Essentials for new daycare

Hello!
I am in the process of setting up my new home daycare. I have an idea of what is required but wanted some expertise on what you MUST have in the very beginning.
I have strapped booster seats for the table, some toys and 2 pack & plays.
I have a 10 month daughter and currently have 2x2year old boys registered to start in 3 weeks. My house is baby gate central and completely baby proofed but if there is anything that popped up in your situation that the average person wouldn't think about, please let me know. I am also curious what people use for toddler nap times. I'm not sure what parents expect from a home based day care.

For Safety
* baby gates, cupboard locks, outlet covers
* fire extinguisher, safety kits in play area and outside, carbon monoxide detector

For Naptime
* playpens for 2.5-ish year old and younger, fold away cots for 2.5 and up or if potty trained
* spare blankets

For Toys
* assortment of toys for varying ages
* blocks, dolls, kitchen play, cars, balls, little people, books are the most basic and what most kids will play with. This is what I started with and than bought more as I went along.
* weather is nice so outdoor toys will be needed as well. Ride in/on's, play house, play structure, balls, chalk, bubbles, push toys, teeter totter

For Feeding
* I prefer a child sized table and chairs but if not, booster seats
* lots of child friendly dishes, bibs, cutlery

That's all I can think of for now :)

Wagon, or multiple stroller. Park toys, sand bucket etc. hooks by door for outdoor clothing.

My first thought would be to start with your 10month old (likely not fully mobile) child and two 2yr old boys starting I would find a way to have your daughter sectioned off from the boys (not secluded but in a contained space) this will allow you to let them all play while you do meal prep etc without worry that 2 active busy toddler boys will trample her. Once they all get used to each other then thy can remain in the same area...but it will be a bit of an adjustment for all at first so sectioning her off will help wonders!!

LOTS of washcloths! I find I go through a ton of washcloths.
scotch tape, I am forever taping books together again
a good sturdy stool for hand washing in the bathroom
I have kept every pair of splash pants my kids ever had (and a few extra I picked up at thrift stores) I always have at least a couple parents that "cant find them" shopping, or "forget" to bring them, so I always have the extras on hand. Also lots of spare mitts, in all kinds of sizes.
Also, I don't bother with bibs , but if I do have a really young one I will put an old shirt overtop of their clothes when they eat the messy foods, spaghetti, soup, yogurt etc
I have some toys that only come out for "special "play, different blocks, building toys, thomas set, race car set etc, that way on a rainy day, the kids don't get too bored with the same old.

Patience....patience and more patience....good luck, have fun

Thank you everyone. I definitely have all the safety stuff. Carbon detectors and fire extinguisher included. Meds are all in a lock box in our bedroom which is on a different floor. I have a small first aid kit up high in the playroom and a small ER room in the linen closet lol.
I did some more research and decided to use crib mattresses for nap time for older kids. They are fairly cheap in comparison to other alternatives. I have also ordered high chairs from Ikea. A few people here have posted about them. I also have a dedicated kitchen table that I will use for the kids and the chairs have nice big seats for those that are too big for the highchairs. Will get boosters as needed.
As for separating the older kids from my daughter, I'm not too worried. She's a little brute. I still have her "trapping devices" like her exersaucer and jolly jumper when I need to keep her stationary.
I think I'll get some more washcloths!
Its not so nice where I am! It snowed all day. Our backyard is a mess due to having to put in weeping tile last fall. Once the snow is gone, ground is thawed and mud has dried we are landscaping the whole thing so we will deal with out side then.

I'm just worried the toys I have are not going to keep the kids entertained?? I guess only time will tell!

It should entertain them for a good month or so as most will be new to them and they're playing with new friends. As time goes on you can buy new things. You're starting at a good time because yard sales are starting!! You will find out their interests and can go from there :)

Also stock up on art supplies...most kids love art time!

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Originally Posted by kdubw

I'm just worried the toys I have are not going to keep the kids entertained?? I guess only time will tell!

