Day care schedules: How to create daily schedules for your childcare classrooms

Creating the Perfect Daycare Schedule

Creating the Perfect Daycare Schedule

Running a daycare – whether you’re a family childcare provider or a large daycare center – can be hectic and stressful. But providing some structure in the form of a daily schedule can benefit both you and the children you care for. It allows you to be prepared and as importantly, for children to be prepared. Children thrive with routine and having a schedule makes transitions easier and can improve behavior overall.

6 Things to Consider When Creating a Daycare Schedule

Before putting pen to proverbial paper to create your daycare schedule, there are several factors to consider. These include local regulations, the developmental needs of the children, their ages, your program, your staff, and your facility.

1. Local Regulations

Local regulations will dictate certain aspects of your daycare schedule. Your state may set a minimum amount of outdoor time, have laws regarding naps, which may vary for infants and toddlers, and have requirements around meals times. If you’re a childcare center, local laws may also dictate separating infants from toddlers in different rooms, which will impact how you schedule your day for each age group. When you set up your daycare schedule, be certain you’re following all laws governing your daycare center or family childcare.

2. Developmental Needs of Children

Developmental milestones are markers indicating what most typically developing children do at certain ages. They are established so parents, pediatricians, and childcare providers can ensure a child is on track and if milestones aren’t hit, examinations can be done to determine why. Your daycare schedule should be structured to support developmental milestones of the children in your care. If you’re a family childcare provider, you may have infants through school-age children, so you must take into consideration the milestones and needs of a wide range of children.

3. Ages of Children

The ages of the children in your daycare center or family childcare will greatly dictate how long each activity takes. Older children can engage in activities for longer periods of time. The typical attention span for children is their age multiplied by 4 minutes. For example, a 2-year-old generally has an attention span of about eight minutes, whereas a four-year-old may have an attention span of about 16 minutes. Of course, there are variances between children’s attention spans and you should work to extend their attention spans with engaging activities, but knowing how long children generally pay attention makes planning your daycare schedule easier.

4. Your Program

Many daycares, especially home daycare providers, have a more flexible approach to the day and don’t provide as many planned activities as others. If that’s how you run your program you and the children can still benefit from a daily schedule. While plenty of free play is necessary, having a schedule sets boundaries and will help the day run more smoothly. If your daycare has long hours or provides extended care, you may find that child-led activities are necessary during early morning and late-afternoon care.

5. Your Staff

Your staffing needs and daycare schedule go hand-in-hand. Your state’s ratio laws will dictate how many adults per child are needed and if those ratio laws change during certain times of the day, like nap time. You may find that during drop off and pick up, you’re able to consolidate classrooms. During this time, often child-led activities work best so a teacher isn’t interrupted by children coming and going and children don’t have to leave in the middle of a project.

6. Your facility

The layout of your facility will greatly influence how you set up your daycare schedule. If you’re a large center, each classroom may have the same materials, but if you’re a small center or family childcare provider, you may have shared resources. Consider also the location of children in relation to one another. If children don’t all nap at the same time, you may want to schedule outdoor time for nearby rooms while some classrooms are resting. Or, if playground noise is audible from some classrooms, you may want to schedule indoor activities during rest periods, since children shouldn’t have to keep quiet during outdoor play.

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Types of Activities to Include in Your Daycare Schedule

Your daycare schedule should include a variety of age and developmentally appropriate activities. Family childcare providers who desire or require less structure should still incorporate these activities and utilize a daily schedule.

Circle Time

Even for the youngest infants, circle time has benefits. Circle time orients the day, promotes motor skills, helps develop positive relationships, is welcoming to new children, encourages socialization, provides routine, and is great practice for listening skills. As a bonus, some daycares require children to arrive by a certain time and having circle time gives you that hard drop off boundary.

Outdoor Time

Playing outside in all weather is crucial for children’s healthy development. Of course, follow local guidelines to ensure your daycare schedule meets at least the minimum amount required in your area and you know when your authorities consider conditions too severe to play outside.

Diapering/Bathroom Use

Your state may require that diapers are changed in certain minimum intervals throughout the day. And scheduling bathroom use for children, in addition to letting them go as needed, can help with potty training.

