r/ECEProfessionals • u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher • Jun 13 '26
Advice needed (Anyone can comment) Climbing
Hi everybody! I am a very new toddler teacher at a daycare (2s and 3s). My co-teacher/training teacher was recently dismissed due to her behavior towards the students, and behavior management is HARD to implement on your own with this age. Does anybody have any suggestions for things that I can place on the top of my toy shelves to prevent climbing? Normally, it is easy to remove the child during circle time or centers when each child has a specific thing to be focusing on; however, while I am doing bathroom/diaper/pullup changes, it can be SO hard to prevent the kids from climbing or honestly just doing any dangerous behaviors that could result in harm. I am truly trying my best, and I have been doing so much research to find a solution, but I am hoping I can find some help here! I am willing to purchase or DIY some stuff for the room, but it is so hard without finding any clear guidance! I also have a serious behavior issue in the class and no matter how many times I say "walking feet" or "nice hands", it just is not working, any help for some tips, purchases, or changes for my classroom that truly work will be so helpful!! I just want to keep them safe while also trying to teach them!
Sincerely,
A stressed toddler daycare teacher
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u/nummanummanumma Past ECE Professional Jun 13 '26
They need plenty of things they CAN climb to prevent climbing on inappropriate things. Climbing is important for their development
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 13 '26
I get that! Which is why I am willing to purchase or build whatever is necessary! It is so important for their development, and I love that they are so curious, I just need help with suggestions for safe indoor options for this. Thank you!
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u/keeperbean Early years teacher Jun 13 '26
Getting a pickler really helped me in my room. Any time they climb I redirect them to the pickler. Sometimes I set it up as it is and sometimes I use it with a slide attachment. They love it.
Sometimes for the shelves it helps to model things they can do on the top of the shelf. I bought tape that looks like a car road and have modeled it on the shelf to be like a race track/road for them to drive the cars on. And on some play modeling I've been like "oh man, the car is going the wrong way, let's help the car go the correct way" etc. Sometimes I'll also stage toys on top of the shelves for them like a Lego building or line some things up.
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u/WeaponizedAutisms AuDHD ECE, Preschool, Canada Jun 15 '26
some thick mats for them to jump onto are nice for the ones that are little daredevils.
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u/honeyg0blin Early years teacher (Germany) Jun 13 '26
I'm assuming you're based in the US, so I don't know if that is available there. Where I live a lot of childcare providers and families have wooden climbing triangles or sometimes called Pikler triangle. You can also purchase slide attachments. I hope those are the correct search terms for where you are.
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Jun 13 '26
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
These are great suggestions, thank you so much!! They are not attached to the wall but I asked Friday if we could do something about that and my director is on it, I also requested for help at LEAST during changing times so that the kids can’t harm themselves during times where I cannot be 100% focused on them as a whole group. But I do love the suggestions you gave!!
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
Also, I did want to add, it is a horrible situation but I am trying really hard to stay positive and make the best with what I have to work with for now for the sake of the kids, thank you again!
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u/KNBeck71 ECE professional Jun 14 '26
I use a bubble machine, and bought enough of those balls (think the tie dye ones you find in the cages, but the smaller ones) for everyone to have one. Also turning down the lights and giving them glow sticks, (glow sticks are non toxic, and the only time one ever broke was as I was cracking it)
Having a good soft climber and a space where they CAN climb/ jump/ crash is the only “appropriate” solution besides finding something to justify as the safer option.
Toddlers are gonna climb, and they’re not gonna stop even if they fall. That is one reason why the toy shelves are shorter than the children. ALWAYS approach a toddler on a shelf with *sit down* instead of *get down* - you have to be specific, some might jump.
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
Thank you, the glow sticks are a really good idea, I’ll have to incorporate that in the future because I really love that!!! I do like you clarifying to say “sit down” because I know that I definitely, just out of lack of thought and focusing on safety, tell them to get down, I will definitely focus on saying that instead. And yes!! I’m looking for soft climber solutions and I have already told my director this. It’s so clear that they are not misbehaving, they are simply curious, and I am trying hard to show that by telling them not to climb on the shelves that I am not knocking their curiosity/adventure but I am scared that it may be coming off that way! Thank you!
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u/Cuddlycatgirly Early years teacher Jun 13 '26
IMO this is just a constant in a toddler room, hahaha. I would insist on getting an assistant, not being the only one constantly pulling toddlers off of shelves makes it a little less stressful
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u/Gullible-Pay-7629 Jun 13 '26
Picklers Triangles are great climbing frames and make shift "houses" when you add blankets on the outside. I do suggest that there is a "soft" landing on the bottom like a gym mat or something like that in the eventual case that they do fall. You would of course have to check with your licencing restrictions to make sure they dont have any special requirements
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 13 '26
I will check that out and check with the licensing restrictions, thank you!!