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You not actually need a lot of toys for day care but it is about keeping kids entertained. If children left to free-play, even with you, for long period of time, you dayhome could be in huge toy store but they will get bored.

I find changing up activities frequently is more important than volume of toys. - I have small house and so we have limited toys but we have variety and don't spend much time on free play.

I also suggest having key action to indicate activity about to change. Here we tidy away prior activity before moving on to next thing plus all children given chance to use washroom between activities so that is a big clue for even the smallest child.

Here. I have children come around 8am. We have free play until all here so no more than 30 mins. Toys get put away. Then we get ready for snack, children use washroom, wash hand and then eat. Then we go out for couple hours. Come back for lunch. children use washroom, wash hand and then eat. Little ones nap, bigger kids do their numbers and letters and worksheets. When everyone up, short time for free play before afternoon snack. Lots of different things, busy day, no time to get bored. This also reduces time for tantrums, sulks, arguments.

If spending lot of time with free play, the need for more variety of toys is greater.

Agree with Suzie!!

Free play daycare here. I have a ton of toys but my space is large. Not everything comes out everyday. My kids love free play. They have excellent imaginations and I love to watch them play!

I prefer a child sized table with kid chairs myself.

we free play a lot too, I find most kids don't get enough time at home to use their imagination. I have a lot of toys, but I've been transitioning away from the typical toys most kids have at home. My goal is to have all open ended toys, and nothing that requires batteries!

I'm like you superfun. We have free play here but most of my toys have to be played with, not just buttons to push and batteries. Those kind of toys drive me crazy tbh lol (but I do have them) I'd say I'm half and half of free play and structured play. I consider art, circle time, story time, music time, baking, play dough, sensory play all structured though because we tidy up and than do these type of activities together and is usually lead by me. I like and need structure in my day to feel like it wasn't a complete waste of a day though lol.

Free play is so incredibly important at this age! I think free play gets a bad rap because it can be perceived as laziness on the caregivers part. But it isn't. There is thought put into what toys are out when, how toys are set up, where they are set up. The caregiver is still available to extend the play and expand their knowledge...it's just child directed play and learning instead of adult led.

I have chunks of free play each day. Our day is structured though, we have a routine and pattern to the day, with chunks of free play within it. Kids don't get bored and into trouble because they are not left for hours on end. There are smaller mini lessons, circle times etc., dispersed throughout the day.

It is through that free play that children solidify all that they see, hear and do. Right now I have young 2yr olds that are endlessly spending their free play time cleaning up fake pee and poop off the floor because they are continually trying to train the dolls and animals to use the potty. But the darn animals keep waiting too long to run to the potty. You know how much cow poop we've had in this house?? I laugh because the cow poop follows us to the grocery store and the darn cow pooped all over the Home Show last weekend because my daughter brought it with us...she was on her hands and knees cleaning up pee and poop all over the place. The trademen were cracking up as my daughter cleaned poop off their show floor telling them that her cow pooped and didn't get to the potty in time.

Free play rocks!!

Yep, sounds the same 5LM. Except lately story time just happens randomly during free play for whichever kids want to read with me. We eat around the same time each day, art happens in the morning when they're done free play. We haven't had a lot of time to do much of anything else, because we're all so happy to be outside and find puddles. Who needs toys when you've got puddles right? ;)

Lee bee, I agree with you too! If done right, free play is awesome :)

Unfortunately, I have worked with far too many staff who used free play as an excuse to be lazy!!

lee bee good lord that is hilarious!

I strongly believe in a playbased learning environment. That's part of why I am doing this. In my opinion, they are kids. And you only get to be kids once. They have their whole lives ahead of them full of structure and learning. This is the time for fun!

I was not saying free play is bad. I said that I find that a day home not need a whack of toys and that I find, a whack of toys not keep children entertained if that's all they have. Free play all day is not something I do - if others choose to, that's their choice. My personal experience is that children get fed up when a long day is filled with doing same thing and that boredom not relived by having lots of options to do same thing with. For me, changing up activity often is key in making sure children not get fed up, especially in long winter months.

