School or Playroom

[Springdaze]

Hello! I am in dire need of redoing my area and was wondering if you have more of a school type setting or playroom. Mine is school, i have a totally separate area not in my living space (although I FEEL like i live there!)

I want to make it more cozy, but still show that we learn!

[Blackcat31]

I am in the same boat. I have a separate house for my child care but am feeling in need of a change. I am tired of the set up and feel I need to do something different....just not sure what exactly yet.

I have a ton of ideas on what I want to do but have to narrow it down. I have a friend who is a certified Montessori teacher (my ultimate goal) and she is coming over to help me change my set up around and offer me some feedback and helpful tips for change.

Maybe you could post some photos of what your area(s) look like and what things you are unhappy with or want to change and others can comment or add suggestions.

[countrymom]

I know that feeling. I can't do anything till I fix the ceiling. We had a new roof put on last year, well, they didn't caulk the valley and it leaked in my ds's room but it dribbled down to the daycare room and the ceiling. I really didn't care because we were redoing ds's room anyways and I was removing the ugly popcorn ceiling in the daycare room.
I'm thinking of running hard wood flooring in my daycare room. I need something easy to clean and I'm getting tired of washing the rug all the time and it not looking clean. I also want the front enterance to be used by the daycare parents instead of the back kitchen door where my kids use. Its becoming too much commotion.

[Springdaze]

My first idea is instead of having a bunch of bulletin boards with various versions of all the same project, I might get $1 frames and highlight a different piece of artwork from each child.

[Sugar Magnolia]

I have a school, in a house, furnished to feel like home, yet accommodates school-type activities and learning. Confused yet? Lol. I am a small center, not home based, but the goal is to have academics in a comfy atmosphere. Soft seating small area rugs, space for privacy are essential to me.

[Springdaze]

Sugar, do you have abcs and 123s all over the walls? how do you display artwork?

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sugar, do you have abcs and 123s all over the walls? how do you display artwork?

Not all over, an alphabet border, and a number poster. I also have an abc snake poster the kids made. I have window sills I display 3D art on. For flat paintings, drawings, I have clear plastic sign holders. I got them at Staples. They are drilled into the.wall, you just lift the front and the artwork slides in. The older kids can put stuff in there themselves. I like them because the kids can see their work, parents can see and take home if they choose, but the Littles can't grab them. And the plastic protects them. In general, I try to have a mix of commercially produced educational posters, and child made art displayed. The snake I mentioned is my favorite, because they colored it as a group, yet it is also educational.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Chellenj, I do have lots of wall space though. if you are trying to streamline things though, your idea of featuring one childs art at a time is a cool idea. We have 15 kids, so the art wall is always kinda "busy".

[originalkat]

I have a mix of both. I am also wanting to redo some things though. I got some great ideas from a book called Family Childcare Homes:Creative Spaces for Children to Learn...lots of great pictures. Here is a link to my website. There are some pics of my setup throughout the site if you are interested.

https://Www.greengateearlylearning.com

[spud912]

I have a mix of both. I am also wanting to redo some things though. I got some great ideas from a book called Family Childcare Homes:Creative Spaces for Children to Learn...lots of great pictures. Here is a link to my website. There are some pics of my setup throughout the site if you are interested.
Www.greengateearlylearning.com

A little off topic.....but I love your blog! You do a lot of creative things with your kids!

[originalkat]

Thanks spud. I get most of my ideas from awesome teacher and providers' blogs and websites!

[countrymom]

to display childrens art (I saw this on pintrest) but you take different picture frames and paint them fun colors and you had a cork board in each frame this way you can change them out easily.

[Countrygal]

I recently showed all of my dck pictures of various set-ups and asked the kids which set-up they thought they'd like to play in every day. (My kids are older - 4 - 5 yo). They all voted for the one that looked more school-like. I think it was something about the orderliness and also that they all love "activities" like crafts, song-time, even learning the alphabet and learning to write. They'd rather do that stuff than play most of the time.