Floor plans for arranging a child care room need at least six important play areas: dramatic play, literacy, art, blocks, sensory materials, and manipulative toys. All of these areas aid in child development and cognitive reasoning. How these areas are configured in the room depends upon the shape and floor area available. The various areas work well when set up along the outside walls of the room, leaving the open floor area for circle time, group story time, and free play.

Step 1:

Create a dramatic play area to enable children to learn how to deal with real-life situations, social skills, and problem solving. Include items used in everyday life and for play acting, such as a firefighter coat and hat, construction hat, and doctor bag with a toy stethoscope. Add a large container of costumes, masks, and jewelry for dress-up time, a kitchen area with accessories for housekeeping skills, and dolls with assorted doll clothes for playing “Mommy" or "Daddy.”

Step 2:

Create a quiet literacy center for children to develop meaningful reading and writing skills. Place at least 30 books in the literacy center for different age groups. Include picture books, easy readers, more advanced story books that an adult reads to the children, texture books for younger children to feel, and books that have moving parts for fine motor skills. Place the books in an open area at the children’s eye level where they are allowed to use them independently. Add flannel boards for bringing stories to life.

Step 3:

Configure an art area that provides materials for drawing and crafts to encourage creativity and free expression. Provide a small table and chairs that allow preschoolers to seat themselves. Place a plastic tablecloth or indoor/outdoor carpeting under the art table so the children don’t have to worry about spills.

Provide an assortment of creative materials: craft dough and cookie cutters, finger paints, crayons, markers, stickers, poster paint, drawing paper in assorted sizes, paintbrushes, rubber stamps, and any other material that encourages creative thinking.

Arrange an area for blocks, which are essential tools for helping children understand the concepts of height, weight, and measurement. Provide a broad assortment of building materials for children to use. Wooden blocks, plastic building bricks, and foam blocks can be organized in plastic bins that are easily accessible to the children.

Step 5:

Place a two-sided sensory table (one side for sand, the other for water) in a location with a linoleum or other waterproof floor covering that can withstand spills. Provide towels and waterproof aprons for the children to use while they are playing with the sand and water. Include a place to store materials that could be added to the sand or water to cause different reactions.

Step 6:

Create a manipulative area that contains toys to foster reasoning abilities. Various manipulative toys include sequencing cards, matching games, pegboards, puzzles, dominoes, hidden object boxes, and toys for sorting and fitting shapes.