Daycare Equation: Fun Activities = Happy Kids = Satisfied Parents = Profits for You
Your day care facility does need to have a set schedule for your children so they learn discipline and they learn to follow rules. However this does not mean that you will only have one routine to follow. Monotony in your center might make the kids not want to come back, which means lesser profits for you and lesser marketers too.
Here are some easy ways to make your day care kids’ days fun and exciting, a day that they would want to tell their parents about.
Arts and Crafts Time
Arts and crafts have been proven to significantly help in the development of a child’s motor skills. With the myriad of activities you can do, you can probably hold an arts and crafts class every single day! A good book on arts and crafts for kids would be really helpful for you. These books have activities that are age appropriate and will even instruct you on where to get materials you need. You will also get variations of the activities so you van repeat the same concept with a different theme.
Movie Time
Who says TV needs to be banned? There are a lot of educational materials you can choose from and most developers have already taken into consideration how these programs would affect young minds. Extensive researches have been made on these and your local government could probably even suggest a few good titles. You can also preview the material yourself and ask for inputs of the parents on the said activity.
Reading Time
Reading time could be done everyday before the kids take a nap. It is a good time cue that it is time to rest plus it encourages children to make reading books part of their habits. Story books and big books are very appropriate for day care kids since they contain colorful pictures that can interest young kids. Aside from that, these books are also made of sturdy material that can withstand the unintentional strains from young hands. You can even teach the kids decision making skills when you let them choose which stories to read. Aside from reading to them, have a stack of reading materials they can browse through independently.
Through the term of their stay, you will notice that the children will develop a love for reading. Let them join in telling stories that have become their favorites. They’ll probably start memorizing some of the rhyming words and this will make them immensely happy and confident. At some point, you will probably even see them pretending to read aloud like you. Encourage these actions with words of praises and hugs.
Language Games
Include songs, finger plays, poems, games, stories with alliterations, and rhymes in your daily activities. Children love repetition and patterns and these activities would help develop their cognitive skills.
Free Hands
Let your room be filled with writing materials that are accessible to the kids. Writing is a skill that will emerge independently and you wouldn’t want them scribbling all over the walls. Let them know early on that they need paper to write on and a pencil or a crayon to write with. Writing does not have to be formal letters and numbers; you can encourage children to doodle, draw shapes, and just practice their finger dexterity by holding a crayon and scribbling.
