Daycare "Stuff" Question

Hi--
We got one of those square shoe organizers by closet maid and put it in the hall closet. It works perfect for shoving hats, gloves, etc in and they are always available on the way out the door, and they always have a place to go when you walk in.
Also, you could store it all in a back pack that you send to school with her.
J.

As a preschool teacher and mom who has a preschooler, here's my suggestion:

Raincoat (if they play in the rain)
Rainpants (if they'll help kiddo put them on)
Fleece or warm sweatshirt for underneath raincoat
mittens on a string, and pin into coat at tag (make sure string/ribbon is long enough, but mittens aren't dragging)
Warm hat
Boots

I would mark all of these items with your child's name and leave them at school for use there.
You will have colder days which will require warmer boots/down-type jackets, and you may have to bring those 'the day of', but having a little cache of stuff at school will likely help. At my preschool, kids are to be dressed for the weather daily, and I keep a stash of gloves which are washed daily after use, because they get wet and dirty. (I run my program out of my home, and space for coats/boots is limited to while the children are present--I don't have a lot of extra storage--, however, when I move my business, the cubbies will be stocked!)

We always kept a set of stuff at daycare/pre-school but cleared it out on weekends (in case the center was cleaning and to wash the hat, mittens, and snowpants).

At home, we start the season with 3 hats and 3 pairs of gloves/mittens for each boy. All matching...That way we never have to find the matching pices cuz they all match. By the time spring rolls around...We have usually lost 80% of the 3 sets we started out with. Where are all their mittens going?!

Mornings are typically colder than evenings, so she puts on her coat, snow boots, hat, mittens, scarf every morning. In her backpack is a pair of pink sparkly tennis shoes (I've given up matching shoes to clothes) and snow pants. We have an extra pair of snowpants (from last years snowsuit - jacket's too small, but I just loosen the straps for length for use at home - so other pants are always in backpack.)

I keep an extra set of a hat and mittens at daycare. Boots I bring in on Mondays and take them home on Fridays - my daughter is full time, so in the winter we arrive in the dark and leave in the dark... no need for boots after coming home. And you are right boots are not for all day wear, so I make sure she has a pair of comfortable shoes.
Good luck!

Re. gloves: I used to (very old school - my mama did this) to take along strip of ribbon (long enough to go inside, through the coat and out each sleeve) and sew each end to a glove (loose enough they can still put them on). Another option is just to crochet a long string and do the same. They just stay in the coat that way.
Re. hats: I taught my son to tuck his hat into a sleeve. This applied to school and home.
I understand the affordability issue - my son wore his boots to school every day and changed out into his regular sneakers.

At my son's preschool:

- Each child had a cubby of their own
- Each child left a pair of "indoor shoes" at the school. When they got to school they hung up their stuff and changed into their indoor shoes. When it was time to go outside they changed into their shoes/boots they came to school in and put on their jackets/etc that they came in. .
- Each child left at least 1 ziplock back with shirt/underwear/pants/socks at the school to change into for potty accidents. If they had an accident the wet clothes were put in the plastic bag and hung by the sign in sheet and they wore the dry clothes home. New "accident" clothes would then be brought in the next day to be put in their ziplock bag.

I brought my daughter in boots and packed the sneakers. If it's daycare *and not school) just ask them to change your child into sneakers. They should do that for you so you can run.

Not sure why they need a second coat.

I took all outergear back and forth. Just check to be sure that you have it all with you when you leave. And put names on EVERYTHING!!

I do what Mommy of 1 does...her gloves are in her jacket. She goes with a separate hat and scarf. If the hat disappears before we get there, she has a hood so I'm not that worried about it. When it's really wet outside, they do not take the kids out so I don't worry about that. Once it snows, I may put her boots in her bag incase they go out.

My kid's preschool have big ziplocks that stay there with a complete change of weather appropriate clothes down to the shoes.

Jackets, hats, gloves are brought in everyday and each child has a labeled place to put them while at school and then the teachers pack everything in the kid's bag or put everything on them at pickup time.

So, I am responsible for having winter outerwear on my kid everyday on the way to school, which is easy b/c we can't leave the house w/o all that stuff b/c it's COLD!

Two of everything just gets confusing...and mostly coats and gloves stay in the car during the week so we always have them when we go out...

I keep snowpants, a hat and mittens at day care and also have another set of everything at home. That way i only have to put on jackets and boots in the morning. I usually try and shop for the next year at garage sales, or buy winter stuff when the summer stuff comes out that way it is super cheap, or thrift stores. Snowpants ususally only fit a year anyways at a young age so the cheaper the better. It is nice to have a set at each place though.

my daughter has a backpack, and we keep a set of gloves in the front pocket, with chapstick, since her lips get really chapped. You could also keep a hat in that pocket.

I have pre-school twins so I too get a lot of 'stuff' going missing! This is what I do

1) Leave their snow pants in their back packs for school and put a pair of shoes on top of them for class time. They wear their boots to and from pre-school and the teachers are responsible for getting their shoes back in the backpack at the end of the day. I only remove their papers form the backpack each night and eave the pants and shoes in there.

2) I bought the old fashion clips for their mittens so they stay clipped to their coats at all times - even at home. If you can't find those, I saw one of the kids at school the other day had a long piece of yarn through her sleeves and attached to her mittens on both ends.

3) I've taught them that the first thing that they do - even at home - is to put their hat into their sleeve and then hang up their coat.

4) label EVERYTHING b/c that will help the teachers keep order in the classroom, and make sure you check prior to leaving preschool. We don't have the option of leaving stuff b/c the afternoon class uses the came cubbies.

We keep the following in his "cubby" at daycare in the winter (all of which we buy at KMart/ Sears):
- 2 warm hats
- 2 pairs of mittens
- 2 pairs of sweat pants
- 2 long-sleeve T's
- 2 pairs of socks
They wear slippers inside the daycare center, so we have him wear his boots to-and-from school each day and keep a "spare pair" of sneakers in his cubby.

We have an attached garage, so he's only "outside" for 2-3 minutes when my husband walks him from the car to the door of the daycare. We don't freak about having gloves & a hat on for that period of time. That way, nothing is "in transit" and he has "stuff" at home and at school.

Check out places like TJ Maxx and Marshall's. I bought his hats, mittens and socks there for very cheap. The little gloves came as a set of 4 for $5- perfect!

Walmart has gloves in a set of 2 pairs for $1. Same with the hats. You could just buy cheap sets to leave at school for him.