Toy storage

[mumofone]

Hi all, I'm looking for some toy storage (plastic boxes on a rack) type thing - not too big that i can preferably pack away if I wish. Do OFSTED expect to see all toys on show or can you store some away and say you get them out depending on kids preferences?

[mrsb79]

Morning mumofone

When I first started minding I didn't have loads of resources and like yourself I wanted to be able to hide the toys at the end of the day. I would regularly change the resources and swap things around with my back up minder. Ofsted were fine with this but I was just starting out. Now I have so many resources I have an ikea box unit with canvas boxes that houses most of my resources and toys the only time I take the boxes and hide them away now is at Christmas when I'm off. X

[moggy]

I really wouldn't worry too much at this stage about what Ofsted 'expect' to see.
At pre-reg they are just wanting to see your setting is safe, suitable, that you know your EYFS and safeguarding. How you store your toys or what toys you actually have is not very important- no one knows what age/stage your mindees will be anyway.

You need to do what works for you and your mindees, and it will develop over time as you have mindees start...

If you have limited space indoors + a shed/garage or some other storage space, it would make sense for you to put some stuff away and rotate as you and the children want- ask yourself how children will know what it put away, if they need to know, how they will ask for things to come out? Or will you just decide yourself? There is no right and wrong here- it is what works for you and those particular children.

If you have loads of indoor space and no shed/garage then it would work best for you to have everything out but maybe you use a Toy Library regularly for variety.

I have an Ikea shelf unit and most things are on there, but I put away baby toys when I have no baby here. I put away the walker/trolley when I do not have a new walker here. I rotate large wooden things like castle/farm/car garage/wooden trike/play kitchen and keep all but 2 of those items in storage in the garage. I have a 'catalogue' of photos of all the main toys so children can use that to show what they want but to be honest they are all too young here to use that- a DO suggested it when I started out, was a bit of a waste of time! I could not get anything out of storage in the garage with the children here and by the next day their interests have moved on anyway. But if you have older children it could work well.

What ever does work for you and your mindees you can then easily justify to Ofsted, in years to come, as you will have evidence of it working well for you and the mindees! You will be able to explain and give examples of situations where your system has worked well. The inspector will see the system in action during the inspection.