Daycare Space Advice

[BrynleeJean]

To preface: I’m prego and haven’t been running my home daycare for two years. I plan to open shortly after baby is born again.
So my DH came to me (weeks after rejecting the idea of having the daycare in the garage) saying why don’t we go buy a new house and rent out our current one (we have a ton of equity in it) and win win. DH wants a house in this nice neighborhood making express homes, fast, nice, all upgraded and stuff to a point And it’s thriving and in the neighborhood for ideal daycare
We are stuck between two floor plans
One two story: the daycare would have to be in the HUGE living room down stairs with enough space for my furniture and daycare stuff, their would be a two story echo and I can’t “close the doors on the daycare day”
Or the one story : two smaller rooms which I licensed my last house for as the main rooms and the dining and living would be licensed as just extra sometimes rooms or whatever. So can close the doors on the daycare equiptment but not as much space like when touring two small rooms isn’t as good as one nice big open one but I “can close the door on the daycare day “ but it maybe be hard to wanna spend 10.5 hours in a couple small rooms all day.
Okay help?

[e.j.]

If it were me, I'd rather have day care rooms I could close the door on after hours. The pros to having two rooms for me would be being able to separate two kids who don't get along and being able to separate older kids from the younger kids. (One of the biggest issues I have right now is the older kids wanting to play without the younger kids invading their space.) Depending on the size of the rooms, it would also be nice to make one into a play room and the other in to a napping room. (I get tired of having to put away the port-a-cribs and cots every day.) Do the rooms adjoin? Is there a door between them so you could easily supervise both rooms at the same time? If you're looking at plans and the house isn't built yet, would the builder consider making a slight change to the plans, making the two rooms one large room?

[MarinaVanessa]

I have young kids of my own .... one is two, one if four, one is seven and then I have my 13yo. Because I have two young ones I'd never be able to have no toys in the other "non-daycare" rooms anyway and I like an open feel so I'd pick the open space. Maybe that's because I've always had my daycare in a smallish area up to now though. I don't have a huge space and I'm feeling a bit crammed and I'd love to have more space to have designated "centers" and such.

[HappyEverAfter]

I’d go with the one story since there would be an echo in the two story. I have a large, open floor plan with vaulted ceilings throughout and one thing that has really bothered me is the echoing. It can make one crying baby sound like three crying babies. And oh my goodness if you get a screamer will you ever hate that echo! And every teeny tiny noise made during nap time will make the children stir a little. I’d also much rather have two rooms where doors could be shut during non daycare hours so that you aren’t constantly seeing daycare equipment everywhere. I’d also recommend using one room for play and one for naps.

[BrynleeJean]

Thanks!
I think we are getting the one story with two rooms. I’m nervous but think it will be best and this neighborhood in general has an amenity center with a park and maybe a splash park in the future I can walk down the street and take the kids to so I’m super excited

If you guys have a “napping room” in order to leave your cots or pack n plays up, do you just leave the room packed with them and tour it like that to potential clients?
I use mats for kids that walk, and kids that don’t use cribs, ones that fold up, I’ve never thought about putting them away when they weren’t sleeping and have never had more than three that didn’t walk so all cribs were up all the time, if it’s more though idk if it’s better to have all our and crowd a room or put them away when not using

[storybookending]

Thanks!
I think we are getting the one story with two rooms. I’m nervous but think it will be best and this neighborhood in general has an amenity center with a park and maybe a splash park in the future I can walk down the street and take the kids to so I’m super excited

If you guys have a “napping room” in order to leave your cots or pack n plays up, do you just leave the room packed with them and tour it like that to potential clients?
I use mats for kids that walk, and kids that don’t use cribs, ones that fold up, I’ve never thought about putting the away when they weren’t sleeping and have never had more than three that didn’t walk so all cribs were up all the time, if it’s more though idk if it’s better to have all our and crowd a room or put them away when not using

I have a nap room for my older children but all my older kids sleep in toddler beds that stay up for tours and such. My regs state each child needs to be at least 2 feet apart which keeps it from looking too crowded. I have 4 in the room now and can fit 5 toddler beds although 5 does look very crowded but are still more than 2 feet apart.. although just barely. It will be late summer/early fall before I need the 5 beds set up as my youngest is still in a pack n play in another (my) room. If you worry it’s too crowded you can always just keep them up day to day but for tours put them away and stack them.