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View Full Version : what do you do to keep setting looking fun



newandlearning
03-03-2010, 06:56 PM
hi.. I sometimes get a bit bored of my lounge always looking half lounge and half nursery .. and on top of that although I rotate toys I still feel like its lacking a certain amount of zing .. maybe I'm just bored of the units or something...I was thinking of getting some nice prints from the festival shop which are a mix of child and adult viewing...

what do you do to keep your setting looking fun and fresh?
xx

MissTinkerbell
03-03-2010, 07:08 PM
I don't do anything - my setting looks like my home! My husband doesn't want his home looking like a nursery and to be honest once the children have all gone home I like my home to look child free. I do have the children's art work up on the doors in the hallway (I have 5 doors in my hallway) and at night I can shut the lounge door and not see them.

Dragonfly
03-03-2010, 07:14 PM
Quite agree with miss tinkerbell, I have been minding 13 years and childminders homes have been looking more and more like nurseries. Maybe my age!!.:blush:

Tatjana
03-03-2010, 07:15 PM
I don't do anything to make it a more interesting setting, just a more interesting home for me and my family, this is usually changing my cushions with high regularity...well ok, it's mainly for me, it's become a bit of a joke with dh and my boys!

Toys are mainly put away, there are always a few that don't quite fit into the boxes! The only childrens artwork that is up are a few select and special pieces of my own children, mindees take all their stuff home.

xx

Jelly Baby
03-03-2010, 07:20 PM
Nothing!! glad this has come up actually as sometimes feel i have such a boring house..it is full of toys, posters, games, stuff during the day but after hours i put everything away and it looks like..well my friend says 'a show home'!! very nice as she always tells everyone what a lovely house we have but i sometimes think when parents come if it as times when the kids arent here it looks so child free..
Hmm i still dont want it looking like a nursery so tough!
Meant to add i think i feel bad at times as there are 2 where i live who have thier houses like nurserys and are plastered from floor to wall when you walk in!

Mouse
03-03-2010, 07:22 PM
I have thongs that can be easily be put out when I'm working & packed away when I'm not.

Eg. the children love the bright coloured Ikea mats that I set out (only cost a couple of pounds each). They use them as playmats for the farm or garage, they sit on them to look at books, they use them as stepping stones etc. After work I just roll them up & pack them away, but while they're out they look fun.

Jelly Baby
03-03-2010, 07:24 PM
I have thongs that can be easily be put out when I'm working & packed away when I'm not.

Eg. the children love the bright coloured Ikea mats that I set out (only cost a couple of pounds each). They use them as playmats for the farm or garage, they sit on them to look at books, they use them as stepping stones etc. After work I just roll them up & pack them away, but while they're out they look fun.

Lol..i should think they do pack away they dont mount to much do they!! Sorry couldn't help it!
I have the ikea mats too..really cool they are!

jumpinjen
03-03-2010, 07:31 PM
I have thongs that can be easily be put out when I'm working & packed away when I'm not.

Eg. the children love the bright coloured Ikea mats that I set out (only cost a couple of pounds each). They use them as playmats for the farm or garage, they sit on them to look at books, they use them as stepping stones etc. After work I just roll them up & pack them away, but while they're out they look fun.

I have these too.... they were nathmats and the children use them all the time!!! great investment!! And bright and cheerful too!

jenni:)

babs
03-03-2010, 08:16 PM
I have thongs that can be easily be put out when I'm working & packed away when I'm not.


Eg. the children love the bright coloured Ikea mats that I set out (only cost a couple of pounds each). They use them as playmats for the farm or garage, they sit on them to look at books, they use them as stepping stones etc. After work I just roll them up & pack them away, but while they're out they look fun.


why do u put thongs out when u are working please save these for after hours :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Mouse
03-03-2010, 08:22 PM
why do u put thongs out when u are working please save these for after hours :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Things not thongs :blush:

:ROFL1: :ROFL1:

Though I suppose thongs could keep things fun, just not when the children are here :thumbsup:

~Chelle~
03-03-2010, 08:26 PM
I don't do anything - my setting looks like my home! My husband doesn't want his home looking like a nursery and to be honest once the children have all gone home I like my home to look child free. I do have the children's art work up on the doors in the hallway (I have 5 doors in my hallway) and at night I can shut the lounge door and not see them.

:thumbsup: me too x

babs
03-03-2010, 08:27 PM
:ROFL1: :ROFL1: :ROFL1: :ROFL1: sorry i cudnt resist......

Trouble
03-03-2010, 08:30 PM
My playroom has 2 nice big doors on them with a lovely thick curtain that goes right acrss at night time:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :D

before the playroom i had pictures everywhere and one day i just took them all down and said enough is enough, this is a house not a nursery:(

Winnie
03-03-2010, 09:29 PM
I have thongs that can be easily be put out when I'm working & packed away when I'm not.

Eg. the children love the bright coloured Ikea mats that I set out (only cost a couple of pounds each). They use them as playmats for the farm or garage, they sit on them to look at books, they use them as stepping stones etc. After work I just roll them up & pack them away, but while they're out they look fun.

:ROFL1: i was thinking...she got that the wrong way round :laughing: then you corrected it i realised my mistake :ROFL1:

Winnie
03-03-2010, 09:31 PM
i'm always moving my furniture around :)

polly0
03-03-2010, 09:53 PM
I agree with Miss Tinkerbell, my house is my home, as soon as mindees are gone everything goes away and it feels like our home again, I am not a nursery!!!

