement and guidance from knowledgeable adults or older children will always be helpful. And, who knows, they could end up being maestros and even stars in the making!
A childcare nursery should not be thought of only as a crèche, playgroup, or simply somewhere that looks after babies and children while parents go to work. Good nurseries and pre-schools like Little Cedars are so much more than that. It’s incredible just how much they benefit under-fives, families and society as a whole once you take a closer look at everything they do — and that’s exactly what we’re doing today…
What’s more, staff at childcare settings like Little Cedars will form close bonds with little ones. Studies show that 
Good Ofsted-registered nurseries/pre-schools like Little Cedars also give under-fives a full early years education. That’s important to know. Through a learning and development programme that’s customised to each individual child, we ensure they achieve their own personal bests in all areas of the statutory 
Part of children’s personal, social and emotional development comes through active play with other children that they meet and get to know at the nursery. This is firstly great fun, of course, and that’s a hugely important part of any happy childhood. However, they’ll also learn many things through play. Without socialising with others, it would be more difficult to improve social skills, for example. Only by being around other children will they learn to account for the feelings of others, learn to respect one another and ultimately form close bonds, trust and friendships. Many such friendships will indeed continue long afterwards, as children move to schools at the age of five.
Another key aim of good early years childcare provision is to prepare children thoroughly for school. Why? Because 
It’s almost as if children are super-charged for success — the benefits of a good early years education are surprisingly long lasting. Some studies even show that the benefits last into people’s working lives, improving salaries (
Working so closely with babies, toddlers and preschoolers allows us to continually monitor their individual progress. In so doing, we are in a prime position to spot any issues early and to make appropriate arrangements to mitigate them if needed. For example, we may spot that a child is finding reading challenging. If so, we can put extra effort and time into improving the situation for the child. On occasion, that may even include talking to parents about the possible intervention of a specialist of some kind, or it could simply be that they need to practise specific activities to overcome the issue. The earlier challenges or any special educational or developmental needs are spotted, the sooner the child in question can be helped.
We have a huge outdoor area for children at Little Cedars Nursery, Streatham. Parents express their surprise when they first see it, regularly commenting that it’s much larger than the outdoor areas of other nurseries and pre-schools in the area. Our extensive outdoor play areas are also packed full of fun, educational play equipment and facilities that our under-five children absolutely adore. That includes areas and facilities set up especially for particular age groups.
The outdoor ‘mud kitchen’ is a particular hit with children at the nursery. They can enjoy creating in the sand play and water play areas too. These are fun and educational activities — 
As you can see from some of the photographs, the nursery’s extensive outdoor areas include both open-air and undercover areas. That means children can play and explore whatever the weather. Outdoor play is good for children, teaching them some things that simply can’t be taught indoors, so it’s wonderful that many of the outdoor facilities can be used all-year-round.
Outdoor play at Little Cedars Nursery also supports the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. Learning through outdoor play teaches children so much and in a natural way. Outdoor play supports such areas as communication & language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development and understanding the world. Many such lessons come naturally as children play with one another and interact together via outdoor activities.
Such staff will continuously identify the individual interests and needs of each child and ensure that the learning and development activities they access will benefit them in the optimum ways. The idea is to further strengthen existing areas where children are strong, while bolstering children’s skills in areas that may require extra focus.
Bilateral coordination is an important skill for children to master and is something that parents should look out for as children develop in their early years. Today we look at the topic, explaining what it is, why it’s important and how mastery of the skill benefits little ones.
You may also hear reference to the phrase crossing the midline and this is also linked to bilateral coordination. It refers to a person reaching across their body, from one side to the opposite side, in order to complete a task. An example would be a child reaching with their right hand, across their body, to pick up a toy that’s to their left. Crossing the midline in such a way is a significant step because it demonstrates that infants have progressed from naturally using the side of their body nearest the object to using a dominant or preferred side. This may be the first indication parents have of whether their child is going to be left- or right-handed.
uncoordinated and will struggle with a variety of physical tasks.
Reciprocal bilateral coordination: this is where both sides of the body form a rhythmic motion but the movements on each side alternate. Examples include walking, swimming and cycling.
Mastery of bilateral coordination requires children to develop and fine-tune three types of motor skill:
Threading beads on a string, or string through holes punched though paper or card;
Play-doh — squeezing and rolling it, including use of tools to shape it;
These are just a few examples. Any age-appropriate game or activity is likely to help improve bilateral coordination so long as it requires precise, measured movements and coordination of both sides of the body. It’s a case of the child practising over time, often through play, until a particular physical outcome has been mastered. Progress is particularly easy to see in babies and infants as they gradually become more physically able, dextrous, strong and coordinated.
Independent feedback from other parents is worth its weight in gold. In the last five years, Little Cedars has received only 5-star reviews on Google and Facebook. That’s top marks, consistently for 5 years running.* Comments that accompanied these independent reviews were equally compelling — here are just a few examples:
Little Cedars is a warm, welcoming and nurturing environment. To the babies and children, it very much becomes a home-from-home where they feel safe, valued, cared for and all with wonderful, close relationships with both peers and our childcare professionals. It’s also a place of immense fun where little ones are happy, stimulated and nurtured in order to bring out the best in them.
Little Cedars Nursery is extremely well resourced and equipped, both inside and out. 
If your 2-year-old is eligible for the Government’s free childcare scheme for this age group, rest assured that Little Cedars Day Nursery supports them and this can potentially give your little one 15 free hours of childcare per week for as many as 38 weeks of the year. That’s 570 free childcare hours per year for your 2-year-old!
A Key Person is assigned to each child at Little Cedars Nursery. This is an early years practitioner who ensures that the child’s needs are being catered for and that their care at the setting is tailored to them as an individual. They help children settle in when they first join the nursery and build strong relationships with both the child and the parents. They are therefore usually the natural and key point of contact at the nursery.
We have a very special team at Little Cedars Nursery. Every one of them has been hand picked to ensure they are the perfect fit for the nursery and for the children therein. They’re warm, natural carers who will form wonderful relationships with children and bring out the very best in them. They become the children’s safe, familiar and friendly faces at the setting as well as facilitating top-notch learning and early years education. They also ensure every child is happy and is having fun whilst under our care.
At Little Cedars we do so much more than simply look after babies, toddlers and under-fives. We educate and nurture them too. In fact, we ensure that our little ones achieve personal bests in all 7 areas of 