Sensory Activities

Sensory play is amazing for children’s development from the earliest ages and should be included in your daycare schedule. It actually helps develop children’s ability to do more difficult tasks, as research has shown sensory play builds nerve connections in the brain’s pathways. In addition, it helps improve memory, provides fine and gross motor skill work, promotes problem solving skills, and language development! Sensory play can also be an incredible tool to help calm a child who’s frustrated or anxious.

Art

Including art activities in your daycare schedule is important, as art has an enormous impact on a child’s development – from their brains to the motor skills. In a mixed-age setting, like in a family childcare, you may have to tailor an art project to different age groups, but it can be done with just a bit of advanced preparation.

Free Play

Open-ended play is not only fun, but also enhances children’s development. They learn so much and in mixed-age groupings, younger children learn by watching older children. Mildred Parten outlined the various stages of play and it’s fun to watch children as they develop and move to the next stage. Be sure there’s plenty of free play time in your daycare schedule and give them access to a variety of materials, including dramatic play clothing and accessories.

Story Time

Reading to children is the most important thing you can do to promote literacy. Studies show reading to children also improves behavior! Including daily story time in your daycare schedule is a must, even for infants.

Table Toy Time/Manipulatives

Table toys and manipulatives, like blocks and puzzles, promote problem solving skills, spacial relations, are science lessons (children learn concepts like gravity when blocks tumble), develop motor skills, help with shape and color recognition, classification, and more. They’re an essential part of a great daycare schedule.

Music

We all know music is great, but in early childhood, the benefits are vast. Include both listening to music and making music in your daycare schedule to work cognitive and physical development.

STEM Activities

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in early childhood education helps children develop a range of interests and promotes problem solving, among other things. Play-based STEM activities can be incorporated into your daycare schedule and don’t have to be difficult. Games like “does it float?” and “which bounces higher” engage children’s minds, keeps their attention, and gets the wheels turning in their heads.

Enrichment Activities

Enrichment activities are not only fun, but offer a range of benefits, depending on what the children are engaged in. Yoga and meditation in particular has been shown to offer lifelong advantages and can help children nap better, so including them in your daycare schedule can impact the entire class and your day.

Bottles, Meals, and Snacks

Infants generally need to be fed on-demand, so keep that in mind when planning your daycare schedule. For older children, schedule snacks and meals at appropriate times, leaving enough time for set up and clean up.

Nap Time

Like feeding, infants need to sleep on demand, so that’s an important consideration in your daycare schedule. For older children, follow your local regulations regarding the length of nap time and ratio laws.

How to Implement Your Daycare Schedule

Of course, your daycare schedule can’t include every activity every day and you need some flexibility to allow for the unexpected.

Communicate your daycare schedule to staff

If you are changing your daycare schedule or setting one up for the first time, communicating your expectations to staff is essential to helping the day run smoothly.

Communicate your daycare schedule to parents

While you don’t need to communicate every detail of your daycare schedule every day to parents, they love to know what their children are doing, so give them a sample schedule or two. Be sure to communicate any changes that impact them, like late openings, early dismissals, changes to your hours, or policy changes that impact the schedule.

Use circle time to review your schedule with children. It will help them with transitions throughout the day.

Communicate your daycare schedule to Children

Communicating to children may be the most important aspect of implementing your daycare schedule. Clearly setting up expectations and the rhythm of the day will help with transitions and help prevent meltdowns. You can also give children some control over the schedule by letting them choose between two activities – empowering children helps behavior! Use circle time as an opportunity to go through the day’s schedule and promote literacy by hanging up a poster with the schedule, including both words and pictures.

The Bottom Line

Creating and implementing a daycare schedule can help your program smoothly. Providing children with a routine gives you opportunities to work a variety of cognitive and physical skills and milestones and instill a love of learning. Involving children in planning your daycare schedule can empower them while reviewing it with them during circle time can help with transitions between activities, which are often triggers for outbursts. Keeping lines of communication open between staff and parents about your daycare schedule will also help you operate your program efficiently and effectively.

FAQS When Creating A Daycare Schdeule

Q: What should I do if children don’t want to do the scheduled activities?

Having a child-led program will help children stay engaged in the activities you provide. Child-led learning allows the children to take the lead in selecting the activities they’re interested in. You can still maintain a schedule with child-led learning, but tailor it to their interests. For example, you can still schedule story time, but allow children to pick the story they want to read.

