Your Thoughts On Centers

[cheerfuldom]

*centers meaning the way your playroom is set up......

If there is any previous good discussions on centers, please link! I am going to dig thru some old threads but if any mods can help me out, that would be great.

if you do use centers, what ages to you take at daycare? and do you have time limits to the centers? what centers do you have? do you rotate the center themes or is it basically the same items in each area most of the time?

For anyone, what do you like about centers? and what don't you like?

Right now my playroom is tidy and organized but I dont really have centers. Beginning this winter, I won't be taking any more kids under one year old and would like to start going more towards centers in our playroom, especially since I have some older ones (two 4 year olds and a 6 year old) that are looking for some more challenging play versus just randomly pawing thru stuff like the toddlers.

[nanglgrl]

I have centers and I love it.
I only take ages 1-6 but all of my children tend to be between 1 1/2-4.
There are certain pieces to the centers that are always out and other pieces that I just get out on occasion. I also add monthly theme items to the centers. The children are free to do what they want and they handle it well. They do gravitate towards the dramatic play loft but when it gets busy over there they break up on their own.
We have a sand/water center, science/sensory center that's usually related to our theme, music center, block center, large motor center, dramatic play center, computer center,, math/manipulatives center and writing/art center.
I wouldn't change it at all. Even though there are plenty of items to play with they really don't make that big of a mess and they play all day. Really besides meals and circle time I could just sit and watch them all day. They never say they're bored and rarely fight but their play does get incredibly complex and imaginative! Every once in a while I have to tell them to pick up a few things so toys aren't being stepped on and with my group I can just say "everyone pick up 5 toys" and most of them do and the room is good to go for another hour or so! .

[Cat Herder]

I have a group area and centers for individual play. The areas are separated by half walls.

I rotate out themes on all but one, it stays a soft reading area with puzzles, books and chalk boards (the original dry erase marker boards was a BAD idea ).

Kids, like adults, get tired of being forced to spend every minute of their 10 hour day in direct physical contact with other kids. I give them another option...

The kids use them at will and if I notice they all are choosing the centers more than the group area.... I step up my game. ::::

[LK5kids]

I have housekeeping/dress up clothes, sensory table, art area with playdoh, easel, markers, oil pastels, small science area, as I have mostly 2 yrs and under with one 5 yr old, block center, puzzles & manipulatives, & a book corner.

I do not set a timer or rotate kids...it's all personal choice.

[spinnymarie]

I have some more general centers, since the playroom is in our living space. If I had a dedicated play room (some day!) I'd have true centers.
Right now we just have: puzzles/games, dress up/kitchen/dolls, blocks/legos/action figures/cars, art, little people/doll house, baby toys.

[spinnymarie]

Oh I forgot the reading center, and to actually answer your questions:
No I don't switch toys out at this point, the kids are allowed free choice within the play time, the kids are 18m - 4.5y.
I love centers, I need the toys to be organized for my own mental health Clean up takes a while, but as long as there are a few big kids it's no big deal.

[AcornMama]

My "centers" are three corners of my living room. Well, former living room, now preschool play room. One corner is a reading corner: books, chairs, pillows. One corner is dramatic play: toy kitchen, baby dolls, dress up stuff. One corner is blocks and puzzles.

All of my art and otherwise messy stuff is in another room because the living room has carpet. I wish it were all in one big room so that some kids could do art while others read or play with dolls. But as it is, I have to use one room at a time.

I don't know that centers are terribly important, but I think that others, like parents and consultants, think they are important. So I use it as an organization tool that gets me bonus points with parents.

[blandino]

For centers we have:

Play kitchen

Drawing table (with magnadoodles velcroed to the table)

Reading center/cozy corner. Foam couch with pillows and a bucket of books.

Another empty table for playing with toys, or sometimes I will choose an activity for that table.

I don't do too many centers because of the he of my kids, 3 & under, and all the loose pieces mixing and winding up all over the place.

