The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed every aspect of our lives—but the biggest unknown many parents now face is the inevitable return to school. Yet, this big unknown affects more than just parents—it affects childcare providers as well.
For those of us in the daycare industry, the pandemic likely meant you had to close your business for several months. However, as the number of new cases continues to flatten in most countries, many childcare centers are in the process of planning their reopenings.
And as expected, governments all around the world have created a strict set of guidelines for these reopenings. We’ve put together some practical tips that will help you reopen safely and create a safe environment for your employees, children, and parents.
The normal approach to common cleaning tasks, administrative processes, parent communications, and safety will change in 2020.
How are you preparing to implement these changes to create a safe and secure environment? Let’s begin by taking a look at some practical health and safety tips childcare providers will need to follow.
Anyone who has worked with young kids in the past will know that telling them where to go and what to do is a lot easier said than done. While older children may understand the seriousness of the situation and keep a safe distance, social distancing will be challenging to enforce with younger children.
Try to enforce distancing where you can. We recommend making social distancing a fun activity. You can turn basic procedures into a game by praising and encouraging children who follow floor markings. You will also need to designate areas for children to stand and sit, mark off approved play areas, and more as you work to encourage social distancing in your facility.
Proper handwashing is one of the easiest ways to minimize transmission. Set up a hand sanitizing station at the entrances to your facility and any classrooms to neutralize germs.
Start asking children to wash their hands before entering and exiting the building. Make sure they practice safe handwashing techniques, such as singing “Happy Birthday” two times. You could even introduce a star system to make the routine more enjoyable for your kids.
Checking staff members’ temperatures on a daily basis will help you to catch potential illnesses early on. If you are able to check the children’s temperatures too, this will help you to identify kids who should stay home.
Remind parents that they should keep their children at home if they show any symptoms at all. Proactiveness is the best defense against COVID-19.
High touch items like toys can help to spread the virus. Plus, they’re quite difficult to clean. In most daycares, children all share and use the same toys.
If you can, create separate toy boxes for each child. Ask children to only use their own toys. Try to include the same toys in each box—the last thing you need is a jealous child reaching for someone else’s toy box!
If you haven’t yet, you’ll need to create specialized cohorts (or bubbles) for your groups. These cohorts are designed to ensure that the same group of teachers and children are interacting with each other every day.
While these measures may seem difficult to navigate, they will help your staff enforce safety measures and keep your children at a safe distance from one another.
Parents are sure to be feeling anxious about their children returning to daycare. Start sending them a weekly newsletter with updates on the daycare.
Keep them updated on everything from local infection numbers to your cleaning procedures. This will help parents feel a little more at ease with the processes you have in place.
You should also expect that some children will be confused with this new dynamic. While masks have become the norm—a pandemic is an unfamiliar concept for most children. Here are some ideas of how you can make your children feel calm and safe when they return.
Kids are smarter than we sometimes give them credit for. They’re bound to notice the changes happening in their classrooms. Every family will tell their kids different things about the virus, so it’s important that you and your staff give them the correct information in a calm, reassuring way.
Create a lesson that informs the children about what’s going on and what they need to do to stay safe. We recommend creating a hygiene checklist for basic tasks like washing your hands, cleaning up your space, and maintaining social distancing. Don’t be afraid to ask your children questions, see what they know, and encourage them to think critically about COVID-19, how it’s impacted them, wearing masks, and other relevant information.
Make sure you use verified data from trusted sources. There are many great videos that you can share with younger children. However, be careful not to go into too many of the scary details!
Another essential lesson plan is to teach your children how to interact with others. Teach them about bumping elbows and waving as alternatives to hugs.
Challenge them to play while sitting or standing a little further apart. Be sure to give them lots of praise when they manage to socially distance throughout the day to reinforce their new good habits.
To help children learn new, safe playing techniques, lead them through a few group games that can be played while social distancing. Zip Zap Zop is a fun, interactive game played in a circle that doesn’t require any close interaction. Hide and Seek, I Spy, What Time Is It Mr. Wolf, and Freeze Dance, are all good options too.
Another great option is the timeless classic—Simon Says. This game is both fun and an easy way to ensure your children are staying at a safe distance.
All of these new routines and rules may prove to be a little overwhelming for some of the children at your daycare. Remember, young children can suffer from mental health problems just like adults.
In order to help children who may be feeling anxious or depressed by the changes caused by coronavirus, set aside some time to talk about feelings. Give all of your children the chance to ask questions or express how they feel. You may even want to incorporate some meditation time to help your children stay calm and grounded.
Running a daycare can be tricky—especially when you’re reopening with new rules and practices for staff and children alike.
KinderPass aims to make your job easier. Our daycare platform was designed by childcare providers for childcare centers to simplify key admin processes, parent communications, compliance, childcare, and more.
Our app streamlines every aspect, so you can reduce your admin time and get back to what really matters: your children! Our software makes it easy to:
Are you interested in saving time and money on key processes at your daycare facility, so you can spend more time creating a safe and clean environment for your staff and children? Click here to book your demo today.
