Infant Room Decor

[small_steps]

Anyone only accept infants into care that will share their pics with me? I'm really interested in turning my licensed home daycare into infant only care. Currently I accept birth-5 years old and I'm ready for a change. I have a few ideas of how I will set up my room once I'm infant only care but would love some other ideas.

This will be an investment for me. I will have to buy all new cribs because I have been using pak n plays since the new crib standards became effective. I really want it to be kind of "High End", nice new cribs, matching high chairs, sounds silly probably but in this area I think that if I do that and make it really nice that it will be a great success and hopefully I will stay full.

Anyone else do this and do you stop at 18 months or is it better to stop at 2?

[Crazy In Mo]

ALL infants You are brave

[small_steps]

Only 4 not too bad. I used to work in an infant room in a center years ago and it was a ratio of 1:4 and really it was not bad at all. Get them all on a similar schedule and it's usually not bad at all.

[blandino]

Have contemplated doing this many many times !! Right now we have an infant room, and I will share pictures as soon as I get to a real computer !!

We always contemplated stopping at 2. Actually we were going to say 2/potty training age (because obviously in an infant only daycare you aren't going to want to be working on PT - and it will atop any issues with premature toilet training.

Right now we have an area with a mini fridge/bottle warmer/ bottle bins for bottle making. Cribs set up for each child against one wall, swings and chairs toward another wall. And a large changing table. Also, at the front of the room we have little "parking spots" with a sign for each child, and it the place to keep their car seat and diaper bag.

I always struggle as far as wall decor in that room - because they aren't old enough for art. In the past I have made seasonal themed items (flowers, suns, leaves, snowflakes), one for each child with their name and picture on them and hung them up on the walls.

[Heidi]

I've am doing this now. Starting in March, I will have 3 full-time and 1 part-time infant. Because most of my older children are moving, I will be starting with all babies again.

I'm looking forward to it, and am considering moving completely to a Birth-3 program, which would have the children "graduating" the fall after their 3rd birthday.

We'll see how I feel in 3 years. Maybe I will keep that group (assuming the parents want me to) and just add a few new friends and get more into the preschool stuff again.

So...for environment, I think catering to that clientle, you could really try to stick to simple materials and wood toys. Look at Community Playthings website for some ideas.

I would really stay away from "equipment" like all those bright, colorful excersaucers, swings, etc. A small table like this instead of high-chairs:

http://www.communityplaythings.com/products/chairs/medoit/index.html

Lots of wood and natural colors with some snippets of color, but not overwhelming. You could start out with a few simple materials, then add more as the children grow.

Do some research on the late Madga Gerber and the REI Institute. That will give you tons of ideas. You don't have to become a purest "Educarer", but she had some great ideas that are now part of most good infant programs. Things like telling an infant what you are doing, such as before you pick them up, you say "I am going to pick you up now". She also believed in focusing fully on young children for short periods of time each day, but then letting them be, too. Children from her programs usually do really well in Waldorf or Montessori settings later, so if you have any of those in your area, you could possibly colaborate with them.

If you are really interested in going full blown, she advocated laying the babies on crib mattresses on the floor, teaching them to seek out sleep when they needed it. Our licensing regs wouldn't allow that here-and for me that's going too far, but it's kind of cool.

In order to foster quality care, RIE encourages:
•Basic trust in the child to be an initiator, an explorer and a self-learner
•An environment for the child that is physically safe, cognitively challenging and emotionally nurturing
•Time for uninterrupted play
•Freedom to explore and interact with other infants
•Involvement of the child in all care activities to allow the child to become an active participant rather than a passive recipient
•Sensitive observation of the child in order to understand his or her needs
•Consistency, clearly defined limits and expectations to develop discipline


Here is a link to RIE:

http://www.rie.org/

[small_steps]

Have contemplated doing this many many times !! Right now we have an infant room, and I will share pictures as soon as I get to a real computer !!

We always contemplated stopping at 2. Actually we were going to say 2/potty training age (because obviously in an infant only daycare you aren't going to want to be working on PT - and it will atop any issues with premature toilet training.

Right now we have an area with a mini fridge/bottle warmer/ bottle bins for bottle making. Cribs set up for each child against one wall, swings and chairs toward another wall. And a large changing table. Also, at the front of the room we have little "parking spots" with a sign for each child, and it the place to keep their car seat and diaper bag.

