Goodies for the Kiddos

Ever since I started child care this time around I’ve been scrambling to try to catch up to where I was when I quit before.  There is a lot of stuff (but not too much stuff) that needs to be accumulated.  There are lists and lists of things that end to be done too.  So many of them are hard for me to get to during the day with the kids so many of them are done after hours.

Hardest of all is to get to where I was on the quality indexes.  One of the things Iowa has is called Childnet.  Childcare providers go through a long checklist of things that they have to do to prove they are doing quality care.

I’ve been working my way down that list getting my Childnet certification.  For that I was awarded a grant to use to purchase childcare related goodies.  Lucky for me I already have all the tables, cribs and highchairs that I need so I could spend the grant money on some great educational toys.  I’ve been pouring over the catalog trying to find things that the kids would like the best, use the most, need the most and provide the best avenues of education.  With mixed aged children finding that balance can be challenging.

The UPS man dropped all this off on Friday just before the kids started going home.  It truly made pick up time a challenge.  The kids all wanted to stay to see the toys.

The day before he dropped off our new sand and water table.  I didn’t waste anytime getting that put together so we could use that on Friday.  Oh the kids loved it!  We spent an hour outside just pouring and pouring water.  They were all pretty wet by the time we were done.  Thankfully I had some spare shirts here so they slept in them for nap time while their own clothes dried in the dryer.

I brought up an old huge strainer I have and put that under the table so the toys that they aren’t playing with can stay there.  I kids were so happy.

I have lots of fun plans for the table….We made moon sand a week ago and they kids loved that.  We’ll make that again and it will go in this table.  There is enough room for everyone.  I am opting to put the table out on the patio now.  It keeps the mess outside and allows us to enjoy the outdoors too.  I also purchased the cover the table so whatever we have in the table will be clean the next day when I open it back up.  I couldn’t be happier with this purchase.

Over the weekend I opened all the toys and put them away.  Each day this week I am bringing out something new.  The kids are having so much fun..me too!