How to find the best deals on daycare furniture

One of the services of The Learning Bean is helping child care providers to get their businesses up and running. I have worked with corporate and small business, non-profit organizations and individuals, one thing they all have in common is the startup process is the same.  The one thing that separates the two is the budget! People often assume that a low budget means low quality, and that is simply not true. I want to share with you how I used Amazon to purchase quality materials furnish a childcare center!

In our post about How to start a childcare business, there are 10 simple steps that every startup needs to take, (although it was listed at 8 you can start right away ) purchasing classroom materials.  

“Purchase classroom materials. You will need to have tables, cots, toys, learning materials, and so much more. Sign up for our FREE Childcare Startup Checklist, and we will be sending you great tips and tricks to save on classroom material cost! “

First, you need to get an Amazon account. Sign up for an Amazon account individual or Business account. Which you need depends on your business needs. The business accounts offer some additional discounts on certain products and you have the option to add purchase orders numbers to each order. As an individual you get tons perks with Amazon Prime, Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial including free shipping, music, ebooks, and more.

I had a small budget, to furnish a center for approximately 50 children. My first thought was to go to the big childcare furniture retails, but for most of their products the cost was really high, or if it was priced low and the shipping cost was twice that of the product. I searched the internet high and low for the best value on daycare furniture. (Amazon did not pay me to write this post), but the best value that I found was really on Amazon.  Here are the big daycare furniture purchases that I made from Amazon.  


Preschool Classroom shelves.  Wooden preschool shelves were the next stable item on my list. Much like the table and chairs, these shelves were essential to the preschool classroom layout. I found that real birch wooden shelves could be extremely expensive, I was so excited to find these. Birch 2 Shelf Storage Cabinet. There are several different cubbies unit options. To save on cost I just went with the two shelf options and will use baskets or bins to separate items.

Classroom tables and chair sets.  I wanted to find a durable table and chair set. This is one item that could have low depreciation and can last for a long time. This was the first item that I set out to find because it would take up the most space in the daycare classroom and would determine the layout of each preschool room. It was surprising to find so many different preschool table options. I narrowed my search by size, cost, and color.

I ended up going with ECR4Kids 30" x 72" Rectangular Activity Table, Gray Top/Blue Edge, Toddler Legs/Ball Glides, Eight 10" Blue School Stack Chairs

Daycare cots. Daycare costs were pretty easy to find. There was a $5-50 differentiation from different sellers. To find the best deal on cots I looked for quantity bundles, I looked for 6 cots per unit versus the usual 4 to 5.  I purchased Sprogs Stackable Daycare Cot Toddler, 40" W x 23" D, Blue, SPG-0232-5 (Pack of 6)

Sensory sand table. I was so excited to find these great sensory tables. They were exactly what I wanted. On average they were about $10 cheaper on Amazon.

Dramatic play furniture. Dramatic play center needs to be able to be transformed, but the main items every area needs is a play kitchen set. The price ranged greatly for this item and quality was hard to determine just from the descriptions. So, I heavily relied on customer reviews. Below were my choices.

Amazon has everything you need to get your business started. They have furniture, math, science, art, technology, janitorial, and even health and safety supplies. Check this page out and everything is even categorized to make searching easy. Shop Amazon - Introducing Education Supplies for Teachers

I wanted to share a just few of the big purchases I made on Amazon for a childcare center.  But there are more items and things to do to get your childcare business up and running.  Get our Free Childcare Inventory Checklist to guide your shopping.

Why you need a Childcare Business plan

Why you need a Business Plan?

A Business plan is a map, a guide, it is the Bible to your Business… and you have the power to create it. Your Business plan should be a living breathing document that you refer to regularly and is updated as your business grows.

Top 5 Reasons / Benefits of Business Plan

1. It is your plan on how you are going to achieve ultimate success and grow your business
2. It creates the picture of the inter workings of your business and forces you to be realistic  
3. It helps you to communicate plans and strategies to obtain  financing or partners
4. It helps to identify your Business strengths and weakness
5. It keeps you focused and on target on the goals of your business

I don't Need a loan, so why do I need a Business Plan? 

This is the most important step to your success. You will be selling yourself short with out a business plan. If you have already started your business, a business plan can be a tool to help improve you current childcare business. It will help you outline your goals, asses your competition, and ensure that you are on track with current market trends.  Writing a business plan can be tedious and daunting task, I have put together a workbook that can make this whole process easier.

