If you’re a first-time childcare center owner, your nerves may be getting the best of you.
It’s always tricky to navigate the long list of essential daycare supplies and equipment without feeling like you’re breaking the bank.
To help you manage your daycare budget, we’ve rounded up an exhaustive list of age-appropriate materials for toddlers and infants.
Now, all you have to do is carve out time to go on a shopping spree for this specific equipment!
What are daycare supplies?
Infants and toddlers learn best from hands-on experiences and interactions.
According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, it is mandatory for a childcare center operating for over 3 hours to provide children daily access to interest areas for promoting exploration, creativity, problem-solving, and social interaction. This means they should be supplied with equipment for daycare within their area of interest to play at their own pace and to develop physically, emotionally, socially, and cognitively.
The daycare supplies should:
- be routinely rotated and provided both indoors and outdoors to expand the child’s interests
- promote acceptance of diversity (culture, race, gender, age)
- be age-appropriate, high-quality, well-maintained, and accessible to all kids so that they can reach and use them
- be in line with every child’s developmental capabilities
- be well arranged for mixed-age kid groups to support different types of play
102 must-have supplies for daycare
While investing in equipment for daycare, check with your local state requirements to verify any rules and regulations you must meet regarding the daycare supplies you purchase.
Drama activity materials
Props such as soft dolls, doll accessories, toy telephones, and play buildings encourage children to expand their creative horizons and repurpose the materials to get their imagination running.
- Culturally diverse action figures and adult figure dolls
- Soft animals with building accessories, like a barn or a cage
- Cardboard boxes to build props such as furniture or a crown for a king
- Caps and costumes for different weather and jobs
- Flags of different nationalities
- Cultural artifacts such as blankets and fabrics
- Child-sized pots, pans, spoons, stoves, dishes, and ladles
- Child-sized bucket, mop, broom, dust pan
- Toy telephone
- Prop boxes for themes such as a vet’s clinic, restaurant, hospital, or a campsite
Fine and gross motor supplies
Grasping and manipulating small and large objects helps a child engage in developmentally appropriate practices. While kids can boost their fine motor skills by exercising smaller muscles, they can improve their gross motor skills by making large muscle movements required for sitting, crawling, and running.
11. Stacking rings and shape sorters
12. Teething toys for infants, such as a rattle
13. Beads and balls of different colors and sizes
14. Measuring cups with rounded edges and lids
15. Board games and puzzles
16. Wooden straws and sticks
17. Pegs to hang on the walls
18. Child-safe sewing materials like buttons and wool
19. Mittens and gloves
20. Riding toys like scooters and a tricycle
Block activity equipment
Interlocking or metallic blocks of different colors, shapes, sizes, and textures can activate the children’s senses and help them build what they envision, making it a must-have choice for daycare supplies.
21. Small interlocking blocks for building a castle, a building, and a mode of transportation
22. Medium or large interlocking blocks, like Lego
23. Magnetic blocks, like Tinker Toys
24. Lightweight, soft blocks for infants that may or may not make noise
25. Foam containers
26. Discarded crates
27. Hollow blocks with both sides open
28. Cardboard blocks
29. Wooden blocks
30. Building block action figures
Preschool equipment for reading zone
Apart from ensuring you’ve age-appropriate material in the reading zone for preschoolers, a couple of child-sized chairs, soft pillows, and green planters can enliven the room and motivate them to curl up with their favorite book.
31. Comfy seating, like floor cushions
32. Storage options for your books
33. Indoor plants
34. Wall shelves
35. Bookcase
36. Preschool supplies like behavior charts to brighten up the reading room
37. Soft rugs and mats
38. Bean bags
39. Fur throw
40. Mood lighting for extra ambiance
Music and movement supplies
Dancing can be accompanied by playing songs to give the children a pause between activities. However, they shouldn’t be left on as background music since it’s shown to affect memory tasks in toddlers adversely.
