10 Ideas for Home Daycare Design

So you are thinking about starting a daycare in your home. Or maybe you are just looking for ways to revamp the space you already have. Either way, there are many components to consider for any childcare facility. Whether you are doing it in the home or a daycare center, here are some design ideas to consider to help your kids learn and grow in the best way possible.

Design Elements

Colors

Photo source: Freepik-Freepik.com

Before looking at the setup of your home, some basic elements should be remembered first and foremost. First of all, children of all ages like bright colors. Brighter colors are much easier to tell apart and learn about in contrast to duller or pastel colors. This is why most kids’ toys, especially baby and toddler aged ones, rarely come in neutral colors.

Colors are also instrumental in children’s capabilities in recognizing objects. For instance, basic household food items such as an apple, orange, or banana all have distinct and definite coloring and are among some of the first-learned items. When it comes to designing a daycare in the home, adding bright colors and vivid imagery to your dedicated space are good ideas.

Texture

Another element to consider implementing is different types of texture around the daycare space. Some children’s books even include textured surfaces such as fur in the pictures of animals or other early-learning objects. By combining multiple senses, of sight and touch like this, kids are more likely to learn about the objects. Including books like these in your daycare can help increase exposure to various sensory items.

Some other examples of texture in your dedicated daycare space could include materials for art projects with felt, yarn, and other textiles—plan on incorporating as many textures as possible.

Displays

In a home daycare setting, utilizing multiple displays will help both you and your kids. By displaying reminders from your lessons, you can quickly point to them when a daycare student has trouble remembering. The visual and audio cues combined help stimulate the child’s mind. Other signs and notices can help encourage behaviors in children as well. For example, if you hang up pictures of happy, laughing children, the kids in your care will see that and subconsciously learn to be happy.

There are many ways to display pictures, artwork, and other notices. Usually, one of the best ways to do so is by using surfaces with easily tackable fabric. Freestanding Screenflex Dividers can help with that. They not only come with a tackable surface, but they are also moveable and adaptable based on your needs. Also since many home daycare owners may be on a budget, there are also cost-friendly Screenflex Partitions as well. Many current teachers and daycare providers use them as art displays and to divide their space.

Acoustical Support

In any room with a large number of children, it can get noisy. For this reason, using acoustical panels of some sort can help absorb excess sound in your home. Plus, some acoustical panels also offer that tackable surface in the point above.

These panels not only help with the auditory needs but also double as another wall display for more items as well. Getting them in bright colors also create a sleek, fun look to your space. Not to mention, other members of your household will appreciate you for sound absorbing if they are home.

Layout Ideas

Now that you have the essential themes, you can move on to some ideas for the general layout of your home daycare space. Having designated areas for each activity can help kids establish a routine and structure. Depending on what ages your daycare will hold, here are some necessary spaces to include.

Diapering Area

If you are planning to work with infants or toddlers, having a separate area for diapering is essential. A daycare typically includes places where kids eat, play, or nap. In all of those locations, no one wants to smell a dirty diaper. Depending on how many rooms you have in your house, you may want to just go to a separate room that isn’t the kitchen or playroom. However, if there aren’t enough rooms, try sectioning off a semi-private diapering area with a room divider again to block off some of the stinky airflows.

Nap Area

Young kids still need a lot of rest. Toddlers and pre-schooler in particular can take daily naps. For this reason, creating a designated nap area can help toddlers relax and settle down for their nap. Especially if there are kindergarten-age kids there that are still doing activities during nap time, having a quiet, cozy area can help. Alongside this tucked away area, each kid can have their own mat or sleeping bag, depending on your budget or resources.

Personal Storage Area

Another physical component of the space should include a personal storage area for the kids. Many daycare centers and kindergartens in school offer cubbies with hooks for their jackets in them. Other facilities use large bins for their kids’ storage. Since this is your home, use whatever you think works best! Regardless of how you do it, the kids will love having a spot of their own. Keeping it all tucked away in one general section also reduces clutter for a neat and tidy area.

Open Activity Area

Young kids need lots of playtimes. They also need to be able to spread out when they play as well. For this reason, daycare centers will typically have an open play area. The key to having an open space is to allow kids to do more active play without running into other classroom items. If you are running a daycare out of your home, sometimes space is limited. By sectioning off a corner of your living room or even finished basement for this type of activity, kids can play safely. This area can also double as the previously mentioned nap area as well.

Access to Outdoors

No matter the climate, we all need outdoor time to connect with nature and fresh air. When running a home daycare, you hopefully have a back yard that creates easy access for outside time. If you don’t have the yard space or other jungle gym equipment, taking semi-regular field trips is essential to help keep kids engaged. As long as kids have some access to the outdoors, they can run off some of their energy.

Homework Area for “Graduated” Kids (Pandemic Era)

Something to make you stand out in the current time of the pandemic is finding ways to help out the parents of school-aged children. Parents all over the world right now are struggling to find ways to continue with school. Since many US public schools are currently doing E-learning, it can be a challenge for parents to work and also help their young kids stay on track. Especially in elementary school age, kids need to be watched and have plenty of stimulation.

How can daycare’s help? If you have the capacity and necessary resources, home daycares can offer homework or E-learning stations for kids outside of the typical age range. This can help take a huge weight off of parents that are scrambling to both go to work and make sure their kids still get educated.

Daycare owners and educators work hard and deserve all of the credit they can get. By utilizing some of these ideas, both in-home and traditional daycare providers can make the most out of their space.

Screenflex has a variety of products suitable for your daycare. If you would like to learn more about our portable partitions, please contact one of our lovely sales reps at (855) 960-6020.