I am in the process of planning my home daycare. I have a small house so my daycare has to share family living space also. Is it possible to do this without your house completely looking like a daycare? I've seen pictures of people's home daycares and it looks like a real classroom in their basement which is very impressive but I'm trying to figure out a way that when my kids go home and my family come home that they don't feel like they are living inside a classroom. So basically I'm trying to think of creative ways that my supplies and equipment can be "portable" and put away when done. Am I just dreaming?

Reply

Welcome to the Daycare.com Forum!

Reply

I don't think you're dreaming. I've been trying to do the same thing. I have a very small home though, so I kind of just accept the fact that there's not room for all of the equipment in closet space and leave out what I use every day. My only alternative is to store things in the garage outside, and I don't have time to go and fetch things every morning to set up.

The level I work on is about 700 SF, two bedrooms, br, kitchen, living room and dining room. All small; no closet space that isn't being used for clothes and shoes.

If you have more room than that, maybe you can dedicate a closet or two to daycare equipment. Or use a porch and/or garage for storage. Or get a shed for a backyard?

Good luck, and let us know what you figure out!

Reply

My house is small as well and if I did daycare in my home (I work in a center) I would want my stuff put away as well. I wouldn't want my house looking like a classroom all the time.

I did daycare before in our other home also small and it did NOT look like a daycare at all.

Reply

My home is very small as well - it was only 850 sq feet, until we recently renovated the basement (which still isn't used for daycare though). We use the family kitchen, living room, dining room (converted into playroom, and we eat in the kitchen). The dck's do not go up into our bedrooms, or down into the basement.

I have nice toy storage furniture in the living room that is not kid-looking at all. I have a solid, natural wood shelving with doors on it so that I can close it. I also use an antique dresser for toy storage (dress up clothes drawer etc) and an antique wooden ceder blanket chest for a toybox. The only kid things that are noticeable in the living room are the books, which are on the bottom shelf of my open bookshelf.

My dining room (which is totally separated from my living room) is now a playroom, where I keep all the very kid looking things, artwork (which is up all over the walls) and most of the toys.

I only have 2-4 yr olds dck's so I have no highchairs (anymore) cluttering up my small kitchen. They just sit at our kitchen table for meals, like my own family does.

Reply

Not dreaming If you walked into my home any evening or over the weekend, you'd never know that I ran a daycare in my home.

I got so tired of feeling like I lived in my work - along with changing my philosophy of the "education" part of my daycare program, and made changes that made me happy. I keep one wicker basket of toys (large laundry basket size) in my livingroom for the kids to play with during drop-off and pick-up times. I also keep a smaller wicker basket of books in the living room for the same purpose. The contents of both baskets I change out when the kids get bored, or I get bored of the same toys and books. Both baskets fit into my livingroom closet at the end of the day. All of my other toys are in big storage bins that I keep in my storage/laundry room and get them out when needed. One of those bins at a time will come out after breakfast and go away before nap time. If the kids want a different set of toys other than the bin that's out - the first one has to get cleaned up and put away before another one comes out.

I have one closet that has a cubbie type storage unit inside for all of the kids' diapers, extra clothes, etc. It would be my coat closet in my livingroom otherwise.

My daycare plates, cups and utensils have a dedicated drawer in my kitchen so they are stored there when not in use - and I don't have to look at them when I'm "off". Highchairs and booster chairs come out of the storage/laundry room before everyone arrives in the mornings, and all get put back into the storage room after pm snack time.

Pack-n-plays in my bedrooms that get used for naps are opened when it's nap time and folded back up and stashed under a bed or in a closet after nap time is over...unless I'm really lazy and no one is using the bedroom - then they stay set up until the next day (my own kids are grown and no longer living at home). But the pnp that gets set up in my own bedroom always gets folded back up at the end of nap time:-)

It's taken awhile for me to develop my system of "hiding the evidence" as my son used to say when I would go into a stashing-away frenzy at the end of my workday But it really helps with my sanity not to feel like I'm living in a daycare all the time! I tell potential clients about my personal philosophy that kids will spend enough years in institutional settings that the longer that I can Keep them in a home environment - I feel it's better. I've never had a potential client not sign-on because of that.

So it is not a dream - it is possible, just takes organization and diligence to make it all work - but I'd be burned out if I didn't do it

Reply

Pammie- I like your philosophy and is exactly why I think I'm going to enjoy this more than when I worked in a daycare. There is so much stress put on you in a center that you need to provide a school-like setting and eventually I was like "when can these kids just BE KIDS!" I was noticing that the full time kids behavior was different than the part time kids and I really think it's the pressure of having to constantly follow classroom rules and learn, learn, LEARN! Don't get me wrong, I plan on providing an educational experience but in a very relaxed and playful way. We will have story and song time, art projects, etc. but at a leisurely sort of way and not forcing the kids to SIT DOWN AND LEARN! I just want to love them and encourage fun. So, thanks for the ideas and the motivation! I'm going to clean out my basement storage room and do the same thing you guys do. Have everything in there and just change out the toys we play with by week. The plus side of this also is I have a baby right now so the baby toys are already out and for now his room will be the keeper of that stuff. I guess when he grows up I'll have to change that I will have plenty of other questions for you guys soon! Thank you!

