My Daycare Decor -Waldorf Simplicity Mixed with Preschool Learning

A reader asked me recently how I balance decor and functionality in my home daycare.  This is an interesting question and one that often pulls me in opposite directions.  If my daycare was set up separately from my home, I would organize the space in a specific way.  On the other hand, if my home did not involve a daycare, it would be decorated differently.  I have tried my best to set up my home so that it works well for my business and my home life.

My home daycare is Waldorf inspired but is more of an eclectic mix of all of the best early childhood practices I have discovered over the years.  I turned the living room and dining room space into the daycare playroom because I feel the presence of natural light is very important for children.  I wanted the daycare to be filled with natural light, soft colours and healthy green plants.

Waldorf Kindergarten rooms are quite simplistic.  They felt bare to me at first because I was used to teaching in the over stimulated/cluttered wall displays that is the norm of preschool classrooms.  However, once I spent a day in a Waldorf classroom, I could feel the magic it held.  The classroom felt open and full of possibilities but also nurturing.  These were the feelings that I tried to replicate when I set up my home daycare.  I loved the wooden toys, the draping silk cloths and the little nature tables with knitted animals or gnomes.  Google ‘Waldorf Kindergarten Images’ and you will see what I am talking about.

Here is my home daycare playroom.

I hung a big patterned cloth on the wall behind one toy shelf.  The wall hanging is mounted on a long stick I found at my cottage.  This adds warmth and a closeness to the biggest open area in the playroom.  The opposite toy shelf has a few pictures on the wall. I painted the walls yellow because I wanted the room to feel inviting and sunny.

The children’s pretend kitchen area is set up by the front window. This area has a few pictures for the children at their level.

I placed this wooden shelf across the kitchen area to create a divider.  Creating different areas in a room helps direct the children into different types of sustained play.

I have my Waldorf nature table set up on the top of one toy shelf.  It is high enough to be away from toddlers’ busy hands but low enough that the preschool kids can see it easily.  Everything in the playroom is designed for the children to touch and explore except for the Nature Table.  The nature table is a ‘looking only’ area.  To learn more about the significance of a nature table read this post and watch the video.

The far end of the playroom has two sofas and had a train table in it.  Sometimes the trains were set up and sometimes I put out table top toys. There is a low coffee table there now with storage bins underneath it.

I have a wooden interactive wall puzzle at the children’s level.  The kids can move cars, houses and trains around the grooves of the wall puzzle.

The two sofas create a corner area that has a soft throw rug and pillows. The leaf is mounted to the wall above this area.  It’s helpful to lower the ceiling space in a quiet area like this because it has a calming effect on children.  This is the perfect spot to read a book.

The plants in the playroom are up high or out of reach and the three lights are all mounted from the ceiling to avoid tipping hazards. My goal was to create a simple feeling in the playroom. I wanted it to be uncluttered but not bare. I tried my best not to squish as much as I could into each corner while still using the available space I had.  Once the children have the toys pulled off the shelves and are playing with them, it can easily get very chaotic.  

Limiting the number of toys that are out on the shelves and using a toy rotation system works wonders to avoid chaos.  Reducing the overall number of toys also works well to manage the toddler “dump everything on the floor but don’t play with any of it” phase. You can read more about this helpful toy rotation system here.  I have developed a method that works wonderfully so that the children are able and motivated to tidy up the playroom independently.  This allows the playroom to never get completely disorganized.  You can read about it here.

Since I deliver a preschool program in my home daycare, I do have ‘teachy’ things that I display for the children in the kitchen. Here is an alphabet I had on my kitchen cabinets for a few years. 

I also had a black board and a painting easel in the kitchen for years.  Here is a letter poster clipped on it. This made it easy and quick to take down the posters when the children used the black board.  I slipped the posters behind the wooden shelves on the left hand side of the photo when not in use.

One year I conducted calendar time every morning while we ate morning snack. The calendar is simply attached to the painting easel using these large clips.

The easels worked well because I was able to put up and take down reference posters (numbers, shapes, letters) as we talked about them.  This one also had a great storage shelf under the easel.  I would put my materials in a large bin with a snap lid that just slid under the shelf.  This kept the contents safe from tiny hands.

I  hang artwork up to dry on the horizontal cord that my patio door blinds run on. It’s the perfect makeshift clothesline.

I am lucky to have an ample amount of pantry cupboards in the kitchen.  I cram all my food into one section and the other section is filled with craft supplies, teaching materials, books and homeschool supplies. It is essential that I have an area that is off limits for the young children but still handy for me.

I have designed the daycare space so that I don’t have to constantly say ‘no’ to the toddlers.  Shelves are bolted to the wall and everything is at their level so they can access the toys they want to explore.  The items that I don’t want them to touch are all up high or behind cupboards or closet doors.  This creates a ‘yes’ environment for them and it makes them much more agreeable. 🙂 Here is a link to my childproofing blog post.

Every year when I plan my new teaching units and daycare activities I adjust the decor to make delivering the program easier for me.  This year I’m using my felt board quite a bit and I’m storing it in the playroom under one couch.  It slides under perfectly and I push it far enough back that short arms can’t reach it. I’ve moved the easels out of the kitchen and now I have a piano beside one wall!

I have also had a theme table in past years set up in the playroom that displayed books and items that the children were encouraged to explore.  The objects on the table changed every two weeks as the theme changed.  This was a Fall Leaves theme display.

I hope these pictures gave you some ideas for your own home daycare decor. Good luck and happy decorating!