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Nowadays, daycare centers are not just for taking
care of the children during the day while the parents are at work. Many
daycare centers have evolved with the times. If you want to be dynamic
and original (as well as keeping the kids from going stir crazy),
planning a few daycare activities should do the job for you. Your
activities will depend on the ages of the children that you will care
for and what you want the day care center to be. A successful daycare
center knows how to stimulate children’s creativity and teach them new
things. They also know that activities are an important part of
socializing children, which is one of the reasons parents choose to put
their child in day care.
Even if you’ve never done it before, it’s easy to plan daycare
activities for the children in your care. You don’t have to buy
expensive educational materials to make these activities fun and
interesting. Children, especially those around the ages of 2-6, learn
best through play and you’re guaranteed to have a lot of fun playing
with them. After all, that’s what preschool is for—it’s the fun part
before you actually go to school.
Here are some tips that should help you:
Know the children – Know their ages and the types of activities
children of their age do. No, this does not mean you should buy up every
Dora or Hannah Montana toy on the market. This means that you should
create activities that are good for their ages. Like what? Basic skills
like counting, the alphabet, colors, and shape recognition are good.
Activities or games that encourage them to jump or play (like Duck Duck
Goose) help develop their motor skills. Again, this will depend on how
old your charges are. If you have more than one age group, then plan
different activities for them.
Make it fun! – Everybody misses being a kid because you weren’t
expected to do homework and could actually sleep in class. Great ideas
include drawing or painting activities, sculpting. Story time is always
good and so are games. Ask them to make up their own stories or have
show and tell. You’ll be surprised at what you can learn from them.
Change and update – You can keep old activities on file, but you
have to continually rotate the activities. Try planning out activities
for a month and see which ones are a hit. These ones you can file away
for later use. Remember, you’re not going to be with these children
forever—you’ll always have new batches to play with.
Ask – When interviewing a child and their parents for daycare,
ask the child what he or she likes to do. That can go a long way when
you plan new activities and will help stimulate the child. During parent
meetings and evaluations, why not ask parents what they would like as
activities for their children, other than what you already have planned
out. Take their suggestions into consideration when planning.
It’s best to plan your daycare activities on a monthly basis, or a
yearly basis depending on how organized you are.
 Monthly
planning saves you the hassle of wondering what you’re going to do
Monday on a Sunday night and gives you enough flexibility to change and
move activities and programs around. Have fun and good luck! |
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