I have a few suggestions to try!
For our older children, many of whom no longer sleep at nap time, we usually tell one "on your cot" story- either using a CD or YouTube story or if the teacher is up to it, a made up story. That takes up 5-10 minutes of the rest time where the kids have something to focus on.
One teacher, after story time, did something he called "pillow chat," where he would go to each child's cot and whisper talk with them for a few minutes about their day, or what they planned to do during afternoon free play, or whatever the child wanted to talk about.
To echo some of the other suggestions here- quiet time activities are key! It is good practice for kiddos to have some time out of the day where they play solo- we have little bins will puzzles, legos, magnet boards, and whiteboards and markers for our non sleepers, and they can have them after 20-30 min of quiet resting.
In addition to deep breathing and yoga practice, find some big body movement for children to do- it can be very calming. Whether it's helping move the furniture out of the way for towels/cots, pushing on walls to make the room bigger, carrying something heavy from one end of the room to another- that big muscle movement can really calm bodies down!
------------------------------
Lily Crooks
Seward Child Care Center
Minneapolis MN
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 11-16-2018 04:50 PM
From: April Ballard
Subject: Rest Time in a classroom
We are doing full day programming for the first time this year and are struggling with rest time. We have children bring a beach towel to lay on. At this time, cots are not in the budget. We dim the lights and play relaxing music. Rest time is 45 minutes. I would love to hear any advice on how to help our students relax and be more comfortable. Thank you!
------------------------------
April Ballard
SR Coordinator and Teacher
School Readiness
Thief River Falls MN
------------------------------