Your Home Child Care Daily Schedule
Providing family child care in your home
requires the ability to manage your
daily schedule and surroundings.
Creating an effective daily schedule
helps everything run more smoothly,
and helps children feel secure. You
can plan better and organize fun play
and learning activities for your day
care children.
A common problem that occurs in a
home child care setting is the lack
of scheduled activity. The different
age groups that are found in a home
child care makes scheduling
harder and can be a problem. Regardless of the variety of ages in your child care, scheduling your day through planning and organization is a must.
Keep in mind that your daily schedule does not have to be set in stone but you can still have specific blocks of time scheduled for certain activities, meals, naps etc. Try hard to create a balance between structured time, free play and quiet time.
The example below can give you some ideas on how you can create a flexible daily schedule for your home child care:
6:00 - 8:00 am
Children start arriving. Provide breakfast. Clean up from breakfast and provide quiet activities until it's time for planned activities.
8:00 - 9:30 am
Centers activities; kid's choice, or planned group activity.
9:30 - 10:00 am
Morning snack
10:00 - 10:45 am
Outside play.
10:45 - 11:30 am
Centers activities and/or free play or circle time.
11:30 - 12:30 pm
Wash hands. Lunch time. Clean up from lunch. Bathroom before nap.
12:30 - 2:30 pm
Nap time.
2:30 - 3:00 pm
Afternoon snack
3:00 - 3:45 pm
Large motor/active play either indoors or outside.
3:45 - 5:00 pm
Free, quiet play.
5:00 - 6:00 pm
Parents arrive; children go home. Clean up for the day.
