Dropping naps and Lego busy-bags

At three and a half years old, the inevitable is now happening: Nathan is gradually cutting back his nap times.

I knew this day would come some day.

But I confess that I’m grieving a little bit over this development.

As much as I treasure every single moment of the day spent together with my kids. I still breathe a huge sigh of relief once all the kids are nestled soundly in their beds for two hours of quiet solace.

But then I decided, just because Nathan doesn’t need his rest time, doesn’t mean I don’t need mine.

That’s when I discovered the magic secret of busy-bags.

I stumbled across them one day while browsing on Pinterest and was completely enthralled by them. There was such a enormous variety of busy-bags… but which ones would truly appeal to Nathan. Just because they appealed to me, does not necessarily mean that they would appeal to him.

Then it struck me. There was ONE toy which definitely has it’s hooks on him. LEGO!

He could play with them all day, every day if he could. But for now, because of the nature of Lego and their hundreds of tiny pieces, I don’t consider them a safe toy to play with younger children present. So we only let him play with the Lego set on weekends when there are no other family day care kids around.

So in that moment of epiphany, I assembled four sets of Lego busy-bags. One in each particular colour.

Each set contains some basic building bricks, wheels, plus a few unique ‘stand out’ pieces that make each set different from one another. And of course a little Lego man in the appropriate matching colour.

And now every day at nap time (or rest time), Nathan selects a particular bag as his chosen busy-bag to take with him to his room. It is now a special privilege he looks forward to every afternoon.

He can tinker around with the pieces quietly in his room to his heart’s content while the other children are napping, and mummy gets some quiet time to herself as well.

Sometimes he dozes off after tinkering with the Lego for a while. Sometimes he doesn’t. Either way, I don’t really mind as long as every one in the house is having some quiet time to themselves to rest and wind down.

Do you do busy bags for your little ones?
How did you manage the nap-dropping phase with your toddler?