[WImom]

Okay those with centers can they still take toys where ever or do they stay in that center?

[Patches]

I have centers, but they are very small and not as defined as they would be in a child care center. They are:

Music:
I have some instruments that I switch out every month or so.

Science:
Try to tie this into our theme. Right now I have some forest animals and binoculars in there. Sometimes I'll put some sensory bottles out. I have a young group so I don't keep magnets or anything like that out at all times.

Block/Manipulatives:
This is my biggest center. It takes up 2 shelves. I've actually been thinking about scaling it down a bit.

Reading center:
A child sized couch and chair with a bookshelf of about 15 books (usually tied into our theme) and a basket of puppets or stuffed animals (also tied into our theme).

Dramatic Play:
I have some pictures of this in the décor group. It is my under the stairs closet that I turned into a "playhouse" It has the kitchen, play phones, babies, and dress-up.

Cars:
I have a bin of cars and a "road" on the floor

Baby Toys:
Two bins of baby toys since I have 4 infants right now

[littleblossoms]

Okay those with centers can they still take toys where ever or do they stay in that center?

I have centres with the book shelves as dividers, reading, cras, blocks, musical.

My kds start at 11 months and the oldest is 2.5 years.

I teavh the children right away not to move toys from one centre to the other. As soon as i see them moving a book for example crawling out with book in their hand from the reading corning I put the child back in the reading corning with book, if the child geys up set then I remove the child from the reading centre and say okay you can go where you want to play but not with book. i do it with with every cwntre

i also teach the child to pack up the toys when they finish to move to another centre. Believe it works and I have five kids two and under.

[Unregistered]

I have it set up as centers, but more as a way to organize things. They are free to mix and move stuff anywhere in the daycare with the exception being art supplies. It lets their imagination flow to have transportation toys mix in with the blocks, or reading a book to a baby in the dramatic play area etc. I have a small group of 4 and they are not directed where to go.

[Cat Herder]

Okay those with centers can they still take toys where ever or do they stay in that center?

Mine are gated so the child asks to be let in and out. Toys/crafts stay in.

The half walls are transparent in a great room.... Literally alone in a crowd. ::::

[nanglgrl]

Okay those with centers can they still take toys where ever or do they stay in that center?

Mine can. It's important for them to pretend a block is pizza in the home center etc. They make the blocks into a million different things..phones, play food, doll furniture. I often find they prefer to use items for different purposes instead of the item that was designated for the purpose. I do have to wrangle it in some times though.

[Leanna]

Our playroom is set up in centers. We have:

Dramatic play:
Usually the pretend kitchen & accessories, dolls, dress-up clothes etc. but I also occasionally switch it out for a puppet theater, doctor or vet's office, restaurant, post office, etc.

Blocks:
Wooden unit blocks
Cardboard brick blocks
Cars and road signs
People and animals
A "city" rug
This stays pretty much the same though I will add/rotate the accessories.

Math and Manipulatives:
Table toys
Puzzles
Math orientated games & materials
I also set up science and nature items on the this shelf as it is a large shelf.
I rotate these weekly.

Art:
Table with shelf of materials (collage items, paper, markers, crayons, play dough, clay, etc.)
Easel
Art area gets a new activity daily.

Writing Table:
The table itself is painted with chalkboard paint so they can actually write on it. There is also a caddy with pencils, hole punchers, a mini-stapler, tape, etc. that the older 3's and 4's use. This area stays pretty much the same though I will occasionally put a new item out like letter stickers or letter stamps.

Quiet book area:
We have a tent with pillows inside. No toys allowed inside - only reading books or relaxing.

Sensory table:
I switch it out weekly.

A protected baby area:
This area is blocked off with low book shelves and is carpeted. It allows the non- and newly mobile infants a place to play without being stepped on.

I like having the centers because it allows the kids to make choices. Centers keep everything organized too. I don't put time limits on them and they do a pretty good job. Clean-up usually goes ok with the exception of the block area (they tend to just throw them on the shelf) but we are working on that!