Having a dedicated daycare space helps a lot I think and I highly recommend it if it's at all possible and allow your kids to treat your home as a home and not a daycare if possible too. Both my kids are in school f/t now so really don't have a lot to do with daycare anymore. When they come home, they are free to go anywhere in the house, it is their house after all, and they are not required to be part of daycare. It's important that their toys be kept separate from daycare toys and also that they have places to go away from the other kids if they want. I have never "made" my children be part of daycare. This is their home and they are free to do whatever BUT if they are playing with something that is not a daycare toy, they are required to play with it away from the others.

Some jealousy will happen and it's important to let your kids know that even though these "other kids" come over for you to take care of, that they are special. I would always whisper in my dd ear that I loved her randomly through the day and it always put a smile on her face. It made her feel secure that I was HER mom and loved HER and never told the daycare kids that I loved them...EVER! I also tried to spend some extra time with my kids during "off" hours doing something fun and special. When I started doing daycare again (took a leave of absence) my dd was 3.5 and I explained to her that I do daycare so that she can stay with me and be home to play with her friends and toys whenever she wanted to. If I had to go to work, she wouldn't be allowed to do that during the day. This usually convinces them that daycare isn't so bad and she gets to see me a lot where the daycare kids have limited time with their parents.