Station Separation

I am wondering if anyone has any ideas of how to separate stations. I have an in-home daycare and when I do stations they tend to get all mixed together after the kids start playing. While I don't want to have my daycare so structured that it is boring, by any means, I want the kids to be able to somewhat learn from the different stations. I usually only have three stations at one time up...maybe four at most. I have a large room where I have the stations. I just need to figure out how to keep the separated or if it is even possible.

[Michael]

Here is another thread on Stations: https://www.daycare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12401

[Jazzii]

For us, in general we split up the daycare by age and rotate once they get antsy. We are also a group of providers so it is not just one of us. I know what's been working is having very, split up stations. For example, journaling is done at the red table. My kids know that the red table is ONLY for journaling. The blue table is ALWAYS for fine motor play. The tile area is ALWAYS for sensory (rice, shaving cream, etc.) I find that a well-known signal often works out well. Tell them "okay when the phone rings we do hands on head" or whatever your cue is.

This was exactly what I was looking for. I looked on the thread regarding stations that was also posted, but that only gave me ideas for stations (which wasn't necessarily bad, but I already have that pretty much handled).

What ages are your kids?

What types of stations do you have set up?

[Hunni Bee]

I use tables and rugs to make physical boundaries. Like someone said earlier, art and writing are ONLY on the table, the blocks are only to be played with on the roadway carpet, etc. Every center is designated to a certain table, rug or confined area. I have a super small room so we have to keep walkways clear and stuff in its place.

[Controlled Chaos]

Rugs and small shelves separate my room into 4 obvious stations plus 2 small tables. I allow some toys to move to other areas when children are being imaginative and engaged in play, but often I will encourage children to keepy the toys "where they live". It seems to work well and its very easy for me to say "Susy please go to the car area, the book area is full" because the areas are obvious. HTH