Q: What if a child doesn’t want to transition to a new activity?

It’s great when children are engaged are having fun, but sometimes it’s necessary to move on to something else. Build in time for transitions into your schedule. Reviewing the schedule daily will help children prepare to move on and using a two-minute warning and clean-up song will help with transitions.

Q: How many activities should I include in my daily daycare schedule?

The number of activities you’ll include is directly related to the age of the children and how many hours a day children are in your care. Be sure to leave plenty of time for free play daily, which helps children develop creativity, language skills, imagination, and social emotional skills.

Have questions about creating your pefect daycare schedule? Send them to [email protected]

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Daycare Schedule – Etsy Australia

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Facial Care Sequence

• Makeup Secrets
• Lifestyle
• Face and Body Care
• Hair Care

Face and Body Care 9001 that helps the face3

Comprehensive skin care – what helps the face3

keep youthful and look fresh and rested, even if the vacation is not soon. But it is not always clear when and what means should be used to get the desired effect. In this article, Pure Line brand experts will talk about the facial care sequence to simplify your beauty routine.

Morning facial

• Purification.

  Morning skin care starts with washing. We must remove dead cells and excess sebum to prepare the face for cosmetics. For washing, you can use the Pure Line gel-foam with cornflower extractOpens in a new window. It gently cleanses the skin of the face, giving it radiance and freshness.

• Toning.

  After washing, wipe the face with tonic. In general, it is better to do this after each contact of the skin with water, for example, after you have washed off the mask or scrub. Also, tonics can perform additional tasks: moisturize and matte the skin, eliminate black spots, narrow pores on oily skin.

• Moisturizing.

  Day or all-purpose moisturizer can be applied to the face 5-10 minutes after toner. It provides the skin with an optimal dose of moisture and prevents the appearance of fine lines caused by dehydration. For day care, you can use Pure Line cream-gelOpens in a new window. Cornflower extract tones, and the essence of verbena, peony, almond, flax and olive softens and nourishes the epidermis.

• Protection.

  If you spend a significant amount of time outdoors, at any time of the year, you need to use a cream with an SPF factor of at least 20-30 to protect your skin from ultraviolet radiation. It will protect the skin of the face from premature aging and the appearance of age spots.

This completes the basic morning care. After 15-20 minutes, when all the products are absorbed, you can apply decorative cosmetics.

Evening facial

• Cleansing

  Skin care in the evening starts with makeup remover. It can be micellar water, hydrophilic oil or a two-phase liquid. Then, just like in the morning, we use a gel or foam cleanser.

• Toning.

  Balanced and combination skin may benefit from Pure Line Tonic LotionOpens in a new window. It moisturizes and refreshes the skin, gives it a healthy look and prepares it for the application of the cream.

• Humidification .

  At night, our skin also needs moisture, and at this stage it is better to use nourishing or regenerating creams with a denser texture. For example, Pure Line face cream booster. The vegetable hyaluron-activator in its composition deeply moisturizes, stimulates the synthesis of its own hyaluronic acid and reduces skin moisture loss.

Weekly care

Skin care schedule should include products that are recommended to be used 1-2 times a week. These include scrubs and masks.

• Scrub is used to remove dead skin cells and even out the microrelief of the skin.
• Masks are capable of performing a variety of tasks: moisturizing, nourishing, cleansing.

We recommend setting aside two days in your facial skin care regimen when you supplement your regular skin care routine with these products. For example, on Wednesday you can do only a mask, and on Saturday – exfoliation and a mask. It is better to combine a moisturizing or regenerating mask with a scrub, and on another day use a cleansing or matting mask. If it meets the needs of the skin. Do not forget about the sequence of facial skin care: makeup remover, cleansing, scrub, tonic, mask, tonic and cream.

The self-care regimen we have described is suitable for balanced, dry or problematic skin. The main thing is to find the right means and take care of yourself regularly. Then very soon you will be able to see the result!

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Sleep Patterns for Children at Different Ages

How long does a child need to sleep to be healthy?

Collectively, scientists came to the conclusion that an adult needs to sleep at least 8 hours a day.

This conclusion follows from the very nature of sleep. Remember the structure of sleep: we go through five sleep cycles of about 100 minutes each. Multiplying 100 minutes by 5 and dividing by 60 gives you approximately 8 hours.

