Some days are anything but quiet with three children. When the children get riled up, I typically just send them outside. Usually this is effective, but sometimes they need to wind down without going wild.

This summer I took my oldest child aside and asked her if she would like to be in charge of an outdoor book party. (See link for more info, but it's basically reading lots of books and calling it a party.)

Big Sister was thrilled with the idea. I instructed the children to all choose two books to take outside and encouraged them to sit in the shade of a tree. I limited the number of books, this time, because I wanted them to finish reading all of the books without disappointment. They loved having Big Sister read their book choices to them. 

On another occasion, the older children arrived home from school. A magazine had arrived in the mail. I suggested they take it outside and enjoy it together.  They certainly did. While they enjoyed reading together, I enjoyed an extra half hour of quiet in the house.