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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I like the setup and the materials but I think your inexperience with group care of toddler and preschool age kids shows.  Cutesy little dolls? Perfect when it's just your child but they will be destroyed and aren't really washable.  The tons of little pieces? That will be a treat to clean up. You don't need a full big basket of shells (that are spiky and will inevitable end up hurting some child) or a cash register of 20+ coins. 2 or 3 shells and maybe 10 coins at most are good. Also realize that the majority of parents are not going to be drawn in by your set up. Also, I can't imagine those wood blocks dropping on your wood floor day in and day out.  The loud sound will upset some kids and your floor will eventually take a beating.  And while I appreciate the aesthetic, I can't say that I think young kids will be immediately draw to the area. It's kind of dark and boring. Natural doesn't mean just brown. Nature has lots of colors.  There is nothing wrong with adding in some colors to attract attention and provide a boundary to the kids play areas.  Color silks for the canopy for example, natural dyed baskets, a comfortable spot to land on the floor - bean bag or equivalent, soft child size furniture, a fuzzy rug.

How come you have no books on any of the shelves? No pictures of kids or other general pictures? Tons of great waldorf inspired art that you can place low on the bookshelves sides and in other areas.  Where will you display things the kids create?

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Thank you for letting me know possible concerns. Let me address all the things you mentioned, I am sure others might have similar questions:

I do have experience with group care. [b]The largest group of children I ever cared for was 25, together with 1 other caregiver. [/b]And I am very excited to now be able to set up a smaller group that will allow much more personalized care. Our set up is what worked well for me in the past. All our toys are washable and we take care of keeping everything clean. What looks like big baskets on the pictures actually are wooden bowls the size of cereal bowls! Clean up time is part of our daily schedule, we do it together with the children. [b]It's not a chore, more like a fun exercise in memorizing where things belong and taking pride in keeping our play space neat and tidy for the next day[/b]. All our toys are washable and if something breaks we have no problem replacing it. Toys that end up not working for us will be phased out and replaced with toys that fit the children in care better. Nothing is set in stone.
We will adjust the amount of materials we actually use according to the number and age of children in care - right now everything is set up as we are in the first enrollment phase. And once we have 5 children playing together I am sure all our materials will be used. We don't have any children actually in care yet, as we just opened, so everything is set up for parents to get a full idea.

All our play areas are actually visually separated. That might not be too visible on the pictures and I might try to take some different angles to make that clearer. Our main toy area for example has a huge bamboo rug underneath and wooden towers tumbling over are not a noise issue there. We also believe in homes to be spaces to freely and fully live in and do not mind little nicks and scratches on the hardwood floors!

About color: that's one thing we are still working on. Since the current pictures on the website have been taken we actually have already improved our set up again. We will continue to improve our space, it is and always will be an ongoing project. However, [b]we do not want to over stimulate the children in our care with overly colorful walls. The children should be able to focus on their play and learning experience, rather than being distracted by too much 'stuff' going on on the walls.[/b] We have added some colorful play silks and some fitting artwork however and are working together with an artist who creates beautiful felted wool pictures. Each child will have an individual folder for their drawings and painting. Other artwork will be displayed on a shelf in the art area - we have kept that space free for that very purpose. There will also be an art wall in our entrance area where we can display interchanging drawings whenever a child likes one of their paintings enough to wish for it to be displayed there. However, as we do not have any children in care yet, there is no artwork to be displayed yet, either.

Thank you for the hint about a comfortable space to land on - we do have a pile of sheepskin, however, we are currently using those in the Quiet Room, which is the room the children sleep in. We should get some more so we can add a pile to the playroom as well for the children to grab whenever they want or need it!

About missing books: all our books are actually also in our second room, the Quiet Room. As sitting down and reading a book requires some quietness and calmness we have decided to put our reading nook in there and separate it more from the general play area. I should take some proper pictures and add those to the website as well!

In general I'd like to say that we are just starting out. We have been preparing for opening day for about half a year, buying and creating toys and everything else you see in our pictures. We are by no means done and I don't plan on ever being 'done' as I want to keep improving constantly. However, our space and concept are ready to be enjoying by children and I am absolutely certain they will thrive here.

Please do let me know if there are any other questions or concerns - the community here is great and hearing from parents can only help us improve![/quote]

25:2  - I would hope that ratio is for school age children.

Cleaning is a chore and not all kids enjoy the process of cleaning up or will want to clean up. 2 yr olds like to pull things off shelves just because. They don't really have the same desire to replace things on shelves. This is why daycare centers have low shelves, with limited toys per shelf for kids in that age range. They also usually have some  gross motor area in the classroom with a low to the ground climbing structure.

Please don't tell parents anything as hokey as "bright colors on the wall will distract your child from playing".  Children naturally gravitate towards bright colors and that's fine. Their development will not be stunted.

Books should be available in all areas for kids and not confined to a quiet area.  The benefits of books for toddlers and preschoolers included fine motor skill development - turning individual pages of a book, learning basic concepts about the world - animals, colors, etc, learn simple sequencing - picture books will have the story written in illustrations and photos and the child follows along as he turns the pages,  developing imagination - looking at pictures and illustrations and then incorporating those into play later on by building a structure with blocks, or dress up, etc.

One adult with 5 kids under age 5.  You are providing custodial care first.  You have one kid who throws a tantrum that lasts 15 minutes and you still have to make sure the other kids are safe and somewhat occupied. This would be one reason that home daycare often have specific daycare areas that have gates and/or doors.  It's not because they are trying to confine a child's spirit, they are just trying to confine the children to keep them safe as they are the only adult in the house.

Realize that daycare centers do not have it wrong. They actually setup their environments according to well researched early childhood education studies and information.

And lastly, don't get too caught up in Waldorf-ness.  The reason there are not Waldorf daycare centers is because it goes against the principal of Waldorf where daycare is something that is not good for the child because they should spend their early years with their mom and do not need to be separated from her and of course parents are the first, best teachers.

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