Creating the physical spaces every morning, and maintaining it throughout the day is one of the most important aspects of managing the play environment for children. Setting up the room so there is a well-spaced out set of materials and resources, which are age appropriate will help keep children engaged, stimulated and support their independent learning throughout the day. The resources should be changed throughout the day so that there is a range and variety play opportunities for children to access throughout the day. The children should be able to flow freely inside and outside whenever possible, and the arrangement and set up of the outside space is equally important as the inside.
Staff should ensure that there are clear pathways for the children to move freely around the space, and there are well defined play areas, on dedicated carpets, rugs, tables or other surfaces.
Here are some ‘do’s and ‘don’ts’ that we discussed during staff training on setting up the space.
| Do | Write on the white board every day before we open – who is working and a select few activities we will be doing |
| Don’t | Put the plastic trays or the boxes out with the toys when setting up. Instead use wicker baskets and other ways to present the resources in interesting and inviting ways |
| Don’t | Leave mats empty for the children to choose their own equipment/toys. Instead ensure that mats and surfaces have resources set out and well organised. Children can always pull out more things, and you can reorganise as the day goes along, by putting things away as other things come out, and keeping the space well ‘zoned’. |
| Don’t | Put out many puzzles to choose from. Maximin TWO puzzles should be out in any room… AND they must be quite visibly different from each other |
| Don’t | Put out similar puzzles |
| Don’t | Put out ONLY English Books or ONLY Hebrew books (one day English, one day Hebrew). There should be roughly equal amounts of Hebrew and English Resources out at any one time. There should be books at children’s level for ‘handling’ and books that are kept on higher shelves for ‘best’ reading |
| Do | Clean the Gan before you set up. Ensure surfaces that you use are clean, wipe over the toys and resources if needed, run a cloth along the shelves… keep the gan looking and feeling clean |
| Don’t | Push furniture to the side of the room that is not being used. Ensure that the gan always looks and feels ‘open for business’ – avoid ‘pushing’ things to the side of the room |
| Do | Take the chairs off the table and put the rugs down – before you do ANYTHING else | The first thing you do in the mornings when setting out is to physically MOVE everything that needs replacing after the cleaner has been in; rugs on the floor, chairs off of tables, furniture in the right place |
| Don’t | Play music in the background all the time | It is great to have music on for the first hour when children are coming in, but music should be playing no more than 50% of the children’s waking time |
| Don’t | Change the plan of what is scheduled to go out | Stick to the planned schedule wherever possible, but don’t spend time fussing or searching for something at the cost of not getting everything set up, if needs be – swap something in |
| Don’t | Move around rugs and furniture | Respect the room lay out how it is planned, and don’t just ‘move things around’ without first getting permission |
| Don’t | Put dolls in the dog basket – its so cosy for them! | The dog baskets are for children to rest inside, NOT for dolls |
| Do | Make up bottles in the morning for the WHOLE day (with water only – not milk) | One person should be allocated to this, but everyone should check it has been done |
| Do | Get activities ready for later and leave the stuff on a surface | This helps the day run smoothly. Everyone should know at least ONE day in advance which activities they are doing, and properly prepare for them. |
| Do | Bring things from outside the gan that you have found at home or in the street | Make sure that anything you use is clean or has been cleaned, its nice to have new things |
| Do | Give children access to uncooked fruit and vegetables when it arrives | Children should help organise the fruit and veg when it arrives, categorising it into containers or baskets and washing it |
| Do | Cut carpets and blankets to keep them neat and tidy | If the edges of the carpets are looking frayed – give them a hair cut! Keep them looking neat and tidy |
| Do | Throw away or put away things that are broken |