Those with seperate daycare space in basement

If you use your basement for your daycare space, do you do snacks and meals down there too? Is your house set up with a seperate kitchen or do you haul all the kids upstairs for food?

I'm looking into moving all my daycare stuff to the basement so it's out of sight at the end of the day. I originally had some of my stuff down there but moved it all to my main level to avoid the constant up & down with stairs. I'm trying to figure out a way to do everything down there now. I'm thinking of making meals ahead of time and keeping them in the small bar fridge I have down there and then getting a microwave as well to heat it up. On occassion I know I would have to come upstairs but if I could avoid it for the most part, I think it could work ?? Just curious how everyone else does it?

I have a mini kitchen in my basement with a microwave, small mini oven and a mini fridge. If I have to use the upstairs oven I just run up, put the food in and run back down. The children are safe because they play area is gated off. We eat all snacks and lunches at the kiddies table in the playroom

I too have a mini kitchen in my basement daycare .... I have a bar fridge, sink, microwave, toaster, and a two burner hot plate.....so everything is in the basement. The only time the kids set foot in my upstairs is for nap time. Each child has a pack n play in each of my bedrooms that way nobody wakes anyone else up. My pick up times are all staggered and start at 3.

We play in the basement but bathroom is at the top of the stairs and we use the kitchen for meals and snacks. Naps are upstairs as well - babies on top floor in bedrooms and toddlers on main floor - diningroom has been converted to an upstairs play area so we have two spaces to use.

Do you have lots of windows shining daylight into the basement? Are you sure about the fire marshall's laws for legal exits? Do you really want to be in the basement all day with your daycare children? Just some things that crossed my mind since my daycare is on my main floor and I've taken all these things into consideration. I like the fact that when I'm preparing breakfast/lunch/afternoon snack that the children are in my line of sight in my living room.

I have the daylight bright lights in my basement so it is not dark at all, also the walls are painted in a yellowish colour. I actually enjoy my time down there and we spend lots of time outside in the nice weather so it is not so bad. I haven ever had a parent complain about their child spending their day down there, I guess because it doesn't really feel like a basement.

We are downstairs less than 2 hours a day by the time we do meals and naps, arrivals/departures which take place from upstairs. I have bright lighting as well and it doesn't feel like a dungeon. A lot of schools just have higher upperlevel windows so kids aren't distracted. Upstairs we end up closing the blinds so the sun isn't in their eyes which somewhat defeats the purpose anyways.

I'm in a bi-level so my basement windows are bigger than an average 2-story basement window. The parents liked the set-up before when I had some of the stuff down there so I know they wouldn't have a problem with it. Now it's just figuring out what exactly I want to do!

Admittedly, yes, I find it a pain to be going up and down. I can't wait until we can use the alternate space I have coming available in our home, with a kitchen and bathroom. If your basement is finished, and has a bathroom, perhaps look into setting up a mini kitchenette. A mini fridge, hotplate, microwave, and so on. You can have a bin for transporting the dirty dishes, etc upstairs at naptime/end of the day and bringing clean ones back down. A good size free standing cupboard for dishes, bibs, anything else you may need. Pre-cook as much as you can, so you just need to reheat.
If that doesn't work, you just have to bite the bullet and have planned "upstairs" time and "downstairs" time.

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Originally Posted by jodaycare

I have a mini kitchen in my basement with a microwave, small mini oven and a mini fridge. If I have to use the upstairs oven I just run up, put the food in and run back down. The children are safe because they play area is gated off. We eat all snacks and lunches at the kiddies table in the playroom

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Same here (except mini oven). I don't know about your DCKs; but once mine see any signs of food being prepped it's like they haven't eaten for a week (on the positive; I've never seen such a quick tidy up as occurs at mealtime!). So, the quicker the better to just have it ready to serve.

My day home is in my basement and I use the whole basement. I have a large room for babies to sleep separate, a huge room for play, and two storage rooms. I also have a kitchen room with a full fridge, hot plate, medium convection oven and microwave. I prepare all of the food for the week on the Saturday or Sunday before and freeze it. I keep all fresh foods for the week in the downstairs fridge such as yogurt and strawberries for snacks. I have a rubermaid bucket that all of the dirty dishes go in and I throw them in the dishwasher at rest time. I take the few cups from afternoon snack and put them in the dishwasher later when I go upstairs at the end of the day. I just heat up the foods in the microwave or oven for lunch that are already precooked.

I have a fully dedicated lower floor for the daycare, sleep room, class/playroom, bathroom but it is not the only part of the home I use for the daycare but the toy mess stays in the basement. On the main level we use the main living room but the toys are in baskets in the cabinet, under the table etc. So when you walk in the main level you see a family home but there is lots there for the kids to keep them entertained at drop off, lunch prep. I also have wicker baskets on top of my kitchen cabinets that I have day to day craft supplies in so they are out of site but easily accessible and the kids use the dining room table for crafts, eating snacks/lunch, and the older girls use it for quiet time learning.

So my main level is used but it does not scream daycare, now that my own child is school age I wanted the toys and learning materials accessible but not on display so we have our home back on weekends and evenings with little transition time (basically only need to put on the kids boosters at the dining room table for the ones under 2.5 years of age)