When children know what to expect, they feel confident and it contributes to their feeling of belonging.
Daily routines describe the scheduled practices that you do every day.
The benefits of daily routines are:
- to ensure that the children in your care meet licensing criteria and best practices
- tamariki feel engaged and have a sense of belonging knowing what their day looks like on arrival
- that you are prepared for the day
- that you are not so busy deciding what to do next that you cannot manage anything unexpected
- parents and whānau also know what to expect, so they too can be engaged by asking their student about the day's activities.
The Montessori Academy gives this explanation of the daily routine at their service.
Daily routines provide a consistent pattern of activities for learning time, meals, rest, and outdoor play. The predictability of the routine helps children to feel secure and positively influences their emotional, cognitive, and social development.
The Daily Routine - an example
Most centres will have a schedule that they stick to every day. It may look like this:
- 8-9 am: Arrival and free play with developmental toys
- 9-9:30 am: Time on the mat: day of week, day of month, season in English and Māori. Sharing time
- 9:30-11:30 am: Rotation with groups: Outside play | Musical instruments | Developmental toys | Arts and Crafts
- 11:30-12:00 pm: Time on the mat: sharing time (instrument, art activity, new physical skill), listening to a book
- 12:00 - 12:30 pm: Lunch and quiet play with books or puzzles
- 12:30-2:30 pm: Rotation with groups: Outside play | Musical instruments | Developmental toys | Arts and Crafts rotation
- 2:30-3:15 pm: Naptime and quiet play
- 3:15-4:45 pm: Rotation with groups: Outside play | Musical instruments | Developmental toys | Arts and Crafts rotation
- 4:45-6 pm: Quiet activities and pickup
Stop and think: What is the schedule at your centre? How is that communicated to you? How is that communicated to the children and their families?
Documenting procedures
Within the Daily Routine, are procedures that must be carried out in accordance with regulations, the specific premises, and the age and stage of the children. Usually, a procedure is described and documented in a policy.
Here is a list of some of the tasks that should be detailed and carried out by a well-documented and communicated procedure. Can you think of others?
- Pick up and drop off (check-in/out)
- Nap time
- Nappy change time
- When a child has a toileting accident
- Clean-up time with tamariki
- Clean-up time at the end of the day by staff
- Staff belongings and security
- Emergency procedures
- Mealtimes
Example - Nappy changes at my centre
Donna works at a centre-based education and care centre. She loves working with the youngest but it means she is often managing dirty nappies. She must follow a very specific procedure to keep the child and herself safe. Take note of the level of detail and consideration for different students' needs.
Nappy Change:
- We check children regularly to ensure that they are changed as soon as needed.
- We ask the child for permission first to show respect; and so that they know we are about to change their nappy.
- We use the resources in the child’s bag (that have been provided from home) to ensure we are using the right nappy/cream/wipes as per their parents’ requirements.
- We wipe down the change table before laying the child down.
- Soiled nappies are wrapped and placed in a nappy bin (separate from other rubbish) ready for disposal.
- When we are done, and the child is dressed, we thank them for their cooperation.
- Wash our hands.
- Document the nappy movement.
Some other activities that we might be doing during this process are:
- Depending on their age – for infants, I might be singing a song to make the nappy change a happy time. For toddlers, I may talk to them and ask them how their day is to distract them from the process and help make them feel good about themselves.
- Encourage them to wash their hands with me once we are finished.
Remember that health and safety can have multiple meanings. The following activity shows you what Health & Safety considerations are managed in a simple nappy change. Use the arrows to progress through all eight cards.
Your resources and policies
Having a large repository of activities, how they are done, and why they are done will help support the Daily Routine. There are many online resources. Here are two:
Remember, policies are also very important and describe how a procedure is done and why. Check out The Ministry of Education's comprehensive resource.
Activity - Activities and procedures
Keeping resources at your fingertips will help you to be responsive to the individual needs of the children in your care.
For each point below, write down how you would implement it, what are the age and stage considerations, and what are the health and safety considerations.
- Select one procedure such as naptime, staff cleanup etc.
- Select two activities such as painting on rocks, or singing a new song
You will need to:
- outline the activity or procedure – what you do
- consider any additional activities – things that you do to make the activity easier, more educational, or more relaxing for the child.
- describe the health and safety considerations that you need to follow as per your health and safety policies.
When you are done, create a journal post with your documentation for all three of the points. Publish it so your peers can review. Please review and comment respectfully on the work of your peers.
There must be procedures in place for all ECE centres that manage the child being picked up at the end of the day.
Why do we have all of these regulations and guidelines?
As we have shown in this topic, there are a lot of regulations and guidelines in place that influence the policies and procedures in every ECE service. Although there is a lot to understand and follow, they are in place for a good reason.
Activity – Coming to terms with legislation and regulations
As humans, we need to understand why we have to do something in order to want to do it. The simple answer here is that the policies and procedures put in place in the ECE industry protect and care for our tamariki.
- Visit and bookmark this page on myece.org.nz.
- Read at least two or three of the many helpful articles on the page and start to develop your own reasons why you believe legislation and regulation protect the children in our care.
- Develop a short paragraph convincing an imaginary person that believes that Early Childhood Education centres do not need to have oversight, regulations, and licensing assessment criteria. Use the appropriate forum post to reply with your paragraph.
- Strengthen your own beliefs by reading and being inspired by your peers.