Sleep duration directly depends on a person’s age. The younger we are, the more sleep we need. WHO (World Health Organization) and somnologists recommend adhering to the following recommendations (see table) and unanimously believe that sleep is vital and should not be neglected. Especially the mode of sleep and wakefulness of the child is important for babies.

Age	Number of naps	Total nap time	Night sleep time	Total sleep per night
newborns		1-2 hours, every hour		16-19
1-2 months	4	6-7	8-10	15-17
3 months	3-4	5-6	10-11	15-16
4 months	3	4-5	10-11	14-16
5-6 months	2-3	3-4	10-11	14-15
7-8 months	2	3-4	10-11	13-15
9-12 months	2	2-3	11-12	13-14
12 months	1-2	2-3	11-12	13
18 months	1	1. 5-2	11-12	12.5-13
2-3 years	1	1-2	10-11	12
4-5 years	1	1	10-11	12
6-15 years old	0.5-1	1	9-11	10-11
14-18 years old			8-10	8-9
19-64 years old			7-9	8
Ages 65 and over			7-8	7-8

Let’s dwell on this in more detail.

What should be the sleep pattern of a child up to a year old so that he grows up healthy, smart and happy?

In the first months of life, 20 hours of sleep for a child is the norm. It is not necessary to disturb the child’s sleep schedule: we should not influence the baby’s rest, as this can harm the health of the child, especially at this tender age. The cycles and phases of sleep in babies change from month to month, according to how their brain grows and develops.

Scientists believe that sleep in the first weeks after birth is especially important and is a continuation of the behavior of the child in the embryonic state. Therefore, the baby knows for himself when it is time for him to eat and sleep. In the first 2-3 months of his life, if the baby is not bothered by anything, a long rest for him is the norm. Knowing this, parents can begin to form the correct daily routine for their baby from the age of 4 months.

If we recall the data from the table above, it becomes clear that the sleep of an infant and the sleep pattern of a child up to the first year of life differ significantly from each other. What are the differences in sleep by months of a child up to a year of life?

Sleep from 1 to 3 months of life

This period of life is characterized by high sleep duration: from 16 to 19 hours a day. During this period of time, sleep (rest) is just beginning to form, the newborn often wakes up for feeding. This time is very important for the baby, parents need to learn to notice the signs of disturbed sleep, make sure that the baby does not remain active for too long and at the same time try not to wake up before the allotted time. From the 7th week of life, we can let our baby fall asleep on his own.

3 to 6 months of life

At this stage, the number of night feeds is usually reduced. At the age of 6 months, the child may completely refuse to feed at night. The baby forms a day and rest regimen: sleep hours are reduced: daytime sleep up to 3-5 hours, nighttime sleep up to 10-11 hours. It is time for the formation of bedtime rituals: quiet games, bathing, fairy tales and mother’s lullabies.

6 to 9 months of life

At the age of 8 months, the baby continues to form consciousness, separation from close relatives, most of all from his mother, begins to upset him. Games (hide-and-seek, peek-a-boo) will help prevent fear for the baby, and you can also place the place of the child’s games next to the parents: let the mother always be in sight. The child is actively developing physically. It is necessary to load the baby with active actions, but not give reasons for stress.

9 to 12 months of life

At this stage, the baby begins to follow the sequence of actions. A little more and the baby will learn to walk, now all his strength goes to the development of this skill, there is a need for sound sleep and recuperation. During this period, the first related problem arises: sleep disturbance. It is necessary to continue the formation of sleep rituals, reduce distractions that can excite the baby even more.

What are the bedtime rituals for your baby?

• ventilate the rooms where the baby sleeps before going to bed;

• remove all toys;

• taking a bath;

• make sure you go to the toilet;

• turn off the light;

• do not forget about hugs and kisses;

• let’s sing a lullaby.

As a child grows older, the sleep schedule of the child changes even more: the number of hours of sleep is reduced, including the number of hours of sleep at night. All kids are different, but still it is necessary to keep daytime sleep as long as possible, at least before school.

Parents often turn to pediatricians and neurologists with the question: what to do if the schedule of sleep and wakefulness of a child under one year old cannot be built? Sleep disorders are called: children’s behavioral insomnia, which significantly contributes to the deterioration of the quality of life of parents.