Reply

I do the same thing, storage, cupboards and cubbies are my life saver!!! AND I LOVE your philosophy, I hope you dont mind but I think I may use it

Reply

i have a seperate room for DC, but there still isnt enough space art and messy stuff is done in the dining room, and pnp's are in my room, and school agers are in my living room.

the SA stuff is in rolling carts and gets rolled away at night.

the art/messy stuff gets shoved in the DC room at night, except for the art shelves. (i cant move those all the time...lol) i found 4 old beat up shutters at a yard sale, and hinged them together. i put them in front of the art shelves at night to "hide" them, and it fits my country decor.

the pnp's get taken down at night and stashed in the DC room too.

Reply

Since we moved the playroom to our lower level, I don't usually feel like I live at my work or that I live in a daycare center. However, I have a three year old and another on the way, so the fact that half the square footage of my house (I might be exaggerating. I need to measure that actually) is a playroom is really just business as usual for me, lol.

Reply

I am now lucky enough to have almost a whole house for day care. We moved to another home and kept the former one and our son lives in it. 1860 sq feet... one floor. He turned two of the four bedrooms into a bedroom and a "living room". His area is gated off. The whole rest of the home is now day care.

But when we lived there, I had to get inventive with storage to keep it looking like a home when day care was closed. We are a group home, licensed for 16 kids.

I used furniture shelving and nice wicker containers for toys. When it was all put away, you couldn't see what was in the containers on the shelves. Our couch and love seat was off the floor a few inches with a skirt and there was just enough room to put "under-the-bed" plastic containers which held larger items. We turned the hall closet into a place for cubbies for coats etc. The dining table was a beat up old farm table that we used for art etc. At the end of the day, a pretty tablecloth worked wonders!

Just think out of the box and you'll find all sorts of fun and inventive ways to "hide" your day care!

Reply

I do have one large daycare room. BUT, I use the whole house for daycare. We wouldn't be able to fit inside one room for an entire day.

I take everything out of the daycare room and set it up, and at the end of the day, I put it all back.

I have a small cupboard for cups. I keep a small plastic utensil basket for their spoons and forks, and that goes in the cupboard. I use the take and toss cups for all the kids, because they fit together and store away nicely.

I hate diaper bags. They take up a lot of space, we don't need them, and they are ugly. Plus, you have those parents who think their three year old needs a diaper bag. So, I try to get the parents to bring a supply of diapers over once every few weeks.

I have my diaper changing station on top of the washing machine. So, I keep the diapers on the shelf above that, and the extras are stored in the linen closet within reach.

Reply

My entire downstairs in the my daycare. I look at it like this: My daycare brings in half of our income. It takes up alot of space and there's no way I can hide it all. I have small tables and activity centers. I do use a pantry in my hallway for daycare things like art supplies, etc. I dont use a changing table at all. I have a mat I put on the floor and change them there. But my home looks like a daycare. I used to try to make it look like a home but I gave up. Its what I do. I cant hide it.

Reply

We had the daycare in the main part of our house for two years. It wasn't all that bad (if you get used to alphabet posters on the walls). Especially when you consider that this was our only income at the time. We have since moved it to the finished basement which makes things a lot better. When it was upstairs we had it so one room was only daycare - the other main living room was kind of half and half - and no one was allowed in the bedrooms.

Reply

I look at it this way, what difference does it make? I was a SAHM. When my kids were little, my home looked like a home, it just had baby equipment and toys out. I didn't have ABC posters and centers in my home for my children. My kids were both tops in their Kindergartens and were both in the top 12/13 of the graduating class.

Fast forward to now. My kids are grown. I keep kids during the day in my "home". I have some baby equipment out, a changing table in the den, 3 toddler high chairs in my kitchen chairs and a toddler table (with 2 seats). I have several nice storage bins (think office style, not plastic), with toys in my den. I have an extra bedroom with all the beds.

It doesn't bother me to have those things out in my home now anymore than it did when my kids were little. If we have company coming over, it takes about 30 minutes to move it all to the extra room with the beds and shut the door. To do this on a daily basis, NO WAY! I would rather rest and spend that 30 min, with my DH. JMHO

Sorry tried to load my pics of my set up so you could see, but they just won't upload.

Reply

Some people have come to my house and did not believe I lived there.

Reply

We have converted our dining room into the "play room" but I have furniture in there now that doesn't exactly look like a daycare. I have these shelves from Target:
http://www.target.com/ClosetMaid-Cub..._gwvub_2_title

and in the pics on that page you can see that there is the option of sliding little boxes into the shelves. That's what we do and each box is organized with a certain toy like blocks, bristle blocks, thomas tracks, Fisher price little people, etc. Keeps everything organized AND doesn't look like daycare storage.

We use the kitchen table for eating and crafts. I keep a plastic drawer organizer for art supplies and that can be in the kitchen or rolled into the garage at the end of the day. The rest of our toys are kept in the guest bedroom closet and I change out every other week so that we don't get bored. We have A LOT of toys and so there is a way to store it all so that you can feel like you are away from work.

For me it's really important not to feel like I live in a daycare. I give my all during the week but during the evenings and weekends I need that break, physical and mental!

Reply