Anyone else use a Wii at your daycare? How often do they use it? My husband and I are thinking of getting one and think it might entertain the school agers and 4 year olds once in a while.

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IMHO, it will cause more problems than you want. The kids will constantly fight over who's turn it is, what game to play, etc.

We have all the game systems but they're kept upstairs, off limits to all daycare kids.

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We have a Wii I bought for my son for Christmas. We have it connected in the living room so the whole family can play if we wish. I do not allow it for pre-schoolers in the daycare (too much of a risk mine throw things) but I will allow it for SA IF there are no pre-schoolers here. Usually pre-schoolers are all signed out by 4pm so the rest of the kids can play for the last hour of the day. If we have a snow day the kids want to play but I don't allow it because it's not fair to the younger ones. They have to wait until 4pm as usual. So far it's worked well. If a problem should occur then the Wii will be for after daycare only.

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We dont play with the Wii during the daycare time, im sure it will get more use when my on kids are older though

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I thought about asking this too. I have some dancing ones like just dance kids and I dont give remotes unless they will take turns, which they surprisingly do most times, the others just "pretend" they are playing and wait.

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Chellenj, Thats what I thought would be good would be dancing and even the little ones would have fun dancing along with. I have mature older 4 yearolds and a 5 and a 6 yr old that would love it.

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to me its just like a movement activity and sometimes I use the remote and "we" try to burn the chicken. (if you have just dance kids, you know what i mean!)

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we have it but no one is allowed to play it unless my own children are playing it. And its only for the older children at my discretion.

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I purchased a Wii for my 6 and 4 year old daughters for Christmas. They love playing the dancing game. Some afternoons after snack, they play the dance game, no one uses a remote. Everyone just dances.

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Santa just brought us the xbox 360 with kinect. It is fantastic. The kinect is the sensor thingy that can 'read' your body. So, for the dancing and maze, and skiing etc no one needs to hold anything! And, you can see your exact movements on the screen. If you raise your arm, your person raises theirs. My inlaws have a Wii and in my opinion this is much better for a variety of ages. My uncle and dad were playing it at Christmas, my 2.5 dcg loves doing dora dance with my 4 year old son. Sometimes when it is too cold out, we bring that out for our morning movers!

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We would love an xbox with kinect but its pretty pricey. Thats about 300.00 and we found a bundle wii pkg for 149.00.

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We have one that we use for daycare. I have some older kids, 4, 5, 6, and 9. I dont let the 2 year olds play it.

We play about once a week, or once every other week, on fridays after school and snack. Or if they have a day off school sometimes we play for an hour or so.

We always play multi player games so all 4 can play together. They usually play Family Game Night, Mario Party 8, Kirby or Mario Kart, sometimes Wii sports. They love the bowling and sword fighting.

Its never been an issue or fight in our house. They make some good games for the younger kids too, Dora and Diego games.

While they play I "supervise" with one ear so they are playing ok, and I sit on the floor and play with the 2 year olds so I can keep an eye on the Wii action.

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My dcb's use our Wii sparingly. I have set a rule that they can play for about an hour on Friday afternoons. The dcb's all have Wii's and I know they play a lot at home. I had to cut back because there were problems as mentioned about sharing and agreeing on which game to play.
I do like to use it for Netflix, though.

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We got one at Christmas and for the last 3 weeks it has only been used for netflix. I love being able to put on a program during nap while I clean. My pants are saying that it should be used for the wii fit again

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Haven't read all the answer, so this may be repeating someone.

We had a Wii long before starting daycare. Personally, I have determined it is not age-appropriate for preschoolers UNDER MOST CIRCUMSTANCES.

We are looking to purchase a kids dancing game to go with the daycare. I probably won't use the pads, but just allow the kids to try to copy the movements in the dances. We have a more grown-up edition and it would be much too hard for daycare.

We also streamed our netflix movies through our Wii. There is a LOT available on "instant watch", especially for young children. You may want to consider this use as well if you buy one for the family.

Good luck with the decision!

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Thanks for the suggestion about netflix. My husband is a tech geek and he built a computer to hook up to our tv along time ago and we've been using netflix play intantly for years and love it. I play sesame street almost everyday while im making lunch. It's great.

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I love the Wii.
We have had ours since it first came out! It is very kid friendly as the other consoles, which we also have, are more for teens and adults.

The Wii offers exercise for those too cold or wet days and when it is too hot to go out and play for long periods.

My dck's love the dance games but their favorite is sports.

The children learn to take turns with the playing and who gets to pick which game.

It is physical so it is great for motor skills.

The children do have to earn the right to play. So this helps with behavior.

My children are grown but 3 still live at home and its fun to have family fun with the older ones. And my 6 year old grandson can kick my butt at almost all the games. He loves playing me lol and I love the time and bonding we have together.

I think you will totally enjoy a Wii.

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I love netflix too. My own kids love playing just dance. Does anyone have the zumba, is it good.

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I have a Wii also, the oldest kids are 3.5 and they play a little bit but it doesn't hold their attention much- they prefer the leapster explorer. We use it mostly for Netflix, which they also love. There are some good leapfrog phonics vids on now that they are learning a lot from, and Word World is a big favorite too!

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I have one and the kids LOVE it. Winters get long in SD and they need something to do to get moving. They have to stand on the tape spots on the floor so they aren't hitting anyone else. I have enough remotes for the older ones to have a 'real' remote. And I bought some 'fake/candy' ones at Walgreens for the little ones who can't play but just want to be part of the action. Totall made them look real too by adding my name to the back of them like I've done with my real ones and put a strong on it to put around their hand! Some of the 3 yr olds haven't figured out they aren't real yet. We don't play all the time but when I get the sense they need to move we get out Wii Dance Kids and that takes care of their craziness.

And they know, if they fight over the remotes, the tv goes off. It's a special treat for them so they behave

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I have Zumba II and it is cool. I have only used it once and had it for like 2 weeks, but that is not because its boring! My husband went nuts trying to decide between the PS and XBox. Finally got the XBox and all he uses it for is Netflix!

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Only two of my DCB's are allowed to use our wii. The rest of the kids are too young or too rough on toys for me to take the chance. They play it maybe once a month for an hour if it's yucky out and they're driving me crazy and the rough kids aren't here. It doesn't happen often. lol

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