41. Rattles, windchimes, and toys with bells inside them
42. Headphones
43. Cultural dance videos
44. Cultural music in diverse languages
45. Music tapes carrying age-appropriate song genres like nursery rhymes, folk songs, classics, blues, and jazz tunes
46. Culturally distinct costumes worn during local dances
47. Music boxes or musical mobiles
48. Child-appropriate musical instruments like guitar, harmonica, banjo, piano, xylophones, drums, tambourines, and cymbals
49. Pompoms for daycare dances
50. Scarves and capes
Math and science activity materials
A daycare supply list is incomplete without materials that allow kids to explore quantity, size, and shape and discover flora and fauna in the natural world. As children age, you’ll need to start investing in more STEM toys to boost their academic temperament.
51. Balance scale and weights
52. Magnetic shapes and numbers (or numbers and shapes books)
53. Games like dominos, number lotto, playing cards, and dice
54. Ruler and a meter tape
55. Geometry set
56. Calculator and stopwatch
57. Natural items like flowers, shells, rocks, sand, twigs, branches, and terrarium
58. Globe, atlas, and a map
59. Worm composter
60. Magnifying glass
Health and safety gear
When you’re running a daycare, the safety and well-being of the kids are your number one priority. By buying the right daycare supplies, you will be prepared to avoid any untoward incidents or accidents.
61. Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
62. First aid kit, comprising a thermometer, gauze, bandage, antiseptic cream, disinfectant, etc.
63. Electrical outlet cover
64. Fire extinguisher
65. Child lock for cabinets and shelves
66. Child-safe door knob cover
67. Safety gate
68. Ice pack
69. Hand sanitizer and a liquid hand soap
70. Disposable hand gloves
Kitchen and cleaning equipment
Kids are messy, so your daycare can be a breeding ground for germs if you don’t follow a proper sanitizing routine. Especially in the wake of COVID-19-related school closures, areas like the kitchen and common toilets require a rigid cleaning routine.
71. Glass and multi-surface disinfectant cleaning liquid
72. Vacuum cleaner
73. Bleach
74. Dishwasher
75. Cleaning cloths
76 .Cooking utensils
77. Eating utensils like knives and forks
78. Paper towels
79. Sippy cups for children
80. A week’s supply of food stock preserved in a freezer
Furniture equipment for daycare
Ensuring you have ample furniture for your daycare is essential to running it smoothly. Suppose you have more children than chairs in a classroom. In that case, chaos can quickly ensue, with children fighting over seating.
81. Cribs and strollers for infants
82. High chairs for adults and low chairs for toddlers
83. Tables of appropriate height for children to write, draw and eat
84. Storage space for children’s belongings
85. Booster seats
86. Nap mats
87. Step stools
88. Child-safe mirrors
89. Soft blankets and pillows
90. Wheelchair or a walker to make the daycare accessible for all
Learning from home can be just as fun as learning in a classroom. With a little planning and imagination, you can transform your home into an ideal school environment where your child will be safe, comfortable, and motivated.
Childcare technology
Technology can drive much-needed innovation in childcare centers, engaging kids in key skills such as computational thinking that will empower them to become global digital citizens of tomorrow. It can also help eliminate manual tasks that eat up a teacher’s or an administrator’s time and pull them away from their center of attention: children.
91. Interactive screens
92. SMART Boards
93. Augmented reality games and toys
94. Digital camera
95. iPad, tablet, and smartphone
96. Play-based digital language tools, like talking books
97. Digital word banks
98. Word processors
99. Computers
100. Printer
101. Bluetooth-enabled speakers
102. Illumine
What else do you need to start a daycare?
Get ideas and inspiration for starting your childcare center with Illumine:
A step-by-step guide on how to run a daycare
The ultimate guide to effectively managing your childcare
Manage enrollments with leads management and online registration
How to create the best daycare schedule
Optimize your childcare business with Illumine
Being a childcare center owner can be taxing, with operational tasks constantly demanding your attention and time. Illumine automates your repetitive administrative duties to help you attend to children and their families and focus on growing your business.
Trusted by hundreds of childcare centers worldwide, you can make the most of this technological equipment for daycare in the following ways:
- Real-time activity updates in the parent communication app
- Contactless check-in and check-out for students and staff
- Security daycare supplies, including CCTV streaming and bus tracking
Whether you’re running an in-home center or a franchise childcare business, one thing’s for sure: your daycare supplies list is incomplete without Illumine. Get a free demo today to streamline your childcare center operations.
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