ORKSIE
03-03-2010, 09:58 PM
I just get different toys out each day, thats why I was chosen over a Nursery...Home from Home:thumbsup:
I am not a nursery, so I dont try to be one. MO :)

Mrs Book
03-03-2010, 10:07 PM
My house is the same. It looks like a nursery somedays rather than a home. I rotate todys, but still it looks untidy.

Half the toys that are downstairs belong to my boys as well who are still young. My house isn't big enough to have a separate playroom which I would love for childminding.

My plan at some point is to make my little sons bedroom into a playroom for both my children. Then just leaving downstairs the toys that the CM kids can play with and getting rid of the toys that belong to the boys.

jumpinjen
03-03-2010, 10:08 PM
I have collections of the children's pictures, such as the ones we painted outdoors yesterday, gathered around the pots of bulbs that were (ahem) painting (sort of!), I have a cupboard door that has the older toys in with little parts, and a child lock on, that I make a display on, for example, the poems and friendship words we did for valentines, and i have some mandarin numbers strung in a garland across the shelf that has number and shape games/puzzles/toys on. I have a large, curving window ledge that we dress according to the season, so it had leaf garlands and mini pumpkins and wooden apples on it for autumn, and it has pots of bulbs on for Spring. We usually have some bare branches with things hanging on them, valentines or easter eggs, or pompoms etc. All of these things can be changed often and refresh the look..... some might say that it is turning my house into a nursery but I think it looks lovely and bright and the children love to help make things to decorate.... it flows with the seasons so helps their sense of rythmn. You could use a box to make a diorama that changes every week/two to reflect the children's interests. Next week we are doing incy wincy week for chatter box challenge and i will have a pompom spider, a blue floaty cloth, a piece of drain pipe and a paper plate sunshine in the box to act out the nursery rhyme. I do these things for my own children anyway so am happy to extend it for the mindees! Hope some of that helps you!!

Jenni:)

newandlearning
03-03-2010, 10:17 PM
:ROFL1: my you know when you are working to much.. when like me you think a thong is some kind of a nathmat...

still don't know what a nathmat is.. please enlighten me if you can.:)

miffy
04-03-2010, 08:12 AM
still don't know what a nathmat is.. please enlighten me if you can.:)

I think she means bathmat!

Miffy xx

jumpinjen
04-03-2010, 08:18 AM
:ROFL1: my you know when you are working to much.. when like me you think a thong is some kind of a nathmat...

still don't know what a nathmat is.. please enlighten me if you can.:)

It's a Bathmat....... I'm glad you find us all sooooo amusing!!

jen:D

newandlearning
04-03-2010, 06:27 PM
firstly I think everyone on here is great and thought a nathmat was a make or something :doh: and secondly ...!!!wow!!! Jen..

I've just read your other post.. your place sounds great.. and actually I hadn't thought of using bathmats before .. I imagine it can be nice to have different ones scattered around hence adding some colour to the place...

do you do all your prep during minding hours and do you just work on your own or with another person?

jumpinjen
04-03-2010, 07:10 PM
firstly I think everyone on here is great and thought a nathmat was a make or something :doh: and secondly ...!!!wow!!! Jen..

I've just read your other post.. your place sounds great.. and actually I hadn't thought of using bathmats before .. I imagine it can be nice to have different ones scattered around hence adding some colour to the place...

do you do all your prep during minding hours and do you just work on your own or with another person?

oh that's funny, bless you!!! I don't dot the mats round, they are rolled up and stored and the children use them in their games, jumping from one to the other or for their dens, etc, I didn't realise they would be so popular when I bought them..... they are:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/60122659

I work on my own and no, I do my prep out of hours!!! but sometimes write up observations if all is peaceful and ticking along without me for a while!!! Along with a much needed cuppa!!!!
:D
You are outstanding so must have lots of good practice ideas..... what things do you do that you really like??:clapping:

jumpinjen
04-03-2010, 07:27 PM
If you meant prep the things we put on the wall/cupboard, the children help me laminate and cut things out and blu tack them up, and they choose which of their pictures to put up and where, then they help me take them downa nd choose a couple of bits and a couple of photos to goin the scrap book, so they help with that!

jenni

Heaven Scent
04-03-2010, 08:01 PM
i'm so shattered tonight that on reading "nathmat" I just thought it was the Ikea name for the mats and was going to go on the ikea site to see what these mats you were all talking about were like - the thing is I have had these bath mats myself for years but I use them in my bathroom and ensuite.

Jo jingles use them too - three cheers for good auld IKEA

Hip Hip ..............

Hip Hip...............

Hip Hip...............

:laughing: :laughing:

newandlearning
07-03-2010, 08:33 PM
I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to everyone who came up with some great ideas re mats etc for making your setting and home more fun and fresh...

I've now bought a few new things including the mats from Ikea .. and am really looking forward to being able to rotate them, put them away easy and get another one out...

sending everyone lots of hugs...:jump for joy: :thank you:

Mouse
07-03-2010, 09:14 PM
I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to everyone who came up with some great ideas re mats etc for making your setting and home more fun and fresh...

I've now bought a few new things including the mats from Ikea .. and am really looking forward to being able to rotate them, put them away easy and get another one out...

sending everyone lots of hugs...:jump for joy: :thank you:

:thumbsup:

A favourite game my mindees play with the mats is 'traffic lights'. They set the red, orange & green ones out in order & I have to say 'go', 'get ready to go' or 'stop' and they go & stand on the right colour.

They also love using them for doing action songs & a bit of jumping around indoors when we're short of space. Each child stands on their mat (me on one as well) and do action songs like The Grand Old Duke of York. We each stay on our own mat, so we're moving, but not bumping into each other :thumbsup: