Childminders - Please talk to me about playrooms, toy storage, Play areas etc

[chloejessmeg]

Hello. I am hoping to spend tomorrow and teh next few days sorting out the back room, making it as good as it can be for childminding and getting rid of some old toys now we have some new ones from the sale.

The back room isn't huge, just an average room really but the thing that makes it hard to work with is there are 3 doors that come off of that room, all that we need to keep clear as well as a chimley.

The room is used as our dining room, as well as a sort of playroom. The dining room table is folded up though and just comes out when needed.

Was wondering what you all do with your play areas etc. How do you store all your toys efficiently to maximise space but allowing mindees to be able to get to the activities?

I was thinking about having some sort of "creative area" with all the painting, etc. I don't really have much space for other areas though, although was thinking I could sort of have a reading area in the living room, as in just have a couple of boxes of books next to the sofa for quiet time iyswim. Does anybody else have different "areas" or am I thinking with my nursery brain again? I have always worked in nurseries rather than from home so I am a bit bad for thinking like them!

I have 3 of these that I use for toys and activities but thinking I need to make some labels for them, maybe with some photos so the kids can see what is inside? Anybody else done this?

Sorry this is such a long post, been running ideas through my head all day!

It's great if you can have dedicated 'areas', but most of us can't. As long as the children can gain access to the toys easily, then you are OK - ie no craft 'area', but if a child says "Can I do some painting?", then you can get it out easily and quickly???? Just an idea. What does everyone else think.

I will watch this with interest chloejessmeg, I am newly registered too, and there is lots of emphasis on our on dedicated 'areas'. I too was wondering whether people were changing their setting to fit in with this, its very 'nursery' and after all these are our homes, how far will they expect us to go? For example the EYFS resource grant material that I have received constantly mentions dedicated clearly defined areas My latest thought is that I am going to utilise our front room with a moving bookcase and soft mats (so that at the end of the day I can move them to the toy room, that will be our reading corner/soft play baby area, and my hanging storage for dressing up will be in the hall during the day, that will be like a role play type area, my husband says I am trying too hard

bumping for cmj

I have a separate playroom and I still don't have enought for the dedicated areas I would like. I wanted a story corner with a small sofa bed and a role play corner and a dressing up corner. I don't have enough corners though!

Instead I have foldaway chairs and foldaway height adjustable tables, foldaway toys like a workbench, popup tent etc. Whenever I buy equipment I look for the things that fold up the smallest. We have his & her sheds but mine is full with car seats, boxes of toys etc and some has to go in the loft.

So the playroom adapts to suit the children present and time of day. Its like a classroom or canteen at times, with tables and chairs and no floor space left over. At other times there's not a table in sight and the whole room is used (dancing, group games, dens, role play etc).

I too have a dedicated playroom and its huge but even then its hard to have "corners" everywhere!

I can thoroughly recommend the IKEA TROFAST range - fantastic for toy storage that the kids can still access! As long as you have a quiet area everything else is interchangeable. I tend to move stuff around like ayla99 which is why the trofast stuff is good because it doubles up as props for hairdressers or cafe's or post office etc! Plus I have a small tv on one of mine too for our tv time after lunch

Well I live in a pretty small house so definately no space to have designated areas set up. My living room is the play room. I have tried to keep it as clear as possible to give me as much space to use as possible. Toys are all kept up in ds3's room. He's only 2 so he doesn't mind. I bring down various boxes each day and if children want something diferent we just go upstairs and get it. My kitchen table is my craft area and dining table. We snuggle up on the sofa to read stories or watch a little tv. Some times we take the sofa cushions off and make a den to read in. I just work with what I have really. When ds3 is older and doesn't want he room full of toddler toys I'm going to be well and truely stuck. We shall either have to move to a bigger house or I will probably have to give up cm. My home is not a nursery and I do like to pack everything away at the end of the day. Interested to see how other people manage their space.....

popperdoodles I think your environment sounds lovely! I would be happy to see that as a potential client :-)

Well I think after reading this, the living room is going to be the "quiet room". It is already full of books as I am an Usborne books organiser, so that comes in handy (have HUNDREDS of book! lol). And for watching the odd bit of TV (going to get flamed again I know but we don't use it a lot). That way, If I ever needed a mindee to sleep downstairs, I could put the travel cot up in there, and will be good for my newborn when she arrives.

I am only working a few hours of CM at the moment as I am pregnant, so in some ways, seems a bit silly turning the whole house around but in other ways, I want it to be the best it can be iyswim? And my DC will benefit too.

One of my first jobs, once I have sorted out the toys, is to make labels for the boxes so you can see what is in them. Anybody know if I need to actually take photos of my own stuff or do you think it is ok just to find some pictures online? Either way I am going to have to send them off to get printed which is a pain, so I guess I might as well take my own photos. Have invested in a laminater so can make some nice labels with that. Not sure how to attach them to the canvas boxes though? They are soft so blue tack, selotape etc won't work? Gosh didn't think of that!

