Daycare Room equipmetn Wish List....

Sorry for typo error in thread title. I can't change it....duh me :unsure:

I am moving house in August and moving to a place with a huge unfinished basement which I am so excited to dedicate completely to my daycare and have the wonderful opportunity to finish exactly as I want for my daycare needs. I have to say I am consumed with excitement at designing my new space to be both exciting, fun and new but also functional.

I wanted to hear what peoples ideas were for their dream daycare room
and what things people had on their wishlists but maybe they can't have due to financial or space issues. :woot:

I have way too many things to list, but my reference to send you to would be qualityclassroom.com ? .ca? You can order their catalogue or look through it online and make the perfect space. You could spend thousands in minutes. My #1 thing would be furniture to start- good shelving/low bookcases for the toys and activities that would wrap around the entire room. #2 would be to upgrade the quality of toys and activities. Have fun designing!

I have loads of ideas and a huge wishlist of my own but looking for other peoples dream items for some new ideas :)

I would want 5 cubbies for the children to place all their belongings. Low well organized shelves for toys, I like cube shelves for toy storage and easy tidy up. I loved having an aquarium in my playroom. I also love having a book case with display and nice soft pillow and chairs to sit in. I would build a facade sp? Of a house in front of my everyday living area ..... Or have a loft space. I also had a climber in one area of my basement with ride on toys .... For those rainy or really cold winter days. A sink near my art area and three art stations or a blackboard on the wall.

A floor with a drain...water safe everything & a big hose to simply hose everything off at night. Wouldn't that be cool? Okay, so...back to reality...I would love a gymnastics area...foam balancing beams, ball or foam pit to jump in, trampoline, those big gym mat material rubber shapes that you can position any way, spring floor, big mirrored wall...amazing sound system.

I would want square rooms not rectangle - that has been my issue in just about every house we have lived in because I only get part of the basement. Long and narrow means moving through one area to get to the next or similar traffic pattern issues. I would build half walls to separate areas to maintain an open feel and movement of air and light. I would insulate the floor or use those dricore squares under if not using carpet. I would install a bathroom, double laundry tubs, kitchenette or bar area with fridge and microwave.

My dream space would have had a seperate entrance to the daycare and a kitchenette downstairs so 'everything' was contained - but that did not happen ;)

For the 'room' my staples are:

Child size cubbies for their belongings and boots/shoes ... that they can access them to get dressed and so forth and parents know where to go for 'dirty clothes / art / etc". Fortunately my spouse made mine for a fraction of what Quality Classrooms charge and we stained and painted them the same color to 'blend' into the wall so they are not too much of an eye sore in our foyer!

Childsize table and chairs for both meal time and for creative art / sensory time ... this was the best investment I ever made because being able to be independent at these times of day helps...instead of highchairs I bought booster seats that FIT onto the child size chairs so that the kids are all at the same height for meal time - infants love this!

Dramatic play / kitchen area - well stocked with materials that promote role playing and dress up in a variety of 'real life ways' ... I want to upgrade to a nice natural wooden one but cannot find one so might have to DYI what I want cause I needed a 'corner style' one for where I want to keep it

Quality set of wooden blocks for a block corner and accessories that promote imaginative building and creating including ramps and gully style blocks to create 'rolling structures' ... my kids will play for hours here!!!

Book Nook .... if I had the space I would :wub: me a loft style one where the book nook is up top with a nice place to curl up and it could be a place away from 'babies' if needed be for older ids and under neath could be the 'dark cave' with the light table under it and flashlights and things that glow and make 'magic reflections' and on the side of one of it a 'puppet / felt board' area for literacy ... we had one of these custom made in a centre I worked at and it was AWESOME!!!!

A Light table is a must ... again you can make a DYI for cheaper than Quality Classrooms

Quality musical instruments for exploring

Child size shelves for variety of floor toys that promote open ended explorations

ETA forgot the 'wooden dollhouse' it is plain wood and serves as not only the dollhouse but also the firefighters hall, the Dr office or Hospital, the Vet clinic and various other 'structures' depending on their interests as I have a variety of different accessories but the 'doll house' is a staple since I got rid of the Little Tykes / Fischer Price 'themed structures' that normally are used cause they took up way too much space to rotate.

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Originally Posted by playfelt

I would insulate the floor or use those dricore squares under if not using carpet. .

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Great idea, I never thought of this. Thanks

Ya we are getting the dricore when we replace the floor in the playroom in July (had a flood in the Fall last year) and picked out a 'commercial' hardwood laminate cross which can be steamed - but it looks awesome and homey!

I would stay away from wall to wall carpet personally for a child's play space ... easier to clean tile or hardwood and use 'area rugs' for soft places cause if they get peed or puked on you can toss them into the washing machine ;)

Plus wall to wall carpet is an 'allergen' for many now a days :(

I plan to have half the room in carpet and half the room in some kind of commercial grade vinyl (thicker, more durable and warmer) I have a rug doctor so I can wash the carpet no problem and I'm not a fan of rugs as IMO they can be a hazard for tripping on edges and even though you can put the non slip pieces underneath them to keep them in one place, I find that dust and crumbs quickly accumulate under them so it becomes more work to lift them and clean under them every day rather than just vacuum the carpet.

I have found a great website with resources for setting a daycare room up. Half the room is classified as wet which is then split in to 2 spaces for craft, water play, meals, entryway and the other half is classified as dry, split into 2 spaces again, 1 side a busy area for blocks, active play, cars etc and the other half is quiet play so storytime, circle time, puzzles etc. The website goes into great detail about configuiration of these areas in the room and defining the areas so the children understand what each space is for. I think this is a fabulous idea and I've really only scraped the surface of the things this website covers. Check it out and repost

www.communityplaythings.com

Oh those plan your room programs are awesome - most of the big 'daycare equipment companies' have those options as well ... great so you can see how their materials will fit into your room and how much it will cost and so forth for budgetting ... when I worked in administration in centre and was helping to open classrooms and well had 'budgets' that could better afford those commercial equipments this planning was my FAVORITE part!

I bet!! My husband is very good at building things so he is going to build a lot of the wooden partitions himself. He made my daycare kids cubbies and my toy storage centre that I have now and he's even made them for other people too, so I will be able to get some great ideas from these kinds of websites while saving money on buying the commercial equipment by having him make them instead.

I am very excited, can you tell? haha the highlight of my life, sad but true :woot:

Well I have a lot of what was already suggested like the separate entrance from the garage, kitchenette with sink, mini fridge, microwave, and cupboards, full bathroom and a 4x8 magnetic chalkboard. So I guess my wish list would be to expand my play structure outside and have it surrounded in sand like at the parks.

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Originally Posted by bright sparks

www.communityplaythings.com

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. Oh wow; love love love this! All of the 'centres'!

I know, how exciting lol :D

I would love my hubby to finish the basement section of my daycare space! lol We have a separate entrance to the basement; which my dance students use, but not my daycare kids.

Only thing that is left is the bathroom. I have a playroom (approx 400 sq ft) that turns into a sleep room, and in the evenings and Sat morns turns into my dance studio. There's a kitchen with table & chairs for each child.

I would love some of the toys that daycare centers can afford! :) If only!

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Originally Posted by Play and Learn

I would love some of the toys that daycare centers can afford! :) If only!

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I know, right!!!