I have special little mats with animal faces on them...the kids love sitting on them! But I don't force it at all. If the little ones want to wander off, they can. Mostly they want to stay though as they love circle time. For me, circle time is mostly songs and I alternate sitting and standing type songs (ex. head and shoulders is a good active one) and try to do lots of active songs. We also do ball rolling games and jumping games, etc. I think the key is to keep it fast, active and fun. If they are bored, maybe rethink what you are doing and leave things like storytime for another time of day.