Our digital beeper was spiking our after-lunch cleanup, so I swapped in a small $3 brass hand bell from the thrift store, and transitions to putting away work mats feel calmer for my 4-year-old. What gentle time cues have worked for you — silent visual timers, a child-sized hourglass, or something else that keeps the room peaceful?
I had the same spike after lunch, so I set a 2-minute child-sized hourglass by the last work mat; the child flips it and when the sand finishes we whisper “time to land” and roll up together, which kept the room as calm as your “$3 brass hand bell”. The only caveat is it’s easy to knock — mounting it on a small wooden base solved that for us; have you tried a 2- or 3-minute one?
I swapped our beeper for a single C note on a wooden chime bar and taught “one note = heads up, two notes = finished,” letting a child be the chime keeper after lunch… Does your $3 brass bell carry too far, or is one gentle ring enough in your space? When the room’s busy, I quietly back it up with a sound-off visual timer across the room so the cue stays calm.