MY GALLERY
This is a picture in the main play area in the daycare I owned. The children were playing with one of the many "centers" we had. This one was the vehicle center. Some of the other centers were grocery store, dolls, pet center, occupations, computer center, legos, play dough, and many more ! We also had play areas. Some of those were, art, music, kitchen, garage and many more ! The sex of the child did not matter, whether we played doll center, or garage center.....we ALL played. |
I served three meals a day. On holidays or special days, I made their lunch plates to suit the event. This one was a lunch plate we had for Halloween. It has mashed potatoes, corn, a biscuit, smoked sausage (cut in strips), and ketchup for the eyes. Some of the other plates we had were, mini-mouse pancakes, green eggs and ham, bugs on a log, ants in the sand, monster trucks, and lots more! |
This was our daily schedule. Since we opened at 5:30, I put the children right back to bed until around 7:30 or so. Then we had breakfast and free play until I had cleaned up after eating and got preschool ready. Preschool 1 was for the smaller children. We went over our alphabet, and 1-20, weather, and special signs, everyday. Then we did a craft or activity. Then free play (which is a center that has been brought into the play area, or they can play in any of the open play areas) We would have a nice long lunch, then nap time. After nap we had a large snack. by that time, school kids were getting off the bus. So we would watch for them, then have preschool 2, which included an activity that all ages could do. This included carving watermelons, slip and slide, bug catching, nature walks, fun foods Friday (they created their own food snack into funny things then ate it). We then cleaned up and packed up getting ready for home.
** Each child had their own chore (just like at home), which was rotated every week. Even the little ones had a chore. ** Going outside was a big deal to me. We went out every chance we could, whether it was for class or for free play/recess. A lot of times we had our lunches or snacks in the outdoor eating area. |
This is a shot in part of the sleeping room. I had purchased individual cots (you can purchase to suit the length to the child) for every child to have their own bed that was off the floor. These were costly, almost $100 each ! They came with detachable rollers so they could be rolled out of room if you ever wanted to stack them and use the room for something else. I provided a blanket and pillow for each child. They kept this as "their own" until they left the daycare, then it was passed to another student. This eliminated, passing or bringing in bugs of any kind. It also allowed to children to recognize the bed as belonging to them and they knew where to go at nap time. I did allow them to bring in 1 stuffed animal to keep at the daycare on their bed to sleep with. Bed linens were washed every weekend ! (or unless soiled somehow) They loved coming in on Mondays to sleep, you could hear them sniffing their pillows :)
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