Causes of insomnia

Children’s behavioral insomnia is the result of misassociations associated with going to bed or misidentification of sleep conditions. We are talking about the right habits to fall asleep in certain conditions (for example, one in a crib) and violation of sleep patterns. For example, when a child does not agree with the place or time for sleeping, and then a lot of unreasonable pretexts begin: “I’m scared alone”, “I want to drink”, “I want to go to the toilet”.

Despite the dissatisfaction of the parents and even punishment, the child goes to bed with them every night. This form of childhood insomnia is interesting in that it does not actually cause direct harm to the child if he is able to get the normative amount of sleep during the day. But parents here suffer to a greater extent – the mothers of such children often have depressive disorders, and family relationships also suffer.

Other forms of insomnia are adaptive insomnia (a reaction to a stressful situation), psychophysiological insomnia (occurs in anxious, emotional, responsible children before an important event for them), insomnia in violation of sleep hygiene (more often occurs in adolescents who lead an evening or night life, spend too much time in bed during the day and go to bed at different times each time).

Often doctors meet with insomnia of a secondary nature, they are directly related to any health problems. For example, atopic dermatitis, which is accompanied by severe itching. And the smaller the child, the more difficult it is for us to suspect that something is bothering the child.

Itching is a kind of equivalent of pain, the child becomes irritable, whiny, it is difficult for him to fall asleep, itching forces the baby to wake up. And we, adults, often do not always pay attention to these manifestations of the disease or underestimate their significance in violating the correct regimen in a child. But statistically, nine out of ten patients with atopic dermatitis have problems sleeping. They are very common, but few people talk about them.

How to help a child with sleep disorders?

At this stage, the number of night feeds is usually reduced. At the age of 6 months, the child may completely refuse to feed at night. The baby forms a day and rest regimen: sleep hours are reduced: daytime sleep up to 3-5 hours, nighttime sleep up to 10-11 hours. It is time for the formation of bedtime rituals: quiet games, bathing, fairy tales and mother’s lullabies.

It is necessary to follow the recommendations, the so-called sleep hygiene rules:

• going to bed and waking up at the same time during the week, regardless of holidays and weekends;

• restriction of any activity in bed other than sleep (reading, watching movies, eating): this can disrupt the association between bed and sleep;

• it is necessary to maintain comfortable conditions in the children’s room/sleep area: minimum level of illumination, noise/white noise, moderate air temperature, comfortable mattress, pillow, sleepwear;

• the process of falling asleep should consist of consecutive, daily recurring activities: evening dress, lullaby, reading at night;

• avoid activities that can lead to arousal (watching TV, video games, socializing with peers, physical activity) before bed. You need to remove video games, TV, phone, computer from the child’s room;

• if the child still sleeps during the day, it is necessary to limit the time of daytime sleep in the afternoon;

• you should follow the diet: the baby should not go to bed overeaten or hungry;

• Ensuring a sufficient level of physical activity during the day;

• when the morning comes, the child’s room should be adequately lit;

• Avoid caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate) in the afternoon;

• It is advisable to keep a diary of night and daytime sleep: an assessment of daytime activity allows you to identify problems that prevent you from establishing the right regimen and achieving healthy sleep.

When we talk about secondary insomnia, using the example of atopic dermatitis, it is necessary to take into account the recommendations of a pediatrician, an allergist-immunologist, a dermatologist:

• an individual plan for identifying triggers of atopic dermatitis;

• selection of therapy for disease control;

• Action plan for less scratching of the skin: for bathing and moisturizing the child’s atopic skin, it is recommended to use special products, such as La Roche-Posay (Gamma
Lipikar ).

Conclusion

In conclusion, I would like to remind you that sleep is an obligatory part of our daily rhythm, without which our body cannot exist. The formation of the correct sleep regimen is in our power. The nervous system of a child is very plastic, it adapts to the conditions that we impose on it.

Therefore, even if the baby has problems sleeping, you need to be patient and methodically follow the recommendations for the formation of proper sleep hygiene, sleep habits, a sufficient level of physical activity during wakefulness, a favorable home atmosphere, and, of course, be attentive to manifestations of diseases that the child often cannot tell us about.