Question about Day Care Sheduels?

[Brooke91]

Hey Ladies,

Just wondering what kind of schedules you guys use with your youngsters, now that the weather is nice and we can spend way more time outdoors.

Not really sure what to do now and how much time we should spend inside. As it is we have quiet time from around 1-3. Also what do you guys do with your older kids that do not nap for quiet time?

Thanks for the help! :)

[Artsand crafts]

We spend all morning outdoors, comeback right before lunch and nap. After nap time they have planned activities such as crafts, sensory activities, etc., free play and pick up.

When I had kids that did not sleep they were doing quiet activities such as reading, puzzles, coloring. Currently, all my kids are napping and love it. I get to have a break!!! I think I will continue giving care only for kids that nap as some of the ladies in this forum had mentioned they are doing... We need to take care of ourselves to avoid burning out.

[playfelt]

I still have infants that nap so pretty much we are inside all day and outside after naptime till hometime. The back yard is shaded if we wait till late afternoon and it works well. We are putting in a deck this summer and will use that first thing in the morning once everyone is here so outside but doing "clean" stuff on the deck as compared to down on the ground, in the sand, etc. Then come in to have snack and babies to bed. In the afternoon we will be down on the grass area where the climber, swings, sandbox, bubbles, etc will be.

I only take kids up to age 3 so morning naps are pretty much a given around here. Also don't have kids that don't nap in the afternoon.

[Momof4]

I feed the children breakfast at 8:30, we are outside from 9am-11ish, freeplay while I prepare lunch, then circle time, nap is usually 12:30ish to 3ish, afternoon snack then freeplay because I have pickups between 3:30-4:45.

[cfred]

We have breakfast from 8:30 till 9:00, then out for a loooonnnngggg walk (in the warmer months). In the winter we will do crafts, circle, etc. 10:30am - free play while I prepare lunch. 11am, lunch. 11:30 - bum changes, story time, songs, then nap from 12-3. 3-3:30 is another round of bum changes and snack. Then (in warmer months) outside till parents come. In colder months, we do our crafts, free play, and structured games during this time. In the warm months, I take the easel and craft supplies outside. Sometimes, if the mood strikes us, we may go for another walk in the afternoon.

[mommylove]

Breakie @ 815....9 to 10 circle time, craft time, then 10-11 30 outside, 1130 to 12 lunch, 12 to 1230 story time, bum changes,then naps are from 12 30 to 3 (ish), 3 till 400 outside.We are outside as much as possible I ask my parents to not pick up until 4pm as we are outside until that time sometimes we will not do craft or circle time and will be outside from 830 to 1130....as we can sing songs and learn through play outdoors and I hate wasting any sunshine cause the winter months are sooooo long theres plenty of time for crafts and such when its miserable outside:)

[Crayola kiddies]

We have breakfast from 730-815 free play till 9, outside from 9-11. Lunch 11:15-12 nap 12:15-3:15 , snack and pickups start at 3:45.
Every one naps here...not negotiable !

[JennJubie]

I feed the children breakfast at 8:30, we are outside from 9am-11ish, freeplay while I prepare lunch, then circle time, nap is usually 12:30ish to 3ish, afternoon snack then freeplay because I have pickups between 3:30-4:45.

We're pretty much about the same here. Throw in picking my son off the bus at around 3:30.

[apples and bananas]

I have some later drop offs. So we do circle time at 9am, followed by snack around 9;30 then we're outside until 11. We eat at 11:30 and nap runs from 12 - 2:30. I have a bus pick up at 3pm, then snack at 3:30. Outside until pick up.

Kids will do craft time either in the am before snack or in the afternoon instead of outside if it's too hot. Or we may do craft time before we go outside and have a shorter outside time in the afternoon.

We don't do craft time every day in the summer. We also may do some crafting outside some days.

[AmandaKDT]

My older daughter, who will be 4 in August, hasn't napped for almost a year already so I don't mind taking older kids that don't nap either. Morning is free play/snack/circle time/learning activity or art followed but playing outside until lunch time. I will be doing some of the learning activities and art outside as much as possible while the weather is nice. Quiet time is from around 1 to 3 pm followed by snack and more time outside.

Quiet time is books, colouring and/or cartoons for the ones that don't nap. I don't have TV on other than during that time. So the ones that nap don't watch any TV at all. It is my way of ensuring I get some total down time to refill my engine for the rest of the day. And I don't feel guilty about it at all. :)

[Sandbox Sally]

I've started doing circle time just before lunch since the weather's been so great. The daycare kids want to be outside ALL the time now. I will generally bring out snack to them and they have it on the deck, then back to the play structures. I prep morning snack in the early morning when dck's are free playing, waiting for everyone to arrive.

I have four all day kids, and all but one are nappers. During nap time, Miss M is expected to read books quietly, or sometimes I will put a movie on for her. I do not play with her during this time, though. She knows that when the babies go down, she is to remain calm and quiet. Of course if she needs me, I reply. LOL

After nap, we clean up, have snack, and we are back outside until about 30 mins before parent pick up. I like this routine very much, and my house stays clean too! ;)

[sunnydays]

My routine is pretty much exactly the same as Momof4. I serve snack at 8:30 (or second breakfast..LOL) and then we get outside and take my son to the bus, go for a walk, and head to the park for the rest of the morning. Then it's lunch, clean-up, stories, and naptime from 12:30-3. I do songs, letters, etc while they are in their booster seats...so that is my circle time I suppose...plus we do other activities like felt stories, pocket chart acitvities etc when we are inside on bad weather days. In the afernoon, we go play in the backyard again until pick-up time if it is not too hot (my backyard is not shady in the afternoon), otherwise we stay in and it's mostly freeplay as pick-ups start at 4pm.

[Momof4]

If we are outside in the sunshine too long in the morning and lunch is about 1/2 an hour late and I want to stay on schedule for naptime I read stories and get out my finger puppets while the children eat their lunch. That way we have a mini circle time but at least I'm still including it as a part of our day. That has been happening a lot lately, thanks to the wonderful sunshine. Finally!

[Sassygirl]

I have early arrivals here and all 11-14 month olds who still take 2 naps.
7:30 breakfast
8:00-8:30 free play or backyard play
8:30-10 morning naps
10:00 free play inside while I prep and cook lunch
11:00 lunch
11:30 walk to park/backyard play
1:00-3:00 afternoon nap
3:15 snack
3:30-5:30 pick ups. Free play inside or backyard