Daycare Providers Do You Provide a Game/craft/activity Everyday of the Week??

I'm currently teaching preschool, and was a former toddler teacher at a daycare and yes, I provided a full curriculum in both settings. Even as a nanny, I always had two or three craft activities prepped and waiting in the wings, as well as other activities. Children need the stimulation and they need to learn.

I'm not sure which age group you are working with, but one wonderful book I rely on is called "Preschool Art" by MaryAnn Koh. This book gives mostly open-ended process (not product/project) oriented activities, as well as the standard minimum appropriate age for each one, and is divided into seasons.

In my case, I run an almost 4 hour program and offer: Gathering (circle time); a Free Play time where our blocks/building area, our housekeeping area, puzzles and library area are available, and there's usually some sort of designated activity du jour at the big school table; we also have a planned art activity daily; rotating sensory play ( in a big bin) is available ( think rice, beans, water); storytime with a book which ties in to our curriculum theme and time outdoors. My group does a lot of gardening and sandbox play.

If you have a daily routine established ( a must for home daycares), you can decide which times of day you want to introduce these activities, and then make them a part of the day. When I provided nanny and full-day care (with my toddler group), most of our time was spent in Free Play mode, with areas which contained various age-appropriate choices. Children could come in and out of activities as they liked, and were just asked to help at cleanup times throughout the day.

You can also look online --it's tremendously easy to google "April flower preschool activities" and have a lot of stuff come up. I do augment this way, but mostly follow an emergent curriculum style of planning based on the natural world and seasons and following the children's interests and piggybacking on their questions and ideas for experiments, which requires some flexibility. Today we were supposed to plant peas, but it's rainy and the ground is too soggy, so we took a puddle walk instead. Think "Flexible"!

Hope this helps a bit.

H.

I have a "craft" bucket for daily things. We get out the paper and coloring books with the "craft" bucket each day at some point. In the bucket are strips of paper, markers, glue, scissors, stickers and such. They can then create their own thing. It is not structured in any way. It is time for them to be as creative as they want to be. It is a lot of fun and I like seeing what they come up with. We only do structured craft projects a few times a year.

If you are on facebook...find "Teach Preschool" and like it. They are connected to many many mommy and teacher blogs for young children. A great collection of emerging ideas.

I have a play based program (home childcare, currently ages 8 mos-3 1/2 years...7 kids total) and am not keen on outcome based "craft" projects, but rather art where the journey is the main event. Where there is no specified outcome expected. We paint. Or we draw, or write. Guides are offered but no ones needs to look like another's.

Maybe once a month we attempt a craft..but in the end I end up doing at least 50% of it....this is why I don't see tremendous value in them, at least in my group. But the activities are plentiful..just not a pile of worksheets and take home "see what we did" sorts of things.

Mine are very amused with the 3 little pigs right now. So we are doing alot of books (alternate stories of the classic..very funny when they try to correct it to the standard!)..we are drawing alot of pigs (many circle and triangle work in there!)..much dramatic play, acting it out and making up other outcomes...problem solving to change things...and building with the different materials mentioned. I try to let the childrens interests dictate when I can. This has been an easy one to shoot from the hip with.

They are starting to talk alot about fishing...I think that may be next!

I would say yes. But it depends on what you consider an activity. Every day we may be doing computer or worksheets or dancing or park time, or learning about a new hobby or taking a field trip or relaxing with movies, just to name a few things. I consider everything we do to be an activity. I know you are referring to the ones that people value more. But I think providing a variety of experiences, fun, and love is ALL a preschooler needs.

I would think the answer would be YES, if you are being paid to care for kids, keep them busy, even if the activities are repetitive to you, they wont mind. Keep it simple but fun.