Managing toy/resources

[Julie's World]

Hi,

I guess one of my concerns with childminding is managing what the children have out. My own children have free access to all their toys and are not very good at putting one thing away before getting something else out.

How do you manage what minded children have access to? I thought about having some toys boxed up according to age or topic and only getting out specific items? This would also help with the cleaning of the toys. Or do you have out according to observations and next steps only?

Am interested in how you manage this aspect?

Thanks
Julie

[Roseolivia]

If you saw my playroom you'd see that i can't help at all as my daughter is so messy and even though she's 4 is unable to put anything back after her. Think she takes after her dad.

When i was minding i used to tidy up every night once the mindees went home, when i start again in July i will be implementing tidy up time.

[flowerpots]

about every hour or so we have tidy up time, it usually fits in before lunch, an activity change, going out etc.

Im on the look out for a tidy up song so i can just put that on every time i cant see the playroom floor

[flowerpots]

Hi,

I guess one of my concerns with childminding is managing what the children have out. My own children have free access to all their toys and are not very good at putting one thing away before getting something else out.

How do you manage what minded children have access to? I thought about having some toys boxed up according to age or topic and only getting out specific items? This would also help with the cleaning of the toys. Or do you have out according to observations and next steps only?
Am interested in how you manage this aspect?

Thanks
Julie

i think Ofsted expect the children to have free access to most of the toys hun

[mushpea]

dependng on the age of the child and how many are playing I normaly ask the child if they have finished playing with the toy they need to tidy it up,, if they are to young to understand this then when the floor starts to disapear we stop and have tidy up time, then have a story then start again

[PixiePetal]

We have tidy up time before snack, lunch, or when the carpet is totally undercover and toys are being trod on etc - not a full tidy but so we can see the floor and not hurt ourselves or trip over toys.

If a box has been turned out it is left for a while but packed up if we need more room to play or set up a train track for example - my playroom is not huge unfortunately If we go in the garden we have a quick tidy if it's needed - any duplo models etc are kept till later

[jumpinjen]

We tidy as we go. all the children know that they must tidy away one thing before another comes out, and with a few reminders are really great with it, even the two year olds! it helps to have a place for everything labelled with pictures and words so they know exactly where to put it back. I rotate what is out according to ages/stages/interests and relabel baskets as necessary (i use ikea storage with square baskets. I couldn't deal with the mess is they didn't!!

jen x

[sarah707]

I have toys on shelves so that children can reach what is safe depending on who is here.

The children know to put things away if the floor is getting messy and we talk a lot about fire escape routes and not falling over toys.

It's a balancing act how much children can access - enough and they are busy but too much and they are overwhelmed.

I would suggest you go for flexible shelving and labelled boxes - it works here

[miffy]

I have too many toys for them all to be out all the time.

Anyway I often think the more you have out the less stuff gets played with - more likely to just be tipped out.

I'm making a catalogue of all my toys so that children can look through and say if there's anything they would like out.

Miffy xx

[bandlady]

We have tidy-up time before snacks, meals and school runs. I let the children have free choice of what they want to play with and most of my toys are within childrens reach. I have a collection of baskets and we all fill our baskets up with whatever is on the floor and then put away each toy in its rightful place. I find this works as they all like to be first at filling their basket and the older ones are beginning to put the toys back where they belong.

[kel1983]

Unfortunately I dont have a play room and all my toys are stored in the spare room upstairs. It is impossible to have them all accessable to the children.

I get a variety of toys down each morning. something that covers all areas. For example construction, role play, small world. I always get the books and puzzles out.

After lunch the LO I mind has a sleep so while she is sleeping I change the toys around, obviously leaving out anything she has really enjoyed playing with.

When I first started minding I got loads of toys out every morning which she found very over whelming. And i spent half an hour lugging toys down the stairs.

I hate mess so if there is too much out at one time I get LO's to help me tidy away anything they are not playing with.

[babs]

in my play room i have 21 jumbo resource units with boxes the children can get out what ever they like when they like but i always ask them to put away a box before they get another out, 2 3yr olds that are here together get one box each or share but they know to put away before getting out another one took a while but now they do it with out me asking... babys i put couple of boxes out in a morning in living room and change them when they go to sleep ..... even the 1 yr olds like putting toys away as well as taking them out

[nicoleon]

All my baby toys and books are accessible for everybody and mostly end up on the floor... but then i've got 3 under 2s and they're not that keen on tidy up time yet.

the older kids' toys and the arts and crafts things are in cupboards in the kitchen because older kids can get to them and younger ones know they are not allowed to open kitchen cupboards

i tidy up (whilst trying to encourage little ones...) before lunch and before the school run as well.

[SYLVIA]

Iv just beun to limit the boxes I have available for the children. I used to have everything accessible but the boys I had (one especially) would systematically stand and empty a box by picking up and dropping things. Then he would just move onto the next. I used to drive me mad. I have new children in now and am changing the system. They have less to choose from but they play with the toys more and better (IYSWIM)

[Julie's World]

Thanks everyone, seems like I need to get organised with labeled boxes - philospohy everything has a place and train the children this way - thats the easy bit its training myself that will be hard!

Some really helpful advice thanks again.
Julie

[jumpinjen]

To add to this, I have a laminate floor as we have a dog and the living room opens onto the garden so it's easier to keep clean than carpet but it scratches toys, especially plastic ones and they slip if they stand on a toy/book etc which is why I'm so up on tidying as we go really. I also have some circular bath mats from ikea with a rubber base that don't slip and the children know to get one and put whatever they're playing with on it (or several of them if it's a big set-up). This happened by accident as i just kept saying "get a matt for that" and now they do it automatically!! It also works to mark out 'their' area so there is room for all if they are playing separately!

Jen x

[miss mopple]

To add to this, I have a laminate floor as we have a dog and the living room opens onto the garden so it's easier to keep clean than carpet but it scratches toys, especially plastic ones and they slip if they stand on a toy/book etc which is why I'm so up on tidying as we go really. I also have some circular bath mats from ikea with a rubber base that don't slip and the children know to get one and put whatever they're playing with on it (or several of them if it's a big set-up). This happened by accident as i just kept saying "get a matt for that" and now they do it automatically!! It also works to mark out 'their' area so there is room for all if they are playing separately!

Jen x

Thats a great tip about the floor Jen. We are hoping to lay one soon and the toys scratching it hadn't occurred to me. Think a trip to IKEA may be on the cards (any excuse )