cherryhill 12:42 PM 12-08-2010
With toys. It seems that I can not get any of the kids to play with the toys the way they are meant to be played with. Maybe I have the wrong kind of toys. I have blocks, which go in everyone's mouth,links they make long links and swing them at each other, books in there mouth. And every toy is dumped and they try to sit in the toy bin. How do I get my dc kids to play with toys correctly and be nice to each other. Right now everything is "mine" and they are pretty mean to one another. Are there certain toys that are a hit, that will keep them entertained for at least 15-20 minutes? I read a thread yesterday about how much time is actively spent playing with the kids. I literally have to stand over them or be on the floor so that they will not bite, hit, push, it is getting crazy. I am losing my mind. This is going on my second year of doing daycare, still trying to figure out everything.
One more thing. In my nap room I have tacked a sheet on the wall so that they can not see each other. looks pretty tacky. looking for a permanent solution, What do you guys use?
The kids ages are (2) 22 months (1) 20 month (1) 17 month and (1) 2 months
AfterSchoolMom 02:07 PM 12-08-2010
What kind of containers do you have? If you have a toys bin/organizer, you can attach the bins permanently to the bin holder. That would eliminate their ability to dump. You could also limit the number of toys that they get to play with by a great deal, or put all of the toys up high and take away their access to them. That way, toys can come out/down a few at a time.
SilverSabre25 02:13 PM 12-08-2010
IMO, it's largely the age. You have kids at some pretty tough ages, there. They probably do not have much language, they do not play cooperatively; they are still VERY much into parallel play, it's the age of possesiveness. You're not going to "get them" to play nicely "with" each other; the most you can hope for at those ages is to not hurt each other in passing.
What you need are open-ended toys for which there *is* no right/wrong. I actually don't think there's a right/wrong even with more closed-ended toys, but that's a different post. It's not so much that they are using the toys incorrectly; it's more that they're exploring the environment and discovering what else can be done with that object. This is not only fine; it's developmentally normal.
This doesn't mean you have to put up with all the behaviors, though. Books going in the mouth? Take away the books for a couple months. It won't hurt them. Links getting made into long chains? Well...what else do you do with those anyway (I only used them to attach toys to stroller/car seat)--since what they are doing (swinging them at each other) is undesirable, take them away. Blocks go in the mouth? Remind the offender that toys don't go in the mouth and have them give you the block. Do this each time you catch a block in the mouth and the behavior should decrease.
With that age group, the favorites are play kitchen stuff, toy cars, Duplos, shape sorters, musical instruments, a toy piano/xylophone thing, the slide that's in the playroom, balls.
For the nap room, I don't worry about whether they can see each other. Mine are all in pack n plays at those ages, and they fall asleep just fine being able to see each other.
cherryhill 08:17 AM 12-09-2010
Originally Posted by AfterSchoolMom:
What kind of containers do you have? If you have a toys bin/organizer, you can attach the bins permanently to the bin holder. That would eliminate their ability to dump. You could also limit the number of toys that they get to play with by a great deal, or put all of the toys up high and take away their access to them. That way, toys can come out/down a few at a time.
That is probably the problem. I don't have containers that have a lid. I will have to invest in that. I was always buying toys to keep them busy but not really working and now I have to put them away because they are always on the floor not being played with.
cherryhill 08:24 AM 12-09-2010
Originally Posted by SilverSabre25:
IMO, it's largely the age. You have kids at some pretty tough ages, there. They probably do not have much language, they do not play cooperatively; they are still VERY much into parallel play, it's the age of possesiveness. You're not going to "get them" to play nicely "with" each other; the most you can hope for at those ages is to not hurt each other in passing.
What you need are open-ended toys for which there *is* no right/wrong. I actually don't think there's a right/wrong even with more closed-ended toys, but that's a different post. It's not so much that they are using the toys incorrectly; it's more that they're exploring the environment and discovering what else can be done with that object. This is not only fine; it's developmentally normal.
This doesn't mean you have to put up with all the behaviors, though. Books going in the mouth? Take away the books for a couple months. It won't hurt them. Links getting made into long chains? Well...what else do you do with those anyway (I only used them to attach toys to stroller/car seat)--since what they are doing (swinging them at each other) is undesirable, take them away. Blocks go in the mouth? Remind the offender that toys don't go in the mouth and have them give you the block. Do this each time you catch a block in the mouth and the behavior should decrease.
With that age group, the favorites are play kitchen stuff, toy cars, Duplos, shape sorters, musical instruments, a toy piano/xylophone thing, the slide that's in the playroom, balls.
For the nap room, I don't worry about whether they can see each other. Mine are all in pack n plays at those ages, and they fall asleep just fine being able to see each other.
thanks for the response. I think the age has a lot to do with it. I will have to wait it out hopefully in the next few months it gets a little easier.
I don't have any musical instruments so I will look into that.
I have to put up a sheet or they will yell, and play with each other the whole nap time, and well be in bad moods for the rest of the day. One jumps up and down in his pack n play so much I think he will break it. I have actually started putting him in my sons room so he has no distractions. When I first started, I though how neat it would be that all the kids are the same age. What a mistake, oh well live and learn.
Abigail 11:49 PM 12-09-2010
Wow, that is a lot of young children! Are you licensed for four infants? That would be my max here because infants in family daycares are up to age 24 months. I agree with the PP that it is mostly the age. I would recommend you DONT HAVE BUCKETS at all! Just put the toys on the shelf in groups. Tape a picture of the toy that belongs there (if you choose to do this) and then teach the older ones to match the toy with the picture. I would NOT take away books, but I would ONLY offer the board/cardboard thick books and about eight books total. It's recommended you have two books per child available, but I don't think you need to count your young infant who can't even hold a book! LOL, but licensing rules are always interpreted differently.
If they like the chain links, just supply less of them. If they put 20 of them together and swing it around then only give them 6 or 8 to link together at a time. The three B's are always recommended which includes Books, Balls, and Blocks. We were told that if you have the three B's that you could actually run a daycare and survive. Make sure they have plenty of room for the toys. Can you take a picture of your toy shelves and we can tell you what you could possible change to help your situation?
As for naps. Do you dim the lights when it's nap time? Do you have curtains or blinds to close to help set the nap time routine? Do you have soothing dreamy music to play softly in the background? Do you offer a relaxing transition time prior to nap time? If you don't have nap right after lunch, I bet if you moved lunch back a little or just moved nap time up to after lunch that they would be more relaxed and not scream at each other. We use to keep kids up almost an hour after lunch to go down at 1:00 so they had free play for an hour. This was terrible because it was 2:30 sometimes before everyone got to sleep! Did I get a break, NO WAY! Then we moved it to noon which is a few minutes after lunch ends since lunch is 11:30 followed by bathroom breaks then naps. If you must keep to limiting their views of each other, I would put up a sliding curtain from the ceiling that is short, like 4-6 feet and have their pack n plays in opposite corners. This way you can pull the curtain during naps and push it to the side of the room and tie a knot in it to become decor during the other times of the day. If you did this across one part of the room then you should have two curtains so you can pull one on each side after nap. The fabric should also cut down on noise by absorbing the sound waves better in general too!