I guess I have to agree with everybody. You do what works for your group.

There is a lot of free-play here, I have lots of toys but that also doesn't mean the kids don't get bored too. I always try to look at the daily routine as flexible and change it to suit the needs and styles of the group I have. When I first opened, everything was scheduled, kind of like what Suzie describes. It really worked for that group. But after a couple of years, the group changed, new kids and others got older. And their schedules changed too. So originally, all my kids would be here before 8am. So they had lots of time to play with their friends before snack and going outside. They would tidy while I was making lunch. Then that stopped working, they wouldn't tidy anymore, they just wanted to play, and it took me about a week to realize it was because they were all coming after 830am, some right at 930 for snack. They had no time to play with their friends before snack and going outside. So I changed the schedule to meet them where they were. It happened to be winter so I thought we would go out after lunch instead. That worked. They had time to play after snack in the morning and went back to tidying before lunch because they'd had the chance to play with their friends.

I still plan this way today, when I had 5 toddlers, they needed more structure and more hands-on supervision. Today, my group is so awesome, I can sit and watch them play for 1.5 hours (like today cuz it was raining) and they had the freedom to decide what they want to do. They painted and did puzzles and fed all the dollies too. We were supposed to have our first picnic of the year today but with the thunderstorm, that didn't happen so I set up the play table in the playroom and they ate in there instead.

I don't have a big house either, but the three main rooms are accessible to all the kids, livingrom, kitchen and playroom. They can run around too, that takes up a lot of their time.

Kinder time, that's a very good point!! My schedule changes with my group's needs as well. Right now I have all early drop off's and all within 30 mins of each other. I love it because we can start our day and not be interrupted with parents coming and going

The one and only thing I think that you need going into being a home day care provider in a CLEAR understanding of what you will and will not accept/ put up with from both parent and child. So often we start off wanting one thing for ourselves, and over time we can find our selves shifting hours, polices ect.
It when you allow this to happen that you can become unsatisfied with doing this as a career.
As I tell my kids follow the 3 Stands's: Stand tall, Stand your ground, Stand proud in all you do, and others will stand with you:)

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Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys

Kinder time, that's a very good point!! My schedule changes with my group's needs as well. Right now I have all early drop off's and all within 30 mins of each other. I love it because we can start our day and not be interrupted with parents coming and going

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Do you not have a cut off point where all children are expected to be in?

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Originally Posted by Lee-Bee

Free play is so incredibly important at this age! I think free play gets a bad rap because it can be perceived as laziness on the caregivers part. But it isn't. There is thought put into what toys are out when, how toys are set up, where they are set up. The caregiver is still available to extend the play and expand their knowledge...it's just child directed play and learning instead of adult led.

I have chunks of free play each day. Our day is structured though, we have a routine and pattern to the day, with chunks of free play within it. Kids don't get bored and into trouble because they are not left for hours on end. There are smaller mini lessons, circle times etc., dispersed throughout the day.

It is through that free play that children solidify all that they see, hear and do. Right now I have young 2yr olds that are endlessly spending their free play time cleaning up fake pee and poop off the floor because they are continually trying to train the dolls and animals to use the potty. But the darn animals keep waiting too long to run to the potty. You know how much cow poop we've had in this house?? I laugh because the cow poop follows us to the grocery store and the darn cow pooped all over the Home Show last weekend because my daughter brought it with us...she was on her hands and knees cleaning up pee and poop all over the place. The trademen were cracking up as my daughter cleaned poop off their show floor telling them that her cow pooped and didn't get to the potty in time.

Free play rocks!!

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Love it....... We had the never ending pooping and peeing dolls 3 years ago when my daughter and 2 best friend were 3. The spent the entire summer before going to kindergarten trying to train those darn dolls.
The threat to them was " If you don't learn to use the potty, you won't be able to go to big girl school".

