Storage Solutions For Naptime Items

[robinbird]

I work in a 3 year old daycare room with 20 children. Each child is assigned a cubbie for their extra clothes, back pack, coat, lunch, and nap supplies. The cubbies are not big enough to accommodate all these items (some children have sleeping bags, pillows, and mats) There are no restrictions given by the daycare and no standard issue items. We encourage the children to put their own items away after nap time. We have been trying to come up with an additional storage solution that is both accessible and sanitary, AND works with our limited space. Any suggestions?

[Michael]

Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum! I've upgraded your status. You can post freely now. Here are some threads on storage: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=storage

[MissAnn]

I work in a 3 year old daycare room with 20 children. Each child is assigned a cubbie for their extra clothes, back pack, coat, lunch, and nap supplies. The cubbies are not big enough to accommodate all these items (some children have sleeping bags, pillows, and mats) There are no restrictions given by the daycare and no standard issue items. We encourage the children to put their own items away after nap time. We have been trying to come up with an additional storage solution that is both accessible and sanitary, AND works with our limited space. Any suggestions?

I have a cubbie for their belongings

the nap mats with sheets on go in garment bags hung up in the closet (I don't zip it because the bag next to it is plastic.....so no cross contamination and this make it that much easier)

The kids pack their own blankets into a reusable Walmart bag. The bags go on the floor under the garment bags.

[Abigail]

Do you have a picture you could show us? I love seeing pictures. I will have cubbies soon but they will only be for items that come and go daily. I want to get a dresser and put baskets in all the drawers to store extra clothes for the kids because they will not be needed often and honestly kids don't need to have access to their spare clothes. Without knowing what your cubby area looks like, it is hard to give more advice. See what is necessary to keep in the cubbies and if you're able to build up or move another shelf unit into the area. Maybe try to custom build a storage unit that will fit your mats and blankets.

[Hunni Bee]

I have the exact same problem. What I have had to do is over the years, collect cast off crib sheets and baby blankets. This is a low income area, so many of the children come without their own nap supplies, or they bring whatever the parent has at home, which is sometimes large throws, etc. I just store it away and use my own stuff, which is easier to wash and fits in their cubbies.

I would ask the parents would it be possible for them to provide a crib sheet and a small blanket, instead of the large sleeping bags, pillows, etc. As for the mats, tie each one up in a heavy duty garbage bag and store them in a nearby closet if possible.

[DCMom]

I have a cubby/hook system for the coats and extra clothes, but for the blankets and such I use a 16 section cabinet near my the entrance door. For the most part it is just their blankets and small pillow. It's naptime right now, so it looks empty After nap, when everything is back in their spaces, I turn it to the wall so the littles don't pull them all out!

[SimpleMom]

I have the stackable cubbies (plastic type). The extra clothes go in there as well as nap time things. When I worked at the Center, we had the hooks and cubbies above (also, very little room in the cubbies). Bags, snowpants, coats went on the hooks. Blankets, stayed on their cots after nap. Cots were stacked up against the wall. If they had a pillow, that stayed on the cot as well. All cots were sanitized daily before we laid the blankets down on them again.

It seemed to work pretty well! Good luck

[heyhun77]

We use stacking cots in our room and the children put their cotsheet, blanket and pillow/lovie in a backpack that zips and hang it in their cubbies in the hallway. If you get them using a standard amount of nap belongings you could find a standard way to store them.

In my home daycare I used waterproof pillowcases to store their mat, blanket, small pillow and their lovie in. I stored them in a pack and play that couldn't be used for sleeping due to a tear in the fabric.

My last round of organizing in my home I switched to plastic storage totes with easy to remove lids. I liked that because the kids could get their things in and out of them on their own. I didn't like them because they took up a lot of space when we had our nap stuff out. However, I also was able to use the storage totes as dividers between the children to help get them all to sleep at the same time.