What is essential and what is a waste of money when starting a daycare ?

[Play and Learn]

I've worked at different child care centres (or now what they call early learning centers) and have seen what each age group generally played with and what they left behind.

Before I opened, my sister, mom and I went to garage sales (I had a list with price caps), and looked on usedottawa.com and Kijiji.ca for items priced less and still in good condition. I always research how much the item was at a store (online) and then what I would buy for it second-hand. Lucky for me I received my double jogging stroller, 1 booster seat, 2 exersaucers, an activity mat, 2 bouncy chairs, an activity gym, construction set, and bibs, utensils, sippy cups and a little bit more for free!!! Thanks to having older siblings with children, and their friends!

I have the parents provide the playpens (because I don't want to be buying 3 playpens), I bought another booster seat in the states as it's cheaper than over here (we're 30 min to the border)! For toys, I've bought the basic/classics - Fisher Price. I think in total, I've spent $300 on all my daycare purchases over the past year!

The items that I can't go without is the Fisher Price Activity Gym - allows infants to pull themselves up and to crawl under the arches. Fisher Price Little People Sets (would love to find the house though), a doll and stroller, my double stroller, booster seats (we don't have alot of space for highchairs), toy cars, ride-on toys and kitchen.

This year we will be buying a cot (as little one is starting to potty train), and a swing set!

And always rotating toys (once a month usually). Also Dollarama is a godsend! Like others have stated, I bought the alphabet and numbers, and some art supplies (especially the clear laminate - I used to actually laminate things). The last daycare I worked at, I had photocopied many of the items that we used to decorate my room with (I was head teacher of the toddler/preschool room). So I used those items to decorate my room with - colours, birthdays.