I always struggle as far as wall decor in that room - because they aren't old enough for art. In the past I have made seasonal themed items (flowers, suns, leaves, snowflakes), one for each child with their name and picture on them and hung them up on the walls.

wow! Thats really a lot like I'm thinking I will do mine. I have about 400sq feet in my daycare room and I was thinking I would put 4 cribs on one, have my glider rocker in a corner, put some swings and jumperoos in there on another wall and have some open floor space for crawling. I also want a tummy time area with mirrors and such. I love the idea of a "Parking Spot" area for car seats and such.

I want some stuff for the walls too...I'm also thinking about a quote on the wall. You know the old saying that went something like this
"What are little boys made of?
Snakes and snails, and puppy dogs tails
That's what little boys are made of !"
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice and all things nice
That's what little girls are made of!"

I want that on a wall somewhere. Maybe some other cute baby type things. I want a really calming atmosphere. I think that's what I need. I'm ready for a change. I think this may be the one for me at least for a few years. I love sitting and rocking a sweet smelling baby. I do have one infant in care now but with others from 2-5 I have no time to cuddle him as much as I would like.

[Heidi]

I found this, too. It's the ITER-S R checklist. Great tool!

https://www.elcbigbend.org/.../Infant-Toddler+Environment+checklist.pdf

[melilley]

I'm jealous! I wish I could do just infants! In my state I can only have 4 under 30 months and only 2 of the four can be under 18 months.

[Patches]

I want to do this someday. My only thing that I have to share with you is my table. I LOVE my table and it would work for that age group instead of or in addition to high chairs.They sell them in 4 seaters which would be perfect for you

[Heidi]

I want to do this someday. My only thing that I have to share with you is my table. I LOVE my table and it would work for that age group instead of or in addition to high chairs.They sell them in 4 seaters which would be perfect for you

[ATTACH]1352[/ATTACH]

I can see where that table would be cool!

Unfortunately, according to ITERs or FCCERs, those tables are on the no-no list.

[small_steps]

[QUOTE=Heidi;307439]I've am doing this now. Starting in March, I will have 3 full-time and 1 part-time infant. Because most of my older children are moving, I will be starting with all babies again.

I'm looking forward to it, and am considering moving completely to a Birth-3 program, which would have the children "graduating" the fall after their 3rd birthday.

We'll see how I feel in 3 years. Maybe I will keep that group (assuming the parents want me to) and just add a few new friends and get more into the preschool stuff again.

So...for environment, I think catering to that clientle, you could really try to stick to simple materials and wood toys. Look at Community Playthings website for some ideas.



I would really stay away from "equipment" like all those bright, colorful excersaucers, swings, etc. A small table like this instead of high-chairs:

http://www.communityplaythings.com/products/chairs/medoit/index.html

Lots of wood and natural colors with some snippets of color, but not overwhelming. You could start out with a few simple materials, then add more as the children grow.

Do some research on the late Madga Gerber and the REI Institute. That will give you tons of ideas. You don't have to become a purest "Educarer", but she had some great ideas that are now part of most good infant programs. Things like telling an infant what you are doing, such as before you pick them up, you say "I am going to pick you up now". She also believed in focusing fully on young children for short periods of time each day, but then letting them be, too. Children from her programs usually do really well in Waldorf or Montessori settings later, so if you have any of those in your area, you could possibly colaborate with them.

If you are really interested in going full blown, she advocated laying the babies on crib mattresses on the floor, teaching them to seek out sleep when they needed it. Our licensing regs wouldn't allow that here-and for me that's going too far, but it's kind of cool.

In order to foster quality care, RIE encourages:
•Basic trust in the child to be an initiator, an explorer and a self-learner
•An environment for the child that is physically safe, cognitively challenging and emotionally nurturing
•Time for uninterrupted play
•Freedom to explore and interact with other infants
•Involvement of the child in all care activities to allow the child to become an active participant rather than a passive recipient
•Sensitive observation of the child in order to understand his or her needs
•Consistency, clearly defined limits and expectations to develop discipline


Here is a link to RIE:

http://www.rie.org/[/QUOTE


Great ideas here Heidi! I love the little wooden chairs as opposed to high chairs. I will also look into the RIE information more. The crib mattresses on th floor wouldn't fly here either with licensing but the concepts sound interesting.