Buy Now for $10 

How to write a Childcare Business Plan Workbook was designed to help childcare providers develop a Business Plan, collect and analyze data to grow their business.

How it works

This workbook is divided into three sections. Each section will ask you a series of questions to further expand your thoughts. The purpose of the workbook is to guide you through the main sections of your business plan and clarify your thoughts and processes.  Once complete you use the workbook as guide to professionally writing your business plan out.  

Below is an outline of what it is included in a great business plan.

The Business plan outline…

1. Executive Summary
2. Opportunity Rationale
3. The Company
4. The product/service
5. Industry overview
6. Market size and trends
7. Estimate Market Share and Sales
8. Competition
9. Regulatory issues  
10. Management Team and Organizational structure  
11. Marketing Plan
12. Patents and Proprietary Issues
13. Product Design and Development plans
14. Manufacturing and Operation plan
15. Financial Plan
16. Overall venture Schedule
17. Critical Risks and Assumptions
18. Harvest Strategy
19. Proposed Company offering   

Need a little more

How to write a childcare business plan e-course, goes into details on how to create an amazing business plan. The course will go into all 19 of these sections and guide you in how to exactly write it our yourself. SIGN UP mailing list for information on  the next course on How to Write a Childcare Business Plan, by the end of the course you will have all the components for your business success plan. I will walk you through each section and what content is required. I will also give your tons of resources to help you along the way! If you are  not ready for the full course, you can purchase this fabulous workbook that will guide you through developing your business plan. It is only $10, and is all you need to get started on your business plan today!

How to start a Childcare Business

Have you started or considered starting your own childcare business? Are you ready to start inspiring imaginations, and teaching little ones that will change the world?  I want to inspire you to start or continue to develop your Child Care Business. Forever effective educator and child care provider there are, the more our little imaginators will have safe places to learn, play, and grow. I have put together list with what you need to get started.

Click this link to download your Free Checklist

1.The first Step is to decide what type of childcare service you want to provide?

1. Home Day Care- you provide care in your home
2. Childcare Center - you open a commercial center outside of your home
3. Childcare Partnership with a School or other organization -you partner with other organizations, they act as a host, while you are the service provider

2. Contact your local agency for state-specific licensing requirements to become a childcare provider.  Each state will have specific requirements for the type of program you would like to operate. For all states, you can search Child Care Aware https://usa.childcareaware.org/

3. Write a  Childcare Business plan.  Your Childcare Business plan is essential to the success of your business, It doesn't  matter if you're a home provider, nanny, or opening multiple facilities. You need a blueprint to your business.  There are tons of resources online, however, you download an easy workbook and guide How to Write a Childcare Business Plan, by the end of the workbook you will have all the components for your business success plan.

4. Develop Policies and Procedures

• Parent Handbook is a guide for your rules and regulations as it relates to the children you will be caring for.
• Employee Handbook is important if you will have staff.  Although it may not be required, it is important to develop policies and procedures for staff to adhere to.
• Curriculum. Discover what your philosophies are, what are you going to teach, and how are you going to teach it! The curriculum is often a deciding factor for parents!

5. Identify your Location.  Few things to consider

• Is the market saturated with other child care providers
• Square Footage indoor and outdoor space ?
• Safe location for pick up drop/off
• Parking, parking lots, street lights?
• Restrooms and Food service areas.

https://www.thelearningbean.com/schedule-me

6. Inspections will be required by local agencies for most child care centers. Contact your local agency to know what is required, but often these are required.

• Building Inspection for commercial buildings are often required. Building inspector certifies that the building can be used for child care.
• Fire Inspections, local fire department will inspect your building and fire safty procedures
• Health Department for Food Service License  maybe required if you are preparing and serving food to children.

7. Get local information about Child and Adult Food Care programs to help assist with food cost. The program is designed to help child care providers offer health food options to their families. For state specific information visit https://www.fns.usda.gov/cacfp/child-and-adult-care-food-program  for more info!

8. Purchase classroom materials. You will need to have desk, cots, toys, learning materials, and so much more. Sign up for our FREE Childcare Start up Checklist, and will be sending you great tips and tricks to save on classroom material cost!

