Luckily I have a split level house and my kitchen overlooks the play area. I can stand at my stove and watch them play a floor below me. All my children nap so once lunch clean up is done I bring the younger children upstairs to thier cribs and the older kids get out thier nap mats and blankies. Then I turn on a movie and within 20 minutes everyone is asleep. I tried puzzles, reading stories, quiet play.. everything I could think of to calm them down and get them to lie down on thier own but they won't. Watching a movie is the only thing that makes them stay still long enough for sleep to happen. I hate playing movies every day but at least they only watch a few minutes of it. If someone doesnt fall asleep after half an hour I turn off the movie and they can either lay there or come upstairs to the middle floor and play quietly with me. This way they don't distrub the babies upstairs or the other big kids downstairs. Because it's a split level I can still see both groups of children while they sleep.