My Daycare Coach

When the weather outside is frightful, come inside and make something delightful. Here are some fun winter crafts to do with your 2 and 3 year olds. The first is a color page of a scarf. After the children color them or 🎨 them. Help them to hole punch the ends and add cut yarn pieces. Some of the 2 year olds need more scaffolding. You can punch the hole and cut the yarn pieces for them a head of time.  For the mitten, have a precut paper mitten and allow the children to add colored tissue pieces. Then add glue. We used chubby paint brushes to paint on our glue. For a parent friendly approach (that some of my daycare assistants preferred) You could trim around the edges that overlapped the mitten.  For these winter hats, have paper plate halves available with markers and lick and stick tape and Pom poms and glue too.  For our winter tree, we used a die cut of a tree layered with 2 colors of paper. The children added "snow" cotton balls with glue sticks and some ...

It's that time of year again. Children are getting sick and parents need to go to work and then they attempt to drop their sick child off at daycare ... This can be a sticky situation if you don't have a plan in place   To help avoid this situation from occurring here are some steps you can take for your family childcare: Step 1. Include in your parent handbook simply and clearly your expectations around sickness  Always go over this piece in your handbook during their enrollment. Maybe even have them initial this section   Step 2. Also during enrollment explain to your parents that you want to have a healthy atmosphere for their child to play and grow in and that is why you only care for healthy children. If you help them see this as benefiting them, they are more likely to follow your guidelines when asked.  Step 3.  Periodically ( flu season*cough) remind your family's of your sickness policy. Post a cute sign like my free example below as so...

I had some extra time this week because my work closes down for the week between Christmas and New Years. I know right? As a family childcare provider, this was typically a very busy time of the year  school kids needed care and having to keep track of which kids would or wouldn't be here and finishing up our Christmas crafts in time. It got kinda hectic sometimes.  So I chose to make grownup crafts this week  I've been wanting to try making some string art wooden signs  so I started off with something simple. Here's how I did it.  First I gathered my supplies: Small wood plaque  1in panel board nails A hammer Wood stain Paint brush for stain Colored string A pencil  Black and Silver paint pen Paper First Stain your wood plaque with your color choice of stain. I used Golden Oak for mine. After it dries ( I let mine sit over night) cut a heart out of paper and set it on your plaque to make sure it fits. Position it where you w...

Here is my YouTube video of important things to consider before opening a daycare. Check it out! 5 things to know BEFORE you start your family childcare Video

With over 15 years experience, I've learned a thing or two about what to do and what not to do running a daycare. I am going to share with you some of my best tips, and how to's here on this blog. I began mentoring family childcare providers beginning in May of 2015, and then professionally in January of 2016. I have found that more than developing and growing a family childcare, I have a passion for coaching others in the field. I can't wait to share with you how you can grow you family childcare business today.