How do you encourage little brother or sister(s) to play quietly?

[Outdoorsy Type]

My littlest dude who is almost three is always talking. Or singing. Or humming the theme to Star Wars. It's cute, but it is also distracting. :tongue_smilie:

 

Right now we have an awesome room that houses all things homeschool related and meets all our needs. I don't really want to send him to the other side of the house to play.

 

I'm sure that there is a great way to encourage him to be quieter, I just haven't found it yet.

 

So, does anyone here have a great idea? :001_smile:

[momtolgd]

:bigear:

 

Hoping you get some replies...having the same issue with our little one who is going on 4. He is constantly singing and talking about Thomas the train. I do find that putting him in a seperate room where his train table is helps for a while...as does giving him paper to write on. Everything is short lived though with him at his age, and I need ideas! :001_smile:

[ariasmommy]

Or humming the theme to Star Wars.

:lol: Amazing! I'm not the only one with a boy who does this! (Except mine's almost 6.:glare:) It seems like I am constantly telling him to "Stop humming!" He might stop - for a minute (or less) - and then he's right back at it. I'm glad he loves music, but... Sorry I'm not much help :tongue_smilie:- just wanted to say you're not alone. :)

[Homeschooling6]

A small rug or tablecloth can be his quiet time circle. I do this even with my five year old. Quiet toys can be legos, animal toys, books etc. For 20 or 30 minutes that's were he stays. You might have to train the child at first. Start with five minues on the quiet time rug, then 10 and so forth.

[MSNative]

Duct tape

 

 

 

 

 

ETA - ok, for those of you opposed to the whole duct tape thing...the ever popular school box. We don't actually have a box. I have 5 sets of educational toys that I bring out each day (one on Mon, etc.). Bristle blocks, legos, magnet mosaic board, dry erase board, lacing board, special markers, play doh, etc. When my 3 yo gets wound up, I bring out the box for the day. Also, and I hate to admit this, I've been known to use the gum distraction. One piece sure buys a lot of quiet in my house.

Edited August 24, 2010 by MSNative

[catholicmommy]

Duct tape

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

We are treated to either the National Anthem or Jingle bells. It's the only two songs my 3 year olds know and they sing them constantly.

 

I'm not sure there is much to do with littles that are noisy. Occasionally I will turn on starfall.com for them. They love that, but then I have to listen to the annoying voice of whoever narrates that one. ("Did you like this story?.. YES! ... Thank you!"... uhhh that's so annoying).

[Chris in VA]

Quiet Circle/Rug is great--

You can also put ear phones on them and get them to listen to a story and turn the pages--give them a box of tapes and books in plastic bags. Usually they are good for at least 5-10 minutes each. Two or three of those, 10 minutes on the quiet rug, a small break where you give him total attention for 10 minutes outside of the room, and then another 10 minutes on the rug, and you've got math done.

[MerryAtHope]

My littlest dude who is almost three is always talking. Or singing. Or humming the theme to Star Wars. It's cute, but it is also distracting. :tongue_smilie:

 

Right now we have an awesome room that houses all things homeschool related and meets all our needs. I don't really want to send him to the other side of the house to play.

 

I'm sure that there is a great way to encourage him to be quieter, I just haven't found it yet.

 

So, does anyone here have a great idea? :001_smile:

 

LOL, my dd is 11 and she's STILL singing everywhere she goes, or talking or...

 

When she was 3, I told her she could play quietly in the room while I read aloud. If she couldn't be quiet, she had playtime in her room for 30 minutes while we read. Then I had an activity for her next. Kind of like the workbox concept if you've read of that--I had toys and activities in bins and rotated them every 20-30 minutes. I don't think you can make them be quiet all day long, but for specific times, yes, they can play quietly or play in another spot. In my dd's case, she gradually was able to stay longer and longer, and by the time she was 4, she could stay the whole time.

 

Merry :-)

[Snickerdoodle]

It's impossible.

[Stellalarella]

I tried to give a short lesson to my 5, 3 and 2 year old about "extraneous noise." The next day I found the 3 year old trumpeting through the house making kazoo noises and saying, "EXTRANEOUS NOISE!"

[Stellalarella]

:iagree:

It's impossible.

[Dolphin]

Ours is 3. We give her the choice of doing school herself or playing in her room. It is not far, but far enough to not be too distracting. She has workbooks, and a planner like her brother. If I spend 5 min "teaching" her and setting her a task, I then get 10 min with ds. Some days just go like that. She also loves reader rabbit, but that can only be done very quietly and with headphones. That gives me my longest spurt of 30min (math time)

[Hypatia.]

I have my 4 year old and 2 year old running around in the morning distracting my 1st grader (and the baby, but he's usually fine as long as he's nursing). If they are downstairs they can be distracted for a little while with drawing/coloring, but that doesn't last long. If they can play quietly in the living room, right next to the dining room where we are homeschooling, then they can stay downstairs. Once they get loud then I send them upstairs to play in their bedroom, though I know that results in it being completely destroyed.

 

It's more of a problem after lunch, when my 2 year old is down for a nap. That's also when we do math, since it keeps my toddler out of the manipulatives. When DD2 is napping then DD1 doesn't have anyone to play with and is more likely to distract DS1. She's also very sensitive, so I'm still trying to find ways to encourage her to let DS1 do his work that don't send her into fits of tears.

[kwg]

I tried to give a short lesson to my 5, 3 and 2 year old about "extraneous noise." The next day I found the 3 year old trumpeting through the house making kazoo noises and saying, "EXTRANEOUS NOISE!"

 

 

:lol:

[mama27]

I second the duct tape.

:lol:

My older kids have just had to learn to ignore the younger ones. Or use their MP3 players.

[SkateLeft]

I used to try and keep my littles quiet while my older kids were working, but eventually I realized it was better to teach my older kids to focus amidst distraction. In reality, colleges and work places are rarely silent, and learning to be productive despite distraction is a good tool for kids to learn! :)

[toddandleah]

I let my younger two (5 & 2) play together during subjects that my boy needs quiet to focus on (ie math), usually in their bedrooms or outside. When it's time to teach the older 2 together, little one has alone time in her room, door shut, fairly quiet. She comes out during breaks between subjects. Ever since our kiddos were babies we've had some sort of time during the day where they are by themselves. They need to learn independent play. We had to work up to it, 10 minutes at a time when they were really little, but it has transitioned well into the schooling years.

Hope this helps,

 

L

[Mrs. Frankweiler]

Or humming the theme to Star Wars. It's cute, but it is also distracting. :tongue_smilie:

 

:001_smile:

 

I have one who does this too! I didn't realize it was such a popular (or maybe addictive?) tune among the 3-6 year old crowd!

[Tracy]

It's impossible.

:lol::iagree::lol:

 

I am ecstatic that ds2 is playing happily while dd and I are doing school. And I am elated that dd came first, because she never would have played by herself for any amount of time at that age. It never occurred to me that I should want ds to be quiet, too. Sorry, no help.:tongue_smilie: