Books at Nap

[mamamanda]

Those of you that allow kids to have a book at nap time, do you let all the kids have one or just the older kids? I have one who needs a nap, but I'm sure he would force himself to stay awake as long as possible if I allowed him to have one. I really feel my 2 kindergarteners would do better with a book to rest with. They are so restless every day at nap. Loss of afternoon activities is motivation to lay down quietly some days, but not always & then they distract the nappers

[kendallina]

I allow my non-nappers to have a few books after about 45 minutes or an hour. They need to stay on their cots until kids start waking up and they have to stay quiet, but, I have older kids and a have a couple of 4-year olds that really don't need a nap. And it's really hard for a 4-year old to lay quiet and still for an hour and a half. They do really well and never wake anyone up, so it's worked for me.

[Heidi]

All my kids, even the 14 mo in the crib, have books at nap. Most just lay them next to them, honestly.

My oldest right now are 2 and 3/4.

My set up is such that non-napping 4 year old's would be in a separate room, if I had them. They would get a nap kit. Books, a few quiet toys, maybe a hand-held game now and then.

[kendallina]

All my kids, even the 14 mo in the crib, have books at nap. Most just lay them next to them, honestly.

My oldest right now are 2 and 3/4.

My set up is such that non-napping 4 year old's would be in a separate room, if I had them. They would get a nap kit. Books, a few quiet toys, maybe a hand-held game now and then.

Bolded-I've found this as well...even when I offer books to my older ones, some look at them and some don't touch them.

[e.j.]

Here, the older kids who don't nap have to wait until the youngers ones fall asleep. Once the nappers are asleep, I give them a small stack of books to look through. As long as they stay quiet, they can look at books. If they start to make too much noise, the books are taken away. Most of the time, the older kids will fall asleep while waiting, though, so I've only had a handful of kids who actually got the privilege of reading books during nap time.