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My art supplies are open too. My kids make choices all throughout the day and all centers are open most of the day. I teach them to get out what they want and then put away when they are done. It's hard in August when I get a new crop of kids but this time of year it is marvelous with very well trained kiddos. I am all about self help skills. I also only take 3-5 year olds with an occassional 2.5 year old in the summer when enrollment is low.
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Do you have rules for your art supply area? I'd love some guidance there. I've tried to keep ours open, but paper goes everywhere, markers don't get lids, etc. My biggest pet peeve is when a kid gets a stack of paper and marks on one, then moves on to the next one. I don't get the appeal,
! :confused:
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What are your ages of kids?Do you have rules for your art supply area? I'd love some guidance there. I've tried to keep ours open, but paper goes everywhere, markers don't get lids, etc. My biggest pet peeve is when a kid gets a stack of paper and marks on one, then moves on to the next one. I don't get the appeal,! :confused:
Mine will lose the privilege of using any center they abuse. I am very strict about this.
I give each child a pencil pouch with markers. They each get the package of 8. They learn to count to 8 quickly, making sure they have all their markers! LOL If they lose a marker, they don't get a replacement for at least a week.
If they don't put lids back on the playdough....the playdough dries out and they don't get replacements. I show them how to put the lid on tight my turning it upside down and pushing the lid on that way.
I have small carpets on my floor. When they get out an activity they may bring it to a carpet square (rectangle) or a table. It is their job to clean it up afterwards. Other kids will remind them if they don't do this!
They know what paper is for coloring (typing paper) and what is for cutting (construction).....if they abuse this, they lose their privilige.
Hope this helps! It works wonders for me! They rarely lose their priviliges because I am consistent and they know what I expect.Comment
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Yes !!! We recently moved the daycare to a seperate house, and while it is a seperate house for daycare only - it is no where near as nice as our personal home (affording two homes like our personal home is out of the question financially). So we worried because it wasn't nearly as nice... But then again we do have a seperate house for the daycare - so that says something too - right ?
Other than the safe and clean elements, I prefer clients to choose me for me and the quality of services I offer.
If someone chose to pass me by due to the fact that my child care home is older or not state of the art, then I honestly wouldn't want them as clients.
If they value the cosmetics verses the substance.....then I assume the issues they will have are not things I would ever want to deal with.
Pass.
I am still a little self-conscious, because I feel like the of our personal house was a selling point for the daycare before. But our current clients come to us for us, and the care their children receive - and are happy that we can have our house back. And new clients haven't seemed to mind that the house is a little shabby from the outside... I actually asked my best friend who is a DCM and she said "yes, the outside is a little shabby - but the inside is fun, adorable, and clean and that's definitely what I care about".Comment
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My children are currently 23 months-2 1/2 years but I've had them as young as 15 months. My space works wonderfully for them.My art supplies are open for the children to use but I only have children ages 2.5 to 5 and the 2.5-year-old is an exception. I provide care for ages 3-5. If one wants to do something, they all want to do it so we tend to do art as a group (although, sometimes one will want to continue playing so we may not have the entire group).
I keep hard cover books and board books available for the children at all times. There are a ton (in the hundreds...). Softcover books are in thematic unit boxes that I read to them since those tend to get really crazy looking if I put them out.
I love organization and keep my place of business organized and clean. The children have center time and it can get "messy" looking if you were to walk in then with toys on the floor (although they typically do a great job of putting things back), but that's about as crazy looking as it gets beyond the normal art time mess at their designated small tables.
Each of my children have their own art box that has crayons, scissors and colored pencils. If they are older I add markers. Their art boxes are labeled with their names and all of my 2 year olds can recognize which one is theirs and go get it off the shelf. I like this because now there is no fighting over a certain shade of a color because they each have their own. If we paint or do other messy activities we do it as a group and I get those supplies out of the cupboard.
I keep all of the board books out and have a few soft cover books in the reading area that I rotate.
I also love things to be organized and clean. Things run very smooth and it never takes long to pick up or find an item we need for an experiment or craft.
My place does get a little messy during center time. There is usually some sand on the floor from the sand and water table, some blocks amiss, a few books behind the book shelf and play food, costumes and doll clothes spread about but for the most part they put stuff away before moving on to the next activity and tend to at least try to put things back where they go.Comment
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I would say that my space is part of the quality services I offer along with nutritional food, learning activities and of course me. None of my clients value cosmetics more than substance (at least in this situation) but most are college professors, graduates or teaching students (we live very close to UNI) so they know how the environment and equipment impacts learning. Other than the safe and clean elements, I prefer clients to choose me for me and the quality of services I offer.
If someone chose to pass me by due to the fact that my child care home is older or not state of the art, then I honestly wouldn't want them as clients.
If they value the cosmetics verses the substance.....then I assume the issues they will have are not things I would ever want to deal with.
Pass.Comment
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I guess I worded it wrong and should have said dirty carpet instead of stained. Stains happen with art activities and such but when you walk across the carpet and your white socks get dirty that's just gross. I visited a place like that. My socks were disgusting afterwards and the whole time I was there a baby was crawling all over it. Blech!Comment
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My home is only about 1400 square feet and all one level. We have 3 bedrooms, the master and our kids' rooms, that are all off limits to the daycare. Our living room has been converted over to a giant preschool room, complete with bulletin boards on the walls. We do leave a sectional sofa in there and a tv, for our kids to be able to hang out in the "living room" at night or on the weekends. The daycare kids also have free reign of our kitchen and the main bathroom. We use our good wooden dining table for all of our arts, crafts, meals, group activities, etc. Yes, I do wish we had a bigger house but maybe in due time. We started off having more of a traditional living room with just a few toys. We live right in the middle of the city and our competition is the local centers so after several tours didn't sign up, we slowly switched things over to look more like an actual preschool. I think it just depends on where you live though. I had a daycare out in the country that looked like a regular house with just one bedroom made into a playroom and I was quite successful. Now that I'm in the middle of town I have had to look more professional to be successful. Good luck!Comment
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