Child Care Basics
Public Washington
Public Washington
Active 12 hours ago
Public Washington
Daily schedule for children?
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Simple is always best when creating and maintaining a daily schedule. Keep major things the same like mealtimes and nap times. Outdoor and indoor activities can be planned and adjusted depending on the elements. Allow the children to be involved in the daily routine as much as possible so that they feel like they are a part of the process.
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A schedule should work around meal and nap times and allow for the children to have plenty of independent and collaborative work time, as well as time for outside play. There should be a presence of both teacher-led activities and student-led activities. Additionally, the schedule should be consistent as often as possible, disregarding holidays and school closures.
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When making a daily schedule you should have some same things like readings and meals at the same times everyday, but also have something that happens weekly on mondays and it changes every day of the week, and then having free time is important, and then having an activity that is either child lead or picked by the kids via vote or by an individual everyday.
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I agree children often enjoy being apart of the schedule making or doing “helper” duties. It can be simple to present things in a fun way that makes children want to engage and interact.
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Meghan
MemberDecember 16, 2022 at 5:14 pmMake sure to plan time for transitions into your schedule. They will always take longer than you think they will.
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When my lead and I started creating the daily schedule for our classroom, we first observed the children at the beginning of care and found that the time range where we could most likely get all of them to sit to eat, all of them to nap, and all of them to engage in outdoor play. We are in the NIDO classroom so it is not always exact, but the children have gotten into the routine now and know to an extent things like; to be quiet when half the classroom is dark, as that means one of their peers is asleep.
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Ellie
MemberDecember 18, 2022 at 8:11 amCreate a regular schedule for food, nap, and play time. Play times should be at the same times each day, but there can absolutely be a change in toys and materials throughout the week. Be sure to create activities and set up toys based on observations of each child’s interests.
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To be honest to me it’s pretty easy to create and maintain a schedule for children I think that it is important that we have a schedule and routine for each child so they do not get confused and so that they are able to know what happens next and can do for example if they’re having lunch after lunch will be going outside to play so what they need to go outside to play is they have to use the bathroom put on shoes and jackets fill up their water bottles then stand in line. That is an every day thing that never changes and that’s a good thing because they are independent enough because of that routine every day.
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But to create and maintain one is just figuring out what works for example we know that the child is hungry by 11 to 1130 so maybe have a snack at 10 o’clock. Every day. And that way by lunchtime they’re not starving. If you know that they get tired around 1 o’clock. Have the child get inside use the bathroom by 1230 that way they do not rush and they have plenty of time to calm their body down and get ready for rest. And if they go down earlier than 1 o’clock that’s even better. Yes sticking to the same every day or most days will help them in the long run with development and trust and scheduling.
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I personally struggle a lot when it comes to creating schedules. I am only a Center Aide, who has no real control of the curriculum or scheduling; but someone else in this forum made the great suggestion of scheduling around meal times. I really like the idea of blocking times out around meals, since that’s something everyone is doing all at the same time in the same place.
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melissa
MemberDecember 19, 2022 at 10:48 pmTry not to break your head on it, make it fun think of what the children would like to do. Remember to add snack time lunch time and evening snack
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After the children come inside from afternoon recess, we have our nap time and meditation. Some of our older students have grown out of nap and could use this time for focused breathing and meditation. This has shown to be positive in centering the children and helps me bring down the level of excitement after recess.
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Kaitlyn
MemberDecember 22, 2022 at 8:45 pmA huge piece of working in childcare that I have learned is creating a consistent daily routine for the child. Not only does this help with the organization and time management of a classroom, but it will help youth in a positive way for what the future holds for them as they continue to grow and develop.
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Plan to make the routine fun for the kid to enjoy while also getting something healthy out of it.
Make it so the child wants to do this routine
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Melody
MemberDecember 23, 2022 at 9:42 pmI have a daily schedule that I post on the entry door. I use real picture of children online and have them put on the door in order. My schedule always stays the same and it has been a 13 year success with all new kids.