Deciding how much ‘stuff’ to put up around your house is tricky when you are a childminder. Some childminders like their houses to look like ‘little nurseries’ with labels on everything and educational posters on every wall. This is great if you have a dedicated play room in your house, but more difficult to find the right balance between ‘home and work’ if you childmind mainly from your living room. What sizes of posters does your childminding setting need?

Finding the right balance between being a ‘mini nursery’ and a family home

Ofsted likes us to refer to our ‘childminding settings’ but it is really important to remember that our place of work and our ‘setting’ is also our family home. We don’t all want to feel that we are still ‘at work’ when we sit down to watch the TV on an evening. The Posters Pack has posters of every shape and size to suit your ‘house-setting’ whether you want to cover every bit of plaster with displays and educational posters, or keep everything to one tiny, tidy bulletin board.

Posters you can edit and print

All of the posters in the Posters Pack are available as Word documents. This means that unlike buying paper posters you can edit them to suit your own childminding business before you print them. For example, you may want to put a photo of your own sink on the ‘handwashing poster’? And if a child starts at your setting who speaks Spanish at home, then you may want to replace ‘willkommen’ on your Welcome Poster with ‘bienvenido’. When the posters get old and tatty you can just print new ones.

Displays

Making displays of the children’s artwork and achievements is something I’ve always loved doing. I also like to use displays to help teach things and to promote ‘themes’ we are exploring. If you are always peering in classroom windows for ideas, then you many enjoy some of the ones in the Posters Pack. Some of the best have been sent in by other childminders.

 

Free Diversity Awareness Poster

It is good practice to display photos that show racial diversity but it can be very hard to choose appropriate photos to display. It is not appropriate to show photos of children that reinforce stereotypes – for example, hungry children in Africa. It is also not appropriate to display pictures that show children wearing their ‘cultural’ rather than their ‘everyday’ dress. Children in Scotland certainly don’t wear kilts everyday any more than African children wear their ‘tribal’ clothing to go to school in. It can be very confusing to young children to see images that give the wrong impression.

These pictures of British children are all appropriate to display at your home, to discuss with the children, and give the right impression of a racially inclusive setting.

To receive your FREE A4 poster by email, sign up for my free quarterly newsletter using the orange box on my website and type ‘poster’ into the message.

 

Articles

How much ‘stuff’ does Ofsted want to see on childminders’ walls?

What Ofsted call your ‘childcare setting’ is probably what you call your family home. And deciding how much ‘work stuff’ to put up on the walls of your home can be tricky. [more]

 

Childminding in small spaces

Not everyone who childminds is lucky enough to have a dedicated play room in their house. Even some people who have the space for one, would rather tidy the toys away at night and turn what Ofsted calls your ‘childminding setting’ back into your family home.  [more]

 

 

Products with printable posters for childminding settings

 Posters Pack

Includes Characteristics of Effective Learning Poster, welcome poster in many languages, diversity poster, weather charts, and a unique ABC poster designed by 26 childminders. Over 40 printable posters plus display ideas, and other resources to make a great impression on Ofsted.

 

Diversity Awareness Pack

Printable diversity craft projects and printable diversity colouring pages to help childminders to teach 20 diversity topics including disability, religion, race, families and multicultural holidays. Includes a printable diversity poster and lots of great display ideas for promoting diversity.

 

 

 

Characteristics of Effective Learning Pack

For tools, activities, CPD and ideas to put the COEL into practice in childminding settings. Includes printable COEL posters and display ideas for promoting the COEL in children.