Ideas Please :)

[JennyBear]

I currently have 5 ft dck's plus my almost 3 year old daughter. After their afternoon nap we have our snack. By the time snack time is over it's about 3:30pm and all of the kids go home by 4:30pm (maybe 4:45pm on occasion).

I find that if we go into the daycare playroom the kids get rowdy and make a HUGE mess and I'm left to clean it up (b/c parents come one by one and don't require the kids to clean up their mess...and if I ask them the parents don't get it and want to rush home for dinner). I also find that the kids can get too loud and like to push limits during p/u.

A while back I started sitting the children at the table once we were all cleaned up from snack and we coloured, but I find that it get's to be too long for the kids and they get bored. From time to time I'll also bring out the playdoh and read stories at the table.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me to occupy the kids without going into the playroom?

Thanks!

[SunflowerMama]

What about outside time? Our schedule sounds similar and that's what we do most of the year. I pick up and clean after lunch/during nap and then they have snack around 3ish when they wake up.

After snack they play outside the rest of the day. I have a sign on the door "please let yourself in" so parents just come in and head through the house to the back yard for pick up. So after snack is cleaned up the house is clean and ready for the next day.

[cheerfuldom]

I posted this thread and received a lot of good ideas on "table activities".

https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50175

You could also take turns with allowing the kids to play in the living room (or where ever, depending on the layout of your home) that way it is not all the kids at the table all the time. I have about half my group that can handle what I call "roaming"....just playing upstairs with a small selection of toys. The rest do need to stay at the table or be seated till pickup because like you said, they just get crazy without structure. I have two kids in particular that are just downright nuts at the end of the day, every day, crying and carrying on and acting ridiculous when they are not like that the rest of the day. So yes, totally understand!

[wahmof3]

Same situation here

I have been letting them play until 15-30 minutes before time to leave. Then we clean up and color or read books until pick up.

I have tried the outside time at that time- BUT THEY WON'T GO HOME and I'm working an extra half hour just getting the DCKs to go home

[JennyBear]

I like the outside time idea so I might do that for a while. I do have a sign that sticks to my door saying "we're in the backyard" so parents can grab their kids belongings and come back and pick them up.
I did this a while back and had problems with kids not wanting to go home too, so we can try again and see what happens. I'll also likely have to stop when winter arrives, because it usually takes us the better part of 30-40 minutes to get bundled up so not much point then.

[MissAnn]

I currently have 5 ft dck's plus my almost 3 year old daughter. After their afternoon nap we have our snack. By the time snack time is over it's about 3:30pm and all of the kids go home by 4:30pm (maybe 4:45pm on occasion).

I find that if we go into the daycare playroom the kids get rowdy and make a HUGE mess and I'm left to clean it up (b/c parents come one by one and don't require the kids to clean up their mess...and if I ask them the parents don't get it and want to rush home for dinner). I also find that the kids can get too loud and like to push limits during p/u.

A while back I started sitting the children at the table once we were all cleaned up from snack and we coloured, but I find that it get's to be too long for the kids and they get bored. From time to time I'll also bring out the playdoh and read stories at the table.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for me to occupy the kids without going into the playroom?

Thanks!

Go outside! That's what I do!

[MissAnn]

I like the outside time idea so I might do that for a while. I do have a sign that sticks to my door saying "we're in the backyard" so parents can grab their kids belongings and come back and pick them up.
I did this a while back and had problems with kids not wanting to go home too, so we can try again and see what happens. I'll also likely have to stop when winter arrives, because it usually takes us the better part of 30-40 minutes to get bundled up so not much point then.

I have the sign up that just has an arrow that points the way to go. I also lock my door. I don't like them in my house when I am not inside...especially with siblings that want to snoop or play with toys.

[DBug]

My last two are picked up at 5pm, so we stay outside til 4:30. The playroom stays relatively clean, and then when we do come in, I give the two last dck's tot trays at the table (especially if I want to start dinner, talk to my own SA kids, etc) or I'll sit with them in the playroom reading books. That way as few toys as possible make it off of the shelves.

If toys do end up all over the floor, I pick them up while the dcp's are getting the kids ready to go -- it always seems to encourage them to move things along and head home more quickly when they see me picking up.

Now .... if only I could keep DD from getting the toys out again later in the evening!