Hi everyone!
I currently have my daycare quite separate from my home-the playroom is on it's own floor.
I am considering creating a playroom within my home. I find that I could be using free play time to make snacks/lunch and prepare crafts where as right now I am confined to that floor. It would also give us A LOT more family space.
I would love to know everyone's thoughts!
Thank you!
I too have a dedicated playroom downstairs so when I am doing snack/lunch prep everyone comes upstairs where we normally eat and sits at the table or highchair and "chats" while I prepare the meal. Anything the requires oven time I just quickly secure the gate downstairs and turn on the oven and later again quickly slide what we are having in the oven and then bring the crew upstairs. If I have a child who is upset by my absence, then I just put them in their highchair so they can watch me.
I guess it really depends on your preference. This is my second daycare space and we do everything.....play, craft, eat, sleep, washroom etc. in my basement daycare space. My old daycare was main floor and I would never go back to that!!!! I love leaving daycare behind at the end of the day!!
I should probably clarify that I do not run my daycare at full capacity...I would not move things if I had 5 kiddos!
And its perfect!!!
I have all toddlers so its great having the sightlines to see what they are doing when I am in the kitchen prepping/cleaning up. Front door, living room (daycare room has couch, tv, and all the various toys and I have cupboards at the end of the day to store most of the toys) kitchen, dining room and backdoor to my backyard are all on the same level. I can see it all! Very convenient. I have 1 huge pressure mounted Evenflo gates sectioning off the playroom. Naptime is upstairs in the bedrooms.
I have a bit of both worlds...my entire basement is a play room/ nap room but I have a separate space on the main floor ( it's like a breakfast nook type space) that we use for eating, crafts and waiting for pickup and drop off. It's also gated so the kids can't just get out and roam around the house.
I am in the main floor too. It's very convenient having the kitchen and washroom in the main floor. I would love to have my daycare in the basement or any other part of the house where I could close the door after daycare hours. However the only way I would move to somewhere else is if I had a kitchen and washroom there.
I sounds like the option of moving to the main floor sounds better and the plus is that you will have more family space.
Sassygirl- Yes this is what I am thinking!
Artsand crafts- I agree. I likely wouldn't bother if it didn't create so much more room for our family. I have a kichenette and bathroom on my daycare, but nothing to cook with down there and god forbid I should forget to bring down EVERYTHING I will need for the day! I am just finding that I would be able to use time more wisely if I had access to my kitchen. right now I have to scramble around just to get snacks prepared!
I guess bringing food and everything to another room away from the kitchen is doable, but I find very convenient to have the kitchen right besides the play area. In the morning during arrivals I can do some lunch prep or kitchen cleaning while watching the kids free play, same thing before lunch. After meals I still can clean up eating area and kitchen while watching the kids.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daycare123
My playroom is right inside my front door, and is open to my kitchen as well.....it is one big open room with playroom at one end and kitchen at the other. We spend all our indoor time in this room except naps, which are done in the living room for older kids and playpen in bedrooms for the babies. We have a small washroom by the kitchen that is used for daycare, and the back door is next to the washroom.
So my house always looks like a daycare when you walk in, there's no hiding it at the end of the day. I don't mind it but I'm sure it would drive some people crazy!! I have a main floor laundry room where I keep toys to rotate and craft/art supplies. We do messy crafts and water play on the back deck. I use fisher price booster seats with trays at our kitchen table instead of highchairs, and these are put away in the laundry room at the end of the day.
We have an unfinished basement that my husband offered to renovate for daycare but I really like having it in the kitchen. I can get lots done during free play times, start supper at the end of the day, and I like the home-like feeling. Works for me :)
This is my second home daycare. I used to have it in the basement, but now it's on the main floor. I now have a townhouse, so the whole main floor (such as it is) is daycare. It's been a big draw for potential clients and all interviewees have commented that they prefer the main floor location. I've found it extremely convenient having the powder room, door to the back yard and the kitchen right there. I've made the daycare 'child enticing' without being covered in Care Bears and Rainbows cutesy stuff, if you know what I mean. It's child oriented, but not in a way that grates on your nerves after hours. I had our basement renovated for our own space. I have to say that I love it....it turned out really, really nice and I forget that it's a basement, so it makes the trade off less painful.
I have a separate daycare space in the basement and I know I couldn't do it any other way. Our basement used to be an apartment so I have my own daycare kitchen, bathroom, landry facilities and separate entrance. I would have difficulty trying to maintain my home's cleanliness to the standard I have for the daycare space and I am a pretty private person so I don't want families/kids in my home either.
2 negatives- I don't' like that I can't start my supper/do minimal housework like other providers can (unless I better equip the kitchen and bring down a ton of stuff.)
I don't have a view of the backyard from inside the daycare so I can't leave them even for a second to grab something (at least I am not comfortable doing so)
We also never go down there unless it's daycare which helps with the separation and also my kids don't get sick of the space/toys as they only get to see them during the week.