9. Hire Staff. Here is another area where you would want to look for state specific requirements for hiring staff. In the mean time, you want to make sure you have a payroll processing service in place,  policies and procedures established, and orientation and training plan ready!   

9. Marketing. Even before you are completely licenced, start marketing to build your enrollment and start a waiting list. Subscribing to our start up checklist will get you more tips and tricks on marketing your business!

10. Finally, once you have developed your business plan, your facility is ready, you have met all state requirements, passed all inspections, you have hired staff, and have a hefty waiting list you are ready to inspire imaginations and change the world!

3 Benefits of Playing Pretend

There is researched evidence that play has direct and indirect impact on children's later academic achievement. In early childhood it is important to allow children to explore the world around them with hands on activities, where they can use their language and imagination. When you see little ones "just playing" know that they are busy preparing for their futures.

Reading Skills
 There are studies that have show the effect of play in literacy and phonics awareness. Play even without literary props have enhanced children reading and writing skills, and pretend play have also increased phonics awareness.  When children are playing pretend they use new language, expands there vocabulary, and use the materials around them as symbols that later aids in reading skills.


Communication Skills
Pretend or dramatic play has also helped to to build communication skills, perspective reasoning, negation skills, compromising and cooperation.   During dramatic play children create the opportunity to use complex language and social interactions. 

Math Skills
Children math skills are build through board games, which enhance counting, and games that build problem solving skills. Blocks, sand and water play builds the foundation for logical math thinking and scientific reasoning, as well as cognitive problem solving.


When your child is playing pretend with army men, playing with a kitchen set with a friend or playing a board game, they are busy gaining reading, communication, and math skills that will set them up for success!

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to get pretend play ideas!

Benefits of Retelling stories through Play

Reading to your child and the retelling the story through play is a great way to get involved in your child's play and build early reading skills.  When retelling a story your child is building their language skills, vocabulary, comprehensions, and communication skills.  For young children you should use props, or dramatic play materials. Using concrete objects help children make direct association with words and the context of the story.

Comprehension

Retelling stories help to build children's comprehension skills  by allowing them to show understanding of people, ideas, and object.  Parents can evaluate their child's ability retell the familiar story. The child can learn to describe parts of story and understand what has been read aloud. Children can demonstrate their interest and understanding of words and  using words in new ways.  They are also sharing their ideas, experiences and expressing thoughts.

Building vocabulary and language skills

With modeling and support children can use the new words that were acquired through their conversations and the story. Children will uncover the meaning of unknown words or concepts by using context clues and prompts through play.  Acting or playing it out helps to identify real life meaning and uses of these new words.

Communication  skills

children learn how to follow typical communication patterns with other, such as listening, taking turns, and speaking about the current topic being discussed.

Cinderella is a classic fairy tale that can be retold in unique ways.  Check out our book store for the high quality durable classic tale of Cinderella.

                                                                     

5 ways to Learn and play with your child

The parent or teacher involved in the child’s play, must first believe that positive play experience are important to a child development. Through adult support children can gain confidence, build cognitive skills, language skills, as well as have an enriched play experience.   Here are 5 ways you can get involved and have an enriching play experiences with your child.

1.Read a story then “act it out” or play it out.  When retelling a story your child is building their language skills, vocabulary, comprehensions, and sequencing skills.  For young children you should use props, or dramatic play materials. Using concrete objects help children make direct association with words and the context of the story.

2.  Create your own story.  Allow your child to unleash their imagination and create their own unique story.  Children can use props, dramatic play materials, or create it in print. The adult role is to follow the child lead, and it important not to influence the story line. In creating print the adult can write what is dictated to them by the child, which help a child understand that words can be written.

                                                

3. You can explore your environment.  Go on a scavenger hunt at home or anywhere.  You can have a child search the area of for certain color objects to learn colors. They can search for letters, numbers, or words. The possibilities are endless and this is an easy and fun activity for most ages.

4. Play a game. Playing a game together creates a secure attachment or bond. It builds grammar and vocabulary skills by simply reading and explaining instructions. Depending on the complexity of the game children can learn practical skills, life lesson, or build cognition skills.

5. Just play. What every toys or materials your child is interested in at the moment, you should can just join them.  You have to follow their lead and allow them to direct the activity, but you can give them undivided attention, support, and have fun!