When setting up your family day care you need to think about how you are presenting yourself as a business.
Remember, your families are choosing Family Day Care as an alternative to formal childcare so your home should be, warm, nurturing and homely. It should also be exciting and inviting for children. Having age appropriate toys and equipment is very important. Not only will it capture the child’s imagination and interest when they first visit you, it will assist parents feel comfortable leaving their child with you. Put yourself in the parents shoes. Would you leave your child in a strange house if you did not know what your child would be doing? Have toys, furniture and artwork on display so that parents can see what sorts of activities you will be doing with their child.
You do not have to spend a lot of money to get set up initially. Remember, it is far better to involve your children in the development and construction of play spaces where appropriate. What could be more fun than cardboard boxes, paint, stickers, streamers, wool and imagination!
Having a magazine or designer playroom is great and will assist you make parents see the value for the money they pay you. There are however simple ways you can organise natural and found objects in your home for play and story and to incorporate them into your service. You may like to purchase 'The Nature Corner' book from our shop Dragonfly Toys if you would like more ideas.
The Seasonal Table
A nature table, also known as a seasonal table, allows you to demonstrate and follow the natural cycle of the year. The nature table allows the changes that are taking place in the natural world to be given expression indoors.
Creating and maintaining a nature table will sharpen your observation of what goes on in nature from your adult consciousness. Encouraging Children to identify with, collect, play and display with natural objects will deepen their intelligence and allow them to see the interconnectedness between things.
Young children do not knowingly study nature but they are nevertheless unconsciously aware of its laws. The important aspect of a nature table as it relates to children is that the child is able to connect with the objects and the scene depicted on the table. 
We have plenty of crafting books for you to get your teeth into. You may like to purchase or borrow from your local library Weaving with Children or Painting with Children , consider one of these craft kits or assisting your children with some extended craft activities.
