A couple of weeks ago, I shared my tips on finding a day care. After you find the perfect place to send your little one, you have to figure out what to send with them! Through trial and error, I have found some great products that have been essential. Since my son is still in the infant room, I got some help from my friend Kellye who has daughters in two of the older classrooms at the day care.
First of all, you must have a good bag. Some parents pack a bag and leave it at the day care and others send a bag each day. I prefer to send the bag to and from day care each day – I feel like it makes it easier on me. I have three different diaper bags and of course the cheapest one I have has been my favorite. I love the Fisher-Price FastFinder Diaper Backpack because it gives me more mobility and is easy to carry while babywearing. It is also a good “daddy” bag. Kellye loves the Land’s End Canvas Tote Bags – they are easy to wash and have good pocket space.
For the babies and younger kids you will want to include the basics in their bags (diapers, wipes, etc.) as well burp cloths, pacifiers, pacifier clips, bottles, and bibs. My day care provides burp cloths and bibs but I always like to pack extra.
I always pack a wet bag in my son’s day care bag. When he first began day care we were using cloth diapers so we used the wet bag for the dirty diapers. Even though we aren’t using cloth anymore, the wet bag is still great for dirty clothes! Our day care provides plastic shopping bags for soiled clothes but I like for them to drop the plastic bag down into my wet bag for an extra layer to make sure none of the nasty seeps out into the rest of his diaper bag. I love these Planet Wise wet bags.
For the older kids you will need a lunchbox with their food and drinks for the day. Kellye loves these Thermos bottles for milk and the Ziploc divided containers for packing snacks and lunches.
The older kids will also need a mat for nap time. Kellye loves these Pottery Barn nap mats. While a little pricey, they are super soft and comfortable. They are also easy to carry which is nice when you are already having to carry about 750 bags. Kellye said her daughters love their mats so much that they even lay on them at home to watch TV.
Day cares usually require everything to be labeled. I was worried about finding labels that would not come off the bottles when washing them but I also wanted to make sure they could be easily removed when needed. I read a ton of reviews and settled on these Whoozems labels. They definitely live up to every positive review I read! My son’s teacher even loved them so much that she ordered some and labeled all the other kids’ stuff with them. Kellye swears by the Inch Bug Tag Pal Clothing Labels and the Inch Bug Orbit Labels. Kellye uses the clothing labels for stuffed animals as well!
Are there any day care essentials you would add to my list?
I love learning about new products! Now I am going to go order 1 or 5 of those awesome tote bags Kellye recommended…
As a preschool teacher, please always always ALWAYS send a change of clothes! Even if they are professional potty-ers! You just never know when there will be an accident- be it potty, poop, paint or something else that you don’t want your kid sitting in all day. Oh… and on occasion change out those (hopefully unused) extra clothes for the appropriate size and season. The only thing worse than changing muddy pants and not finding any extras in the bag, is changing muddy pants and finding 24 month pants in a 3 year old’s bag! Lol.
Haha how on Earth did I forget that? Yes… please send a change of clothes 🙂 I send 3 changes in Jake’s bag!
I currently live in Knoxville and would like to cloth diaper. We were wondering what daycares would allow cloth diapers in the area. Any help would be appreciated!