Starting a church nursery or reorganizing one? Here are some useful printables and tips for you!
Church nurseries can be SO useful for parents with busy babies and toddlers! Whether you’re providing childcare for regular church services or special meetings and events, you definitely want to create a calm, reliable, and organized environment to set both parents’ and children’s minds at ease!
I have personally helped organize a nursery at a local church, and have learned a lot from the other church ladies along the way that has helped me see what you need to run a successful, smooth, trustworthy nursery for church members!
Step 1: Design the Nursery Room
The first place to start is preparing a nursery room! You don’t need much, but make sure that the room in your church is easily accessible, clean, and preferably carpeted! You’ll want access to a sink, too! Then, you can begin adding furniture and toys! We’ve found that a changing station complete with drawers is super helpful for organization as well as hiding the snacks and goodies 🙂 Rocking chairs are nice for workers who take care of small babies, too!
Step 2: Find Nursery Volunteers
The second step is finding your nursery volunteers! You’ll probably want to look for female volunteers over the age of sixteen with at least some childcare experience and hopefully some basic first aid knowledge (for those once-in-a-lifetime emergency situations). Our volunteers are available to help between once and twice a month, and thankfully, we are blessed to have additional ladies who are able to act as substitutes should something come up for those scheduled!
Check out my last post here which contains Nursery Scheduling Charts for free to get started on your nursery staff schedule right away!
Step 3: Set Up a System
After you’ve set up the room and found people to staff your nursery, you can begin receiving your cutie pie customers! But, before they can start having fun, you will need a little bit of information about them first! My favorite nursery tool is a three-ringed binder which contains several easy-to-use charts and checklists for simple, efficient organization and emergency information!
Below, you will find some easy printables I have personally created (and use!) that will allow you to keep track of parent info, preferences, nursery attendance, inventory updates, and a final checklist to help remind your staff of what to do before they finish up for the day!
I chose a cute, forget-me-not design to match simple nursery colors and tastes as well as to add that little subliminal message to your workers: don’t forget to fill out these forms! 🙂
Just click on the links, and download the PDFs. You can print on 8.5″ x 11″ copy paper on any colored printer! You can also find these designs by going directly to our free shop!
Registration Form
Upon arrival, parents or guardians should immediately be asked if they have filled out a registration form within the last 6 months. This form is full of CRUCIAL information that a parent/guardian should be REQUIRED to provide regarding a child’s health information, restroom needs, allergies, or food preferences, so that an adult can be contacted in case of an emergency, restroom situation, or fussy kiddo!
Nursery Session Chart
Once a child has a confirmed registration on file, their name can be added to this nursery attendance chart. This form is helpful for workers and parents alike to double-check which children they were given care of, that the child is being picked up and dropped off by the correct person, and reminds the nursery workers to let the parents know if there was a diaper change or if any other incident occurred.
Checklist
After all of the children have been successfully checked out, we ask that our nursery workers complete a quick checklist before they leave the nursery. This includes organizing the nursery binder, basic clean up, and a couple security measures. I have also left space for anything additional that comes to mind!
Inventory List
Lastly, I have found it super helpful to include an inventory list in our nursery binder! This allows workers to fill out needs that they see during their nursery session – maybe they need more wipes, goldfish, or toys! We often run out of paper towels and trash bags, too. This quick inventory request list allows the individual running the nursery to know exactly what the next set of workers will need!
Now that you have downloaded and printed out enough of these printables, you have everything you need to begin running a safe, trustworthy, efficient nursery that many parents will be sure to thank you for!
If this article has been helpful to you, please like and comment! How have your nursery experiences been? I would also encourage you to subscribe to our email list to get updates as new designs and church resources are made available weekly! Also, feel free to comment about any colors, designs, or ideas you want to see in the future! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