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Originally Posted by 33 Daiseys

The one and only thing I think that you need going into being a home day care provider in a CLEAR understanding of what you will and will not accept/ put up with from both parent and child. So often we start off wanting one thing for ourselves, and over time we can find our selves shifting hours, polices ect.
It when you allow this to happen that you can become unsatisfied with doing this as a career.
As I tell my kids follow the 3 Stands's: Stand tall, Stand your ground, Stand proud in all you do, and others will stand with you:)

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Absolutely!! Of course it's hard to know what you will and won't accept when you have never had a business before and you are faced with situations and parents you could never have imagined. But good advice, nonetheless. :D

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Originally Posted by Suzie_Homemaker

Do you not have a cut off point where all children are expected to be in?

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No, I wouldn't have any kids if I did that, very small town and lots of competition. Although, on second thought, yes, they have to be here before lunch.

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Originally Posted by Suzie_Homemaker

Do you not have a cut off point where all children are expected to be in?

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No, not an official one. For the most part, i don't need one. I'm open at 730 wed-fri and 745 mon-tues but I've had parents who don't start work until 9/930. Right now all my parents work at 730 and 8 (depending on which parent drops off). I had one parent who didn't work and would drop off anywhere from 9-11 and it drove me crazy!! I eventually told her that she needs to be here by 930 so that we could have smoother mornings and for daughter to get the most out of coming as we do the bulk of our stuff in the morning as most kids were gone an hour after nap when she was here. She didn't like that!! She eventually got a job that started at 10 so it was a bit better after that

Had it been a consistent late drop off, I wouldn't mind so much because than I could plan around it. I never knew when she would get here and that is why I didn't like it.

I also have a dck that comes anytime between 9-11...just this morning when she came around 10:30...I told the father, "you must notice that she doesn't go home with much arts and crafts"...it's because she comes so late and we are done all that...most of the kids are here by 7:30! He's going to try to come earlier..I move on with my day by 9:00....no waiting

my contract specifically has their drop off and pickup times listed. They are allowed 1 emergency late pickup per month (they don't know that but I do!) if its only 15 minutes. All other late pickups are charged fees. I also have late drop off fees. Same thing, they are allowed 1 free one a month and other than that they will be charged. I did this to prevent someone for registering a child for a full day, then bringing them late everyday and only expecting to pay my half day rate.
As for them not knowing about the freebies, its in my contract that any and all lates will be charged. But I am a realistic person and know that things happen so I decided that they will get 1 free but I don't want it to be taken advantage of.

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Originally Posted by 5 Little Monkeys

No, not an official one. For the most part, i don't need one. I'm open at 730 wed-fri and 745 mon-tues but I've had parents who don't start work until 9/930. Right now all my parents work at 730 and 8 (depending on which parent drops off). I had one parent who didn't work and would drop off anywhere from 9-11 and it drove me crazy!! I eventually told her that she needs to be here by 930 so that we could have smoother mornings and for daughter to get the most out of coming as we do the bulk of our stuff in the morning as most kids were gone an hour after nap when she was here. She didn't like that!! She eventually got a job that started at 10 so it was a bit better after that

Had it been a consistent late drop off, I wouldn't mind so much because than I could plan around it. I never knew when she would get here and that is why I didn't like it.

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Yes, I had this before when Mom on mat leave so no rush to get here. In end, I said all need to be here for 9am. That is when we go out after morning snack and it stop us waiting around, wondering if someone coming or not.

I know that I should just move on....and for the most part, I do...but I don't like "punishing" the child just because the parent can't get their shit together and get here at a reasonable time. I have one 3 year old who comes wed-fri and I plan the really fun and cool things we are going to do for thurs and fri because those are the days I will for sure have the full house. We do other things of course on the other days but if it's something new or out of the ordinary, I do try to plan it for when all kids are here. With this past client though, I did just have to move on and do our stuff or else it would never get done and that was punishing the others!