How To Organize My Coat Area

[Pepperth]

This is a silly question. I just can't figure it out. When I had a home daycare I had a coat hook assigned to each kid. Right now, I have a daycare in a school. In any given day, I have before school kids, daycare kids, and after school kids. (Nobody is over age 6 in my group). I was just letting them hang their coat and backpack up. It was easy up until we got snow. Now we have snowpants, boots, mittens, etc. Its overwhelming for me to keep their stuff contained and figure out whose is whose. My problem is that while they daycare kids I have are mostly predictable. The before and after school kids vary a lot so I feel silly having a hook assigned to a kid who shows up once every 3 weeks. Any ideas how I can organize the coat area outside the classroom?

[daycarediva]

plastic dollar store bins? everything goes in a bin, boots first. you could even use dry erase marker and have them write their names on the front.

[AmyKidsCo]

I visited a school for something one winter and they had bins for the boots, which I thought was brilliant. And centers around me have the children bring reusable grocery bags for their coats, snow pants, hats, mittens, etc. (That way their stuff doesn't touch another kid's stuff - that's a big no-no for our QRS )

[flying_babyb]

Laundry baskets! Used to work at a Ymca after school program. When the kids came in their stuff went in the laundry basket and there boots in front of it. The baskets were a buck at dollar tree. None of them were labeled so it was grab the top basket, toss your gear in, put basket down an boots in front (and mittens on the front of the boots if they were wet)

[storybookending]

Originally Posted by flying_babyb

Laundry baskets! Used to work at a Ymca after school program. When the kids came in their stuff went in the laundry basket and there boots in front of it. The baskets were a buck at dollar tree. None of them were labeled so it was grab the top basket, toss your gear in, put basket down an boots in front (and mittens on the front of the boots if they were wet)

Did we work at the same YMCA? Hahah one of the leads at my YMCA did this at her school.. annoyed the crap out of the rest of us bc her site had like 10 kids and they had special baskets but those of us at sites with +35 just had to have them throw their stuff in the bleachers and get lost and taken by other kids and who knows what else!

[ColorfulSunburst]

I would have a few unmarked hooks and a few laminated cards where I would write names of each occasionally coming kids. Use Velcro to attach a card over a hook. SA kids can do it by themselves.

[Pepperth]

I bought a bunch of laundry baskets from the dollar store. We'll see how that goes.

[HappyEverAfter]

Originally Posted by ColorfulSunburst

I would have a few unmarked hooks and a few laminated cards where I would write names of each occasionally coming kids. Use Velcro to attach a card over a hook. SA kids can do it by themselves.

This is a great idea!