Imagine that you are a baker. You bake delicious homemade specialties for your clients. They return to you time and time again for your delicacies. But, there is limited business that you can create with your one location until you come up with a fantastic idea. You will offer baking classes in the evening. This extends your business and widens your sphere.
Similarly, you can “bake up” a great idea for your childcare business. You can offer educational activities to the children in your care. This extension of your business adds value to your clients and their children. It also places your business in a higher level tier than many childcare establishments. You offer more, so you can charge accordingly. And because you offer more, parents will be reluctant to switch to another childcare business once they see the benefits you are offering them and their children.
So, how do you go about adding educational support? It’s really a much easier process than you might think. It’s a matter of awareness to a large degree. Review the activities that you are currently offering the children in your care. How can you add an educational component to those activities? For example, it’s been shown that children who are read to at least 15-20 minutes every day obtain a much better vocabulary than those who don’t have access to books. Sadly, many parents don’t have the time or language skills themselves to offer this educational support at home.
To start, find a website with teacher-recommended books or get the reference book, The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, an educator who has spent his life recommending reading aloud to children.
Get the recommended picture books from the library or better yet, if you can, buy them for your center. Set up a reading circle and read one or two books aloud every day. Encourage the children to listen to the story, but don’t stop there. When the reading is over, ask them questions about their feelings. Did they enjoy the story? What did they like? What didn’t they like? How would they describe the main character? If they were going to change the story how would they change it? Write some of the words in the story on a whiteboard and repeat them out loud.
You can also turn this activity on its head. Get some stuffed animals or small child-safe toys. Ask the children to create a story using these toys. Done in a group setting, this activity helps children to work together to express their creativity.
In addition to offering storytime, another great and easy way to offer educational support is through simple sets of flashcards. There are many inexpensive sets offered online or in educational supply stores. Flashcards for this age range have pictures with words so that children can learn new vocabulary by sight. Some even have concepts such as identifying first, second, and third or comparing large and small. Take the time to experiment with different sets of cards to see which ones the children like the best. And remember, when children are having fun, learning becomes second nature to them. You have the potential to engender their lifelong love of learning, reading, and writing as you prepare them for elementary school. Offering educational support will enrich your life and enhance the life of your business too.