What Do You Use for Daycare Curriculum?

As a mom of daycare children, curriculum is not usual for home daycares, so it is great that you are wanting to do it. There is sign language, story time, singing time, outside play time. You may just want to create a schedule that has the basics - meals, washing hands, diaper changes, naps, story time, etc., and then adding some revolving activities - some type of art, some sensory project, alphabet, etc. Manners should be a part of everything they do.

I assume you are a home daycare provider, looking for curriculum to provide to your group? I am a home daycare provider, too, and these days, it seems many providers are offering a curriculum. I am using Adventures in Learning this year, but have also used Home Preschool Program, Mother Goose, and a few others over the years (drawing a blank at the names). If you google home preschool program, or home daycare curriculum, or something like that, you should come up with many choices. There are a lot of prepacked programs that can be sent directly to your home - with all the supplies you need, or most of the supplies, some with everything cut out and ready to go, some you need to do more to prep. I think it is a good thing to offer in a home setting. Good luck.
S.
mom of 3 and daycare provider for 22 yrs

I don't know of specific curriculum for that age, but I think that setting up a schedule and daily routine is very important. Other than the ideas already mentioned, I think that music/singing is important. Our home provider always had kids songs playing softly at drop off time, and it seemed to help the kids ease into the day. That was 3 years ago, and my oldest still LOVES music. It would be fun to have little instruments for the kids to use during "music" time. So stories, art, music, pretend play (shopping, dolls,etc.) and physical activity outdoors could be your main types of activities for the day. You can probably find books at the library on this topic. Good luck!

Mom, are you meaning a copy of a daily schedule of things that the provider does with your children like a weekly lesson plan? I teach young children in a preschool environment and don't think it is likely your provider is using any type of curriculum, curric. is intended for Pre-k , Kindergarten and older children. At this age it would be nice if your provider just jots some general notes down on what she does with the children, how and what they ate, how they played, napped and if they had a good day or fussy day and maybe something they particularly enjoyed doing. One of my close friend childcare providers who was a teacher previously did this for me daily on a generic photocopied form that she did a few times a week and stuck in our diaper bag whenever she had time. I enjoyed reading it (kept each one in a folder for a keepsake) and seeing what my daughter enjoyed and said etc. It is asking a lot of a in home provider to do this, especially if she cares for more than just a few children. It is quite time consuming to do and remember she has little ones to watch over and care for. I would only expect this if it is something she agreed to upfront. Wait a few yrs Mom until preschool, the you will get weekly lesson plans at a good preschool.
Hope this helps.

I believe that young children need to learn the basics in this life first and foremost. They need to learn how to listen and obey. They need to be able to sit politely while eating, not throw their food, wipe themselves after eating, washing hands, saying please and thank you, playing nicely, sharing toys, etc. All of these things can be taught in the course of playing and going places.

Beyond that we do color, play with playdough, and I get them to help me use wetones to wash door knobs, wipe down their child sized table and chairs, and they help take care of the daycare pets. They love to wash their toys in water and bubbles too. Sometimes we come up with something creative like putting food coloring into shaving cream and playing with it while mixing colors. I haven't done that in ages. We sometimes paint with water colors or tempera paints. The art projects isn't really my favorite thing.

We also read and we tell stories. I encourage children to do as much creative play as possible. We like to look at videos that explain how things are done. There are some great sites online that help with learning. We go to time4 learning, starfall, abcmouse.com, and we are always trying other sites and looking for new sites to add to our list.

These are just some ideas and I prefer to come up with most ideas either on my own or to modify things I hear others talk about. So I do belong to lists online where I talk with other daycare providers.

The children of the ages you are talking about mostly need a clean, comfortable, visually appealing, and SAFE environment for exploration. Talking to them in a real way and not encouraging pointing and grunting is good too. There's no need to baby talk to toddlers. Playing games with them, laughing, and just cuddling is important at this age.