Our family makes a regular practice of having daily quiet time for the girls. I have them both sit on blankets with toys and books (or coloring books and crayons for Julia) for about 30 minutes. Over the last several months I feel like I’ve hit a quiet time rut. It seems like we are always giving Julia the same books or the same toys and her interest is fading fast. I read a great idea nearly a year ago on Keeper of the Home about having quiet time bins. The idea is to have bins for each day of the week, containing something new for each of the days. The child only plays with those items/toys on that day. I’ve been wanting to put this into practice since first learning about it, but haven’t wanted to splurge on nice bins. That is until now.

Paul’s Discount is a local store in town. They just had their “Dollar Days” and guess what? Shoebox sized bins were on sale for $1. Sweet! I bought five and here’s what I made:

I am still working on filling them with great things I know Julia will enjoy each day. She’s thrilled about her “boxes” and was more than excited when she got to open it for quiet time yesterday.

Just to add some cheesiness… I have these little 16 oz containers inside each bin for Hannah. The containers hold one or two small books each. I did this 1) because I thought it was kinda adorable 2) to help Julia later understand that the contents of the bins are to be shared with her sister. When Julia did her quiet time, I pulled out the small containers for Hannah. Not surprising, Hannah liked the box more than the books or other toys she had!