Daycare Slump

I have been running my daycare for a few years now, and all of my kids are getting older. I feel like I need to structure my day differently than when I first started out (used to be all 1 year olds, now they're all 3). I want to do something more educational and interesting but still not overstructure their day, as they are all such good friends who love to play together for free time. Any tips? Right now they do circle time that includes calendar, weather, songs, books, abcs, numbers. I want to add more to their circle time and also have some new activities.
Thanks in advance! :)

Check out pinterest!! SOme really great and fantastic ideas there :)

Also, when I get in a slump, something as easy as rearranging the room, selling toys to buy new ones and putting up different art work and posters on the wall helps!

Your circle time sounds great! Have you done some interactive circle time where they act out the story or song? Have you done themes?

Go with what the kids are doing as well....if they are talking about dinosaurs, make that your theme. I sort most of my toys in themes so that it's easy to grab. I would grab my dinosaur toys and books and put those in the playroom. I'd bring out the dinosaur costumes, have them make dinosaur masks etc. Can do this with so many different themes....being organized has helped me do this!

Again, check pinterest. I get almost all my ideas from there lol

5LM, you should come organize like that for me. Maybe you could have a second home based business, and become a daycare consultant, helping daycares get started, and helping them get organized.

I was doing a Letter of the Week and did our crafts around what letter it was. We then switched to Number of the week when we were done the letters. For summer we are at a standstill with my basement being unusable and all daycare supplies in storage so it is free play and coloring only.

Don't worry too much about being too structured in summer, let the kids play outside and have fun.

Yes pinterest is awesome for great ideas!

haha thanks Superfun! That might actually be kinda fun! I love organizing and rearranging :)

My fiance thinks I'm nuts....I'm constantly buying new things for the daycare to help me get better organized and am always rearranging my supplies/toys/books etc so that it's easier to grab and makes more sense. I have taken over the whole basement, the backyard shed and am slowly making my way into the garage (aka...his man cave lol) He would love if I used some of my energy on organizing other people's spaces and left his alone LMAO

Deal. I'm sure there would be more than just me that need help organizing. My sister needs even more help than I do!

We do monthly themes here , starting September it will be ,"all about me ", everything crafts , books , worksheets will focus on reinforcing the theme !
The most popular theme was friends of our neighbourhood ! We picked policeman , fireman , dentist and soldier . Every week focused on one , they loved making police hats and we made booklets of our numbers with blue fingerprints !!
I'm with you 5lm !!! I love organizing and detailing !!!

I also do a theme each month and also do crafts that are related to the theme. I try to relate our circles to our theme also. I really like the "Making Learning Fun" website. They have tons of themes and activities!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions! I think part of my slump is that I haven't been getting into my themes as much as I usually do...and yes that is because we spend a LOT of time outside. We are usually outside right now from 9am to noon, and 4pm to 530pm...so other than arrival and naps, we are enjoying every minute we can outside (it was a loooooong winter!). Thanks again for the suggestions and theme ideas. I think I need to get more organized also. I am going to take a day this weekend and invest in some new craft supplies, and pre-prepare some good crafts for our rainy days.

why not just wait until September? I am like you, summer is for outside and IMO that is the best place for kids. We spend enough time indoors all winter.

A lot of what we do inside can also be done outside! Most of the time our outdoor play is free play but I also took the opportunity this year to plant a small garden and use that for some structured learning. When we go for walks, it takes us 30 minutes to go around the block because we stop to discuss things we see and there's usually a neighbour out that we stop and chat with, especially the ones with dogs! I bought a white bed sheet and the kids are going to get paint filled guns to decorate it to use for fort building. I clip a chalkboard onto the fence and they get to do art if they want. Little things like this don't seem like much but it's an easy way to get some structured learning into the day while still outside. The UV has been high and looks like all next week will be too so unfortunately I've been limiting our time outdoors still anyways :(

I just remembered we haven't had our car wash yet! It was the favourite activity from last summer. I drag all the ride on toys to the driveway, put them in swimsuits and give them buckets of soapy water! They love it!! (I'm a fan of free play but when I don't plan some activities I feel lazy and like I'm just a babysitter....I pride myself on being a dcprovider)

I feel the same way !! I run my themes September -June , July and August we spend the majority of time at the park in the morning and outside after 3 . It is soo hot and humid outside we skipped going out this afternoon !! Ugh
Even though all my parents know it's free play mostly for summer , I still feel guilty when they go home with just free time art work !
This morning we brought out 4 big plastic containers and I mixed food dye in them and we mixed the colours to experiment what different colours we could make !
Lots of fun ! Then tried to teach them the rainbow colours in order and we made chalk rainbows .