How to Organize Your In-Home Preschool
Organizing your in-home preschool makes your teaching and the children’s learning an enjoyable experience. Classrooms that are neatly arranged deter clutter and allow smoother transition between activities. The different areas of the classroom space can be divided based upon the type of activity while leaving space for belongings and open learning. Parents especially enjoy tidy school surroundings for their children.
- Style the entrance of the classroom into a place for preschoolers to remove their outdoor clothing complete with storage for each child’s belongings. Install shelves or lockers with hooks for outerwear. Label each spot with the child’s name so that each preschooler knows exactly where to place his or her belongings everyday.
- Set up different areas for each type of activity that is offered. You can include a reading area, a building area, an arts and crafts area, a music area, a math and learning blocks area, a science area, and a quiet time area.
- Prepare an arts and crafts area next to a child's size table and chairs for multiple children to use. Include the supplies each child will need in boxes. Hang string against a wall or at the ceiling height, and place clothes pins on the string that allow the child to hang their artwork for drying.
- Create a reading area that is away from the toys and other learning materials, especially arts and crafts. Place a rug and some child approved bean bag chairs and pillows in the corner. Place a bookshelf in the corner containing books that are within reach of the preschoolers. This is a good place to make a relaxation area because it is a cozy place for children.
- Contribute a hands-on play area with low shelves that contain easy to remove boxes filled with particular types of toys and games. For example, a preschooler will go to the Lego labeled shelf, retrieve the box, and sit down on the floor in front of that shelf. When the child is ready to move onto a new activity, he or she simply has to clean up the legos into the box, and replace the box in the correct shelf hole.
- Create an imaginative play area complete with costume accessories that allow children to act out their favorite roles. This area welcomes larger pieces of learning based furnishings, such as a play stove complete with dishes, or a mechanics tool bench with toy tools.
- Build a teacher’s area and remember to include a desk with locking drawers. Behind the desk is a great place for the teacher to hang a bookshelf for the teacher’s belongings and books.