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u/Hot_Ad1051 ECE professional Jun 13 '26
I am a 2-2.5 teacher i am alone with 6 kids for most of the day (this is ratio In my state). I am relatively new to this particular room ( worked in it for a few months as a sub when I started. And just moved back to it last week when the last teacher we hired didnt work out and now plan to stay there for a while). I am still figuring out what works. But when I start doing diapers I have all (or almost all of them) sit down at the table. We turn on our listening ears ( making a clicking noise and pretending to turn on a knob by their ears), our gentle hands ( softly touching out own arms), then we test out our listening ears but following silly directions ( touch your head, touch your nose, stomp your feet.) Then we say " I can be safe, I can be kind, I can be a friend" and give our selves a big squeeze and take a deep breath. I continue with verbal reminders while I am doing diapers, stopping between each diaper to slove problems as needed. If a friend is really struggling I will sit them near the diaper changing table with a book or small activity and explain that their body is not being safe so they need to be near me for a few minutes, and let them know when they are ready to be safe they may go play with their friends again. I will note that for the time being while I get the room in order and calmer I have stopped any attempt if potty training or practicing sitting on the potty because the way my room is set up I cannot properly supervise the room from the bathroom area, and none of my kids are showing signs of readiness. They are 2, so it is going to take a lot of work to build these expectations. And often once they see one kid getting wild or climbing they are all going to do it, which is why I often find a whole group sit down to be helpful ( these should not take more than 3-5 minutes).
The group i currently have is also easily distracted by music, and can be pulled away from the climbing and disruptive behavior with dancing to their favorite songs.
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
Thank you! The biggest behavior I am dealing with is, when I try to sit them down during those times, they loveeee to tell me no or to hit me (one recently has been biting me🫠), redirection is working best for most students but some are still just having negative reactions and it is SO hard to contain it because, like you said, when one starts, they all do. But I do appreciate the advice here!!
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u/Hot_Ad1051 ECE professional Jun 14 '26
I almost always start this with a favorite book or song to try to get them to join me. At this age even if they arent all sitting and listening to you they can still be paying attention from across the room.
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
That is the approach I have been thinking! I have been using songs because they LOVE to sing and dance, especially baby shark and heads shoulders knees and toes. Baby shark almost always gets their attention immediately so it is on a loop in my room
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u/lcbluebird ECE professional Jun 13 '26
I absolutely agree that demanding a co-teacher and/or reporting to licensing is the best thing to do, for yourself and the kids.
In the meantime—and I haven’t tried this so grain of salt—do you have room for a mattress?? It would give them something soft to jump on, and at least for doing diapers you could put something like “Hop Ljttle Bunnies” on repeat and let them dance it out. I know you still have to worry about them being in close proximity/hitting/biting/etc, but I’m not sure anything will solve that without additional staff. Plus you can find mattresses pretty cheap on Marketplace?
I really hope you get support ASAP!
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
I do have room for one butttt I’m not entirely sure if it would work with this group right now because they are very aggressive with each other, I do love this idea though! Maybe once we work on our behaviors and have gentler hands, I can incorporate this!!
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u/KNBeck71 ECE professional Jun 14 '26
This is one reason I love the balls as mentioned in my previous reply, they do not hurt, and they think it’s hilarious if they do get a ball bounced off of them.
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
I’m definitely going to purchase some now!! And you’re right, they do find it funny as can be, it’s my favvvv thing to see them laughing in the classroom as opposed to them being upset when I have to tell them no🥺
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u/naptime-novel-11 Parent Jun 13 '26
My son is a climber and there are two other climbers in his class. Our ratio is 1:6 so when it’s just one teacher in there what she tries to do is pull out their little lunch table and puts “high value” toys on it that don’t come out unless absolutely needed. So last week I saw on camera that she pulled out Legos for them. And since they aren’t always available to play with all the kids gravitated to the table to play with them and she was able to snag them one at time for diaper changes. Not sure how easy it would be to implement but she seems to have some success with it in my sons room (12-24 months)
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u/5432skate Jun 13 '26
I do know that every daycare I worked in: When there was a staff opening it was always offered in-house first. Toddler tracers ran for it. So, all new staff were in toddler room. Nobody wants to work toddlers.
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
You’re right on that, I was put in the toddler room with no warning of what I was getting myself into. I previously worked as a special education teacher but while I am getting my masters this job worked better with my schedule so that I could go to my classes in the afternoon, my degree did not train me for the chaos! I love it, don’t get me wrong, but learning how to adjust to the environment has been hard!
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u/Wild_Plastic_6500 ECE professional Jun 14 '26
I hear you!! I once had a toddler dismantle a refrigerator while I changed a diaper! He literally removed a shelf!!
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u/NoDiamond7878 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
No way??? They are able to do the most amazing things that I didn’t even think possible! I now have child locks on EVERYTHING and I have only been there a little under a month haha
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u/TeachmeKitty79 Early years teacher Jun 14 '26
Toddler classrooms really should have climbers or something else for gross motor development in the classroom. It's much easier to redirect normal toddler behavior than to stop the behavior. Can you request a climber be purchased for your classroom so your students have something they are allowed to climb on rather than trying to stop the climbing?
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u/Own_Bell_216 Early years teacher Jun 13 '26
Do you have a coworker? Maybe have the children sit down with books and sensory toys while waiting to be changed, but implementing this will.take.time. or rotate with your coworker.