Do all childminders have loads of toys??

[Amylouise]

I have been to 3 other childminders' houses and they all have dedicated playrooms packed full of toys with posters up- like a mini nursery!!!

My main childminding room is the lounge and all I have in there is a big toy chest, a couple of buggies and a toy kitchen...oh and a couple of push along baby walkers! I do have other toys in a cupboard but to be honest it's not that many.

I don't have a dedicated room for minding either, I'd love one and will probably have one if I move.

I thought I had enough toys but since looking at other minders websites and pictures of their playrooms I've realised I've not got that much. I keep mine in movable drawers that get hid away at the end of the night.

I've just found a local toy library which I'm going to start using it will work out alot cheaper is there anything like that near you?

I have a dedicated playroom, but previously have childminded in the lounge. As long as you have enough activities appropriate for the age & development of the children you are caring for you don't need a room full of stuff. You don't need lots of shop bought toys. Depending on the age of the children, you can usually create a number activities from things in your house - eg sheets for tents, old cereal boxes for building or craft activities.

I have loads of stuff mainly cos my own children are 11 & 8; I haven't thrown out anything they've grown out of unless it broke - it all goes in the shed or attic & I rotate the stuff thats available in the playroom according to the ages & interests of the children attending each week.

I'm also a sucker for charity shops & thrift sales and I make use of bulk book loans and story sacks from the library, toy libraries, toy loan scheme for childminders.

find a toy library (or start one up)
Ask at your local library about story sacks & loan schemes for childminders & preschools.

Meant to add that there's no point in a room full of stuff with no space to play! Imagination is the greatest toy ever.

I think there is a lot to be said for offering a small selection of toys that encourage children to use their imagination - pieces of material, boxes, found objects such as pine cones, all these things can be used to great effect.

I personally don't have anything that uses batteries (I'm interested in Steiner/Waldorf child development phil. and used to not have the TV on at all either, but now we just watch Something Special - but that's it).

I like to get out with children, down to the park etc.

Being a good childminder is not down to how many toys you have or if there is a dedicated playroom, it's down to providing a caring, happy, stimulated enviroment in which children can develope. As long as you have a variety of age appropriate toys and provide plenty of different activities, that's good enough. It would be great if we could all have houses big enough to accommodate purpose built playrooms, but in reality, I think the majority of us use our lounges and pack away at the end of the day.

Amylouise, your lounge sounds much bigger than mine!!! I'd never fit all that in my little lounge!

Hello new here hope you don't mind my thoughts on this .I childmind using my lounge and although I have oodles of stuff for the kids I keep the bulk of it in the garage and rotate toys according to ages and stages .
One of the complaints of my last but one ofsted inspection was the fact that my toys were not accesible at all times to the kids.I pointed out that this was my home and we needed to be able to keep some sort of order,could you imagine everything tipped out on the floor and kids playing with nothing? I let older kids choose what they want to play with and kids who can't verbalise point to what they want
Charity shops,friends and parents of minded kids are great sources of equipment as is e-bay.I have friends save me christmas and birthday cards,wrapping paper, ribbons, boxes etc for crafting and my favourite thing is to pick the posh travel guides up for cutting and sticking a great source for animals and peoples of the world.

I too rotate my toys. I do have quite a lot of stuff cos again my kids are now older and I have kept lots of their toys, I also buy from car boot sales (I look at the seller, if they look nice and clean I will buy from them), ebay and also local toy sales (nct or local playgroup). My toys/books/puzzles etc are all kept in stacking boxes in my loft room and are rotated weekly. I also have some of the wooden ikea storage boxes in my lounge which double up as coffee tables which I keep some stuff in and the stuff the mindees like out all of the time goes in my understairs cupboard.My craft stuff is kept in a cupboard in my dining room cos we use it most days. I list all of my resourses in my portfolio an ofsted had no problem with this. If you were to come to my house at a weekend you would never know I am a childminder cos nothing is left out, this is my home and that's how I like it when i'm not working.

I find if too many toys are out they just empty all of the boxes and don't actully play with anything. I agree, you don't need loads of stuff, its what you do with what you have thats important.

I have got a dedicated playroom, which is a conservatory, but don?t keep half as much stuff out as I used to.
It drives me stark raving bonkers when boxes and tubs get wantonly tipped into piles and then left.
I always make sure ?mark-making? facilities are accessible as well as books and something messy e.g. play dough/foam/water/sand. But apart from that it?s much better for my sanity to keep less stuff out on an everyday basis.
Wall displays are nice though and can always be taken down at the end of the day if done on thick card.
I?m having a big chuck-out session at the moment as we are moving house soon, but will hopefully have two dedicated rooms/bare cells ? an art/dining room and a quiet room ? for the children in my new house. I do need to oust a couple of teenagers from the nest first though.

We have six storage boxes of toys and a toy box and dressing up tub in my dining room along with two shelves of books and 'little' piece toyss which are out of reach as my DD isn't two yet.
In my lounge we have a little wooden kitchen, and a small rocking horse along with the books. The lounge tends to be for quieter play and my dining room - quiet big is for the noiser and more 'mad' activities as well as crafts.
I have two ride ons and a trampoline.
We have the rule that one thing/themed thing is out at once (I only have one mindee and DD) and that way its played with rather than covering the floor.
They mainly spend their day running in and out in different dress ups- we have about twenty diff hats and ten wigs... Mindee loves my purple and pink punk rocker wig!
Although we have lots of toys, we actually hardly use any of them or the same ones are used over and over.
First OFSTED woman said I needed more older toys, I added lego (a huge box from ebay) and a cheap brio set (from tesco) oh and a marble run (from poundland!) this OFSTED woman said I had plenty and did more things without toys with them. We actually spend most days chatting (mindee is 3.5 and he loves nattering) and reading and crafts or we're out.
As for toys not being 'accessible' ours you can see but they certainly can't always help them selves, they are boxed in clear boxes and stacked. They also know not to help themself but to ask. this way we have productive play and not just mess.

I think I own Toys'R'Us, and all my stock is scattered around my house. If Ofsted want the children to have access to all toys at all times, I will allow all the children at all times to climb up the rickety ladder into my loft and choose what they want.

(The reality is that my own 3 children are now grown-up, I've kept all their old stuff, and have added to it over the years. I mind children aged between 1 - 12 years during the week, and I rotate the toys so that they have different stuff each week).

Like Theprisoner, my children are grown up, but my garden looks like Thorpe park. DH puts sit away at the weekends, in a large shed for c/m things!

I seem to have far more stuff than i had for my own children. I have bought a kinderbox with cupboards underneath for the books, a cupboard with gratnell trays in and a costume storage trolley.

I have the Galt ewooden playhouse and folding threeway cooker, I also have the indoor climbing frame from Galt, with slide, platforms, climbing wall etec, but have it outside in fine weather.

The list could be endless, as I forget what I have, but I do try to rotate it