Can anybody tell me a list of what areas IDEALLY we would have? And then maybe I can just see how many I can do?

chloejessmeg, the document i have just been given by my LA is basically what you are after i think, can scan it in the morning and email you it if you like

i dont have the space for a lots of arears but do have a home corner in my kitchen which goes down really well as we can turn it into a shop as well wvery thing else is in my living room in large toy rack and i swap toys from upstairs but have used my sofa and turned the tv so that my room is in 2. soft area ie sofa rug cusions tv books. then other end table toys baby dolls stuff ect .but i do have a large cupbourd that stores all the messy activties ready to get out at a min notice and a set of little chairs n table from ikea in the kitchen so i can do baking at there level

I used to like the idea of a giant playroom with designated areas for activities. However, I soon realised that the reason people may want a CM is because we are a home environment.

Therefore, my kitchen table is our messy play/creative stuff area. I have huge shelving units in a utility area off the kitchen.

My lounge is the main play area. I have several boxes of toys out, including books and jigsaws. We have big comfy sofas and cushions for dossing around in or quiet time. We always make time to have a story session at some point during the day.

The dining room has a big floor space and we have one "big item" out for the week - play kitchen, shop, wooden rail track, farm set etc (basically, anything that takes over all the floor space). The dining table is really a secret house and the children like to play underneath it!

All the boxes of toys, puzzles, books etc. get put away in the loft on a Friday, and I choose a different pile of stuff for the following Monday. Therefore, the play kitchen or Duplo may only be out every 5 weeks or so, there are different books,jigsaws and toys each week.

I think that having somewhere for children to have a quiet few minutes is important. I don't think that children need access to absolutely all toys/activities at all times - rotating resources means they don't get bored by the "same old things."

Don't have ANY space in my kitchen as it is TINY. But can try and do my best with the back room.

Have a little table with 2 little chairs that I use of activities we do together. Also have an activity table which came with just about everything in - playdough, paint etc.

millysmummy - that would be fab, thank you so much!

Haven't really got any dressing up stuff yet - do you know if this is a requirement? I ask because I am only doing a few hours with one child, it is hard to invest in it all iyswim? Will add it onto my list of things to look out for though.

just make sur eyou ahev plenty of multicultural and positive images stuff - in books form toy form and dressing up is always handy for ticking that box i find....

Millysmummy you mentioned a eyfs resource grant.... what is that??

That is true. We have some multicultural dolls and books but not dressing up stuff. My Mum does have some that I could probably have/borrow or whatever but it is where to store them more than anything. I don't want a rail - I have 3 cats that would pull them down, so would DD and it would take up a lot of space for just one activity and I would need a lot of outfits to fill it. But do you think a box would be ok? Hard to imagin them all just shoved in a box but then maybe better than nothing?

Just a brief idea for you with the dressing up...

Ask your dentist for some props, like the litte face masks they use, mine is always happy to give me some. It doesn't have to be expensive... ask your local Mcdonalds for some hats, cups and salad boxes, and you can cut out pics from magazines of healthy food and glue them in. Just a couple of idea's but you get my drift.

Theprisoner - sorry I missed your post. Must be hard having to get everything out the loft each week? We do loft stuff about once a month and dread it then!

Do Ofsted mind you having everything away like that? I Personally think it is fine, but I know on my pre reg, the inspector said to me that I need to have everything within the children's reach, where they can see what is avaliable, with labels etc

Thanks crackopenthebaileys - thats a really good idea

AYLA99 - where did you get your tables from? i am looking for something similar for my dds.

I am a new cm but have filled a lot of my places.. lucky.. I have turned my dining room into a playroom,its not huge but I have 2 small tables with chairs, one for arts and crafts and one for eating. I have boxes of toys around the walls, dressing up, a book corner with a little peppa pig tent for quiet hiding and a craft cupboard.. The mindees art work is on the walls and also I am putting up cork boads with their photos on to help them feel welcome in the setting. I cm downstairs so my travel cot is in the living room. After mindees go home i shove cot and stair gate in the playroom and I have my house back.

chloejessmeg - your point about Ofsted wanting children to have access to everything is something I was concerned about. I did think about making a flip comment about allowing the children to climb up the loft ladder to swan about amongst the loft insulation searching for toys, but thought better of it.

I have far too many toys really (hence the need to have the loft boarded and big shelves put in, and a decent ladder to get up and down!) - I defy any inspector to say that I don't provide enough choices on any given week.

I have never yet had a problem with rotating toys, and I feel that I can offer this as a positive aspect to my care.

And it isn't hard getting stuff in and out of the loft each week - that's what husbands are for.

Oh ok, sorry I wasn't critising at all, I would love to be able to do that. Just wanted to ask as maybe I am being a bit over enthusiastic with all my stuff, considering I only have one mindee?

Crikey, I didn't think you were criticising me anyway!! Sorry!

It has taken me many years to manage to collect enough junk resources to warrant partially converting the loft!!

Don't say sorry! You answered my question, perfectly, how I hoped you would. I was just worried my post would come accross like I was criticising and I am honestly just interested in what Ofsted think.