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Parenting

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Original poster

New parent and baby group idea, any thoughts please.

17 replies

enthusia · 16/01/2011 12:32

Hi, I wondered whether you could help me with an idea I have.

I am a childminder and from September the children I care for are going to all be in school or play group. Rather than take on any extra younger children, which would require an assistant in the holidays, I am thinking of opening a child and parent group.
In my years as a parent and child minder I have been to quite a few groups and classes and feel that I could open up a successful group in a different area. I am thinking about a group about reading and books.
At the beginning of each session I would read a book to the children and parents, then I would read it again but with more involvement from the children such as actions, movement or using music and toys. I would then provide a drink and a fruit snack, and a hot drink for adults. After the snack I would do another activity related to the book such as art, play dough, music or role play. There could be a chance for some individual reading and then the end of the session.

My only real worry is that to keep costs down I would like to do this from my own home. I could have up to 8 children and am thinking of ranging it from 18months to 4 years. This way I could charge about £3 for 45mins to an hour.

What do you think?

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ihatethesnow · 16/01/2011 12:47

Why would you read the book twice one after the other? Remember that the children will be quite young and will have to sit through 2 stories? Couldn't you just read the story with props etc... I would then have the activity on offer ... then I would tidy then snack...

ihatethesnow · 16/01/2011 12:50

As a playgroup we charge £4 a session 2h15mins

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 12:50

i think it's a lot of money to pay for 45 minutes

i think the children will get bored hearing a story twice... there's no reason why they can't join in the first time round is there?

our local library does this... and it's free.

depends what else is on offer in your local area though. I do like the idea in principle, but persoanlly I wouldn't pay that much money to do it

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Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 12:51

This is the way I do it at the moment and it works really well. I read the book once so that they know the structure then the second time I get them actively involved. They may not follow the whole story second time, just part of it or get carried away with the props or movement etc. The second time they are not sitting listening they are up and moving and joining in, so really they hear the story once and then are 'in' the story the second time.

Thanks for the comment though, I can see how it may look boring

OP posts:

ihatethesnow · 16/01/2011 12:52

Could you open some sort of playgroup?

Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 12:58

Our playgroups charge £12 for 2 hours , our library has a rhymetime which 30 odd children and parents go to, they don't do stories and it is very busy and cramped and lasts for about 20mins. Our Jo Jingles groups etc are about £4 to £8 a session which is about half an hour.

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Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 13:01

We have another rhymetime locally, which again is singing and dancing, not stories. This again has about 25 children each week, can be very cramped and is a donation of £1.50 for 30mins.

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Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 13:04

I thought about a playgroup but again it is the start-up costs. A village or church hall round here is at its cheapest £15 an hour and on average about £25. Plus most are booked up. I know this due to party organising

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ihatethesnow · 16/01/2011 13:06

I also now get your point re stories as it is nice for them to be familiour with it .... Where abouts do you live enthusia?

Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 13:08

Reigate, Surrey.

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Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 13:08

Glad it the 2nd story thing made sense

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ihatethesnow · 16/01/2011 13:31

enthusia surry is expensive

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 14:34

wow, I am in Crawley, and our library has rhyme time which is free, and has stories, songs and other activities

also storyclub on saturdays which does stories and crafts!

also loads of surestart centres which do a LOT of free or nominal fee activities

can't believe it's so different just a tiny bit further up the 23!!!
It certainly does sound like there is a gap in the market in your area for something like that though

Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 17:13

Our Surestart does the rhymetime, which is a suggested donation of £1.50. They do lots of other activities too, but nothing like this. Our library does a story time for older children and the rhymetime for younger but not stories for the younger. It is really strange how it is different isn't it?

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 19:36

yeah you'd think they would all run similar things, tyhough I guess it depends how big/busy they are maybe

Original poster

enthusia · 16/01/2011 19:59

So what do you think of my idea? It is the running from my own home I thought people might have an issue with?!

OP posts:

thisisyesterday · 16/01/2011 20:16

i think it depends what your home is like!
I definitely think it sounds like there is a gap in the market for something like this.

i don't think it wouold necessarily be a problem as obviously you are a childminder and have police checks and all that kind of thing, so if the area of the house you are using is nice and clean and big enough I don't think it would be a problem

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