How do you structure the day (not your routine per say)

I have never worked in a daycare centre but my daughter attended one for a brief time in between pregnancies. I know that they had certain things kids could do at certain times and I am interested in how that would look. For example what is available to your kids during free play? Do you limit certain activities like crafts, musical instruments etc or does free play mean everything is available?

Also, I am wondering about people's perspective on having kids put their toy away before moving on to the next. Do you reinforce this or do you have one big clean up at the end. I currently get them to tidy up as they go however I feel like I am continually reminding them which I would imagine is a bit annoying. We are all new to this though so I anticipate the reminders would become less as time moves on.

bumping this to "new posts"

For me, it really depends on the ages. For the really young kids that I have now (all under 2), crafts are only available at a specific craft time, which I do with them individually. As they get older (junior preschool and up) things will open up more. Once they hit junior preschool age, I'll let them have crayons and paper. By this age, they usually understand not to eat the crayons or write on the walls and floors. Under close supervision, and if everyone wants to participate at this age, I will bring out safety scissors, magazines and glue sticks too. At Senior Preschool age, I'll leave out crayons, markers, paper, glue sticks and maybe some collage materials for them to use at their leisure. Sometimes, with the older kids I'll also leave out some pipe cleaners, egg cartons, toilet rolls (whatever you like really) and let them be creative with them. I don't allow the kids to just go hog wild on ALL craft supplies as they tend to be expensive and they'll often just leave stuff after a minute of mucking about. I've found, too, that having too many options isn't always a good thing. The next thing you know, you're craft area is torn apart and needs serious reorganizing after just a few minutes of little hands checking it out. Painting is a supervised activity at any age, and usually has a specific time allotted during free play during which I can help them with smocks, paper set up, etc. With the little guys I have now, I stand with them while they paint, otherwise it's on them, in them and on everything else.

I worked at a Reggio themed daycare once on placement, where the kids were allowed to ransack everything, all the time. That's fine if you have lowly students to clean up the carnage afterwards :)

Freeplay here means the kids can play with any toys in the playroom, books, puzzles (upon request and one at a time), blocks, etc. Art is done with my supervision at the table and the youngest kids either join in for a brief time or just play while the older kids create their masterpieces. I don't have specific times for art, but it generally takes place before lunch sometime depending on how long/if we have been outside to play. That is also when I would do other table-top activities such as playdough, science experiments, pom pom sorting, etc. None of these things are left out for kids to grab off of shelves themselves, though they can ask and I will set it up for them if the timing is good (ie not a mealtime or naptime).

Anything that is out all the time has to be safe or more or less safe for any age that I have in care since if my back is turned one way the babies will be into stuff in the other area. While they have their morning naps is when I would do "big kid" things with the others and usually at the table so that it is easier to find things that fall off the table when it is cleanup time as compared to the middle of the playroom.

You could try to gate off an area for either the babies to be or the big kids to have special activities.

As far as putting things away I try but kids get so excited they forget. I have things in area so as long as they are in the area they can make a mess there but must clean up the mess before moving to another area. So it is ok to have the blocks out and a few dinosaurs and the barn nearby but it all must go away if they want to leave that area to go to the playhouse or book corner. So it gives them the freedom to be creative within the confines of the space. Use shelves turned sideways, area carpets, etc. to define where one kind of play stops.

I have dropoffs from 7:30-8:30, breakfast at 8:30, either outside or inside play, field trips, artwork, creating from 9-11, then the children freeplay for 1/2 an hour or so while I make lunch, 11:30 lunch, 12:00 circle time, 12:30-2:45ish nap, 3:00 snack, 3:30-4:45 pickups, so freeplay.