The Day Care Environment
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One of the best things about home child care is that it provides to children the most natural of settings - the family home. While other childcare settings need to create housekeeping, sleeping areas and quiet corners, these are already a part of your home. Your challenge is to adapt your home to the extra challenges of home child care.

One of the best ideas I ever heard was to purchase an area rug to lay over your carpet. At night or on the weekends, roll the rug up and stick it away, leaving your carpets looking new and clean!

A Welcome Entrance Place for parents and children.

A good entry way should make adults and children feel welcomed and give them a sense of belonging.

Bulletin board

Post notices, menus and receipt, a copy of your policy. Decorate the board with pictures of the children or their artwork. Change it often to keep the parents looking at it.

Table and Chair

The children need a place to sit and be helped with shoes/boots and winter clothing. Parents need a place to put purses, gloves etc while they help the children and a place to write out checks

Mail box

A secure place for parents to drop their tuition checks off

Cubbies

It takes creative thinking to find space for items like eth children’s outdoor clothing, the diaper, and the artwork that is to be brought home that night and the treasures that the children bring in the morning and not only expect but demand, go home with them that evening.

Stack mild crates and assign one crate to each child for personal items.

Install a row of hooks low enough for children to reach, with rubber trays underneath for winter or rain boots.

Set up plastic stacking baskets near the coat hooks to hold hats, scarves, mitts.

A shelf near the front door can hold artwork and treasure to be taken home, or you could make a wall handing with pockets for each of the children’s items.

Sleeping Areas

Infants need to be close enough to be checked on regularly but far enough away from the noise of the older children. Some infants can learn to sleep in a quiet corner of a playroom.

Some providers like to sleep the children in separate bedrooms while others prefer one room so they can watch them all at the same time. I have always enjoyed sleeping them in one room and reading longer fairytales or chapter books to them.

Dim the lights, put the phone on a quieter ring and a note on the door to please knock instead of ringing the doorbell. Quiet activity bags with paper and crayons, foam puzzle or other quiet toys or books can be given to older children for a quiet rest time.

Pre-nap routines

Pick up toys, gather together for a story or some quiet songs will help the children settle down. Most children will settle down easiest if they sleep in the same space with a predictable routine each day.

Furniture moved to create private spaces in one room may help more active children

Curtains slipped on a rod and hung from the ceiling can help to separate light from dark areas in a room

Plastic tablecloths can be purchased cheaply to form a waterproof pad under children's blankets or mats to protect floors or beds from accidents Have nap time gear stored on a shelf low enough for children to help themselves. Pillowcases make good sorters for keeping kids individual sleeping gear clean.

Drifting Off

Soft music or story tapes help children drift off. Glow in the dark stars on the ceiling give children something to look at.

Storage

Toy Storage

Toy shelves- shelves within children's reach will help them learn to put them away by themselves. Label the shelves with pictures of the toys cut from catalogue or snapshots to help children know what goes where

Wear an apron with pockets for picking up all the little things in a day.

Wooden cubes painted in bright colors provide not only a shelf for storage but a place to sit or a table top to work on.

Toy boxes

If you use toy boxes for storage, make sure they have a lid that is unhinged and easily removable if a child crawls in. Check also that it is not air tight. If the box is too deep, the children will dump everything to find an object on the bottom

Milk crates and laundry baskets make good storage boxes also

Containers for Small Toys

Plastic stacking baskets, cool whip containers, shoe boxes

To get toys out of the way:

Riding toys can be hung from large hooks installed out of the children’ reach, on a basement wall or a backyard fence. If riding toys are supposed to be parked in a special area of the room or outdoors, mark the area using chalk, masking tape or pint. Children will enjoy the challenge of parking in their space when it time to put away the riding toys.

Separate the play area from the driving area. Install a self-closing and self latching mechanism on the gate.

Wheels on all of the furniture makes for handy rearranging.

If possible set aside one cupboard or at least a large shelf to store changes of clothing, diapers, etc.

When purchasing equipment, particularly large items like carriages, strollers and play pens, consider how easy it will be to set up take down and store as well as it’s durability, safety and cost.

Ideas for storing outdoor clothing and all those est.'s

To store disposable diapers, stack boxes in the back of a clothing cupboard. Keep enough diaper for the day’s or weeks use on the shelf of the changing table or in a tote bag nearby.

To dry wet outer clothing try some of the following ideas

1. Place the cubbies or coat hooks close to a heat register to quicken the drying process.

2. Mittens will dry faster on mitten dryers, available at a reasonable cost at hardware or department store. A coffee mug tree will also do the trick

The old trick of stuffing your boots with newspaper and putting them in front of a register/vent still works

Purchase a portable clothes line (with suction cups at either end) and hang clothing over the bathtub for a quicker dry.

Eliminate as mush of the clutter as possible with planning and organization. A tidy uncluttered environment will encourage children to put things away, help you feel more relaxed and in control, and make your home a safer and more pleasant place to spend the day for all of you.


Think about the favorites places you like to shop. What makes them appeal to you? How do they look - are they clean or cluttered? How do they smell? Do they make you feel comfortable? Now think about your home, as a stranger entering it, how would it appear? . Make a list of your homes positive and negative characteristics.

Eating Places

The most logical place to serve meals and snacks is your kitchen. But if your play area has access to a sink and the floor is easily cleaned, you may prefer to serve meals and snacks there. Where ever you decide to have meals and snacks, make sure that the floor is easy to wipe up, or cover the floor with heavy plastic for easier clean-up.


Tables

Adult size cut down, card tables

Regular height - provide booster chairs if they need them

Pop cases

Piece of countertop remnant and add legs

Play space

Quiet time space

a place for a child to retreat for a while. Even a comfy chair with some good books.

Messy play spaces

for painting, gluing, play dough and water play. Again a low table works best. Make sure the floor is easily cleaned or put a plastic covering under the table. The kitchen or any area close to a sink works well for easy clean up.

Outdoor play space

If possible your outdoor place should include a paved area for riding toys, a grassy area, sand box and trees for shade. If you don’t have a yard for the children to play in, make good use of nearby fields and parks.

Active play space

for climbing, jumping, running and blowing off steam. If you have space for a small indoor climber/slide it will get a lot of use from toddlers and preschoolers. If the climber is on a cement floor or a cement floor covered with carpeting, be sure to have extra padding under the climber in case of falls. Cushions, scarves for running and dancing with, ropes for jump rope, music to dance to.

Imaginative play space for dress up.

Large cardboard boxes, toy telephones, dolls, hats, and old clothes, a blanket to make caves and forts. This space should be away form noisy areas. It could be in a corner or behind a couch. Car seat benches make good small size couches.

Tabletop space

for puzzles, drawing, coloring, cutting, and pasting.

Floor space

for building with blocks an playing with cars. Any empty floor space will do but try to provide low shelving or baskets nearby for toy storage. Use a binder with plastic sleeves for directions for toys such as legos.

Quiet space

A corner with a pillow or a big comfy couch with books nearby.

Curtain off a corner by tieing a clothesline between two nails or hooks. hang an attractive sheet or cloth over the cord. Add a lamp behind the curtain for reading or even a shadow show.

Refrigerator boxes make nice quiet places. They can be painted, curtains added, doors and windows cut.

Put a rug down in your main play area to save your carpet.

Behind the couch makes a nice storage place for portable cribs, flannel boards and other thin items


*Submitted by Sherry

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