Safety is a prime concern for daycare and childcare center owners. From the furniture to the outdoor spaces, daycare providers do everything in their capacity to create a safe and enjoyable environment for kids.

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Whether they are playing, crawling around, or simply exploring, flooring is where kids spend most of their indoor time. Hence, it&#;s important to provide them with a surface that&#;s safe and won&#;t cause rug burns.

In this post, we have shared useful tips on how to select an ideal surfacing for your daycare. Later in the post, you&#;ll also find the not-so-ideal options.

Daycares Safety Surfacing Features

Children, especially toddlers and young kids, spend a lot of time crawling, sitting, roughhousing, or moving around on the flooring. That&#;s a normal day for them. It helps them learn new skills, socialize, and have fun. Hence, when choosing a safety flooring for a childcare center, it&#;s important to pay attention to their needs.

Consider these features when opting for a suitable surfacing for your childcare center. 

1. Comfort 

Not all the surfaces are easy on the little feet. For instance, a tiled surface or the conventional ceramic is inflexible and leads to a lot of strain on the feet.

Since your daycare members like to be on their feet at all times, they deserve a soft, cushiony, and comfortable surface. Soft surfaces cradle the feet and reduce the strain on their delicate feet muscles and joints. 

2. High Traction

Children are naturally curious and tend to climb on everything they find intriguing. Hence, slips and falls are a part of their overall development. But when these falls result in serious injuries and fractures, the daycare staff is held liable as they are responsible for the child&#;s safety.

Hence, it&#;s important to apply a surfacing material that offers adequate grip underfoot. For instance, rubber is one surfacing material that has a high coefficient of friction. Hence, it can significantly reduce the chances of children slipping or injuring themselves, even on wet surfaces.

Thus, installing a safe surface like rubber can help in creating a safe environment where kids can practice and develop new skills.

3. High Shock Absorbing Potential 

As mentioned above, falling and stumbling is a normal part of a child&#;s growing years. But there are two factors that determine the seriousness of a fall, namely &#;

• The height from which a child falls. The lesser the height the lower is the risk.
• The surface on which the child falls. Hard surfaces like concrete or ceramic tiles can be unforgiving, causing serious injuries. On the other hand, a springy surface like rubber has the capacity to absorb the shock and reduce the severity of the impact.

The surface you choose should possess excellent shock-absorbing potential.

4. Quiet Surface 

Daycares tend to have kids of all age groups. On one hand, we have toddlers and infants who need their share of sleep, and on the other, we have school-going kids who may want to finish their homework with minimum disturbance. As a daycare provider, you need to ensure a peaceful and productive environment for all.

Hence, daycares should install a quiet surface that has the potential to absorb and prevent the transmission of sound waves. Rubber and cork are excellent choices when it comes to quiet surfaces, except that cork is porous and prone to moisture damage. 

5. Hygienic 

With their hands and feet on the floor, your childcare center needs a surface that&#;s inhospitable to pathogens. Moreover, with kids, accidental spills are quite common. And not to forget, the mess they create when they play with clay or sand.

So, the surface should also be easy to clean and non-absorbent, allowing the caretakers to easily wipe off the spill before it penetrates and damages the subfloor. 

6. High Durability

Daycare and kindergarten floors take most of the battering. The flooring needs to be versatile and durable enough to play the role of a car racetrack, a dance floor, or a cartwheel zone.

You need a hard-wearing surface that can withstand the foot traffic of the kids and the caretakers.

Rubber Surfacing: The Most Recommended Surface for Daycares

When we consider the above features, the only option that ticks all the boxes is poured-in-place rubber surfacing. Rubber is a versatile flooring material that&#;s ideal for the following reasons.

• It&#;s hard-wearing and can stand up to heavy traffic and intensive activities.
• It&#;s a springy surface that&#;s comfortable underfoot. Hence, rubber surfaces do not cause feet fatigue.
• It&#;s an anti-skip surface. Hence, it reduces the risk of slips and falls.
• It can absorb shocks. Hence, even if a kid falls from a height they will not suffer serious injuries.
• It is a quiet surface that absorbs sound waves and their transmission. No wonder, rubber surfacing is installed in apartments and movie theatres.
• It&#;s easy to clean and maintain.
• It is inhospitable to disease-causing pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi, making it a hygienic surface.
• It is impervious to water. Hence, the surface doesn&#;t allow moisture to immediately seep into the subfloor.

Inappropriate Surfaces for Daycares

By now, you may be already convinced that rubber is a great flooring choice for childcare centers. Yet, it&#;s important to let you know about the flooring options that are an absolute no.

• Ceramic tile flooring &#; These surfaces are hard and have a low coefficient of friction. Hence, they are unsafe for spaces frequented by children.
• Carpet &#; Wall-to-wall carpeting may seem like a great option for childcare centers as it&#;s soft and offers adequate cushioning underfoot. However, carpets are home to pathogenic bacteria, viruses, and mold.
  Moreover, in case of spills, the surface tends to absorb the fluids, damaging the subfloor and giving off an offensive odor in the long term.

• Cork &#; Cork is soft and possesses noise-canceling properties. However, the surface is porous. Hence, any spill needs to be wiped off immediately, else it will seep into the flooring.

Moreover, cork isn&#;t a durable surface as it&#;s prone to scratches and stains.

Summing Up

For all daycare providers, the safety of kids is paramount. Hence, they need to invest in a surface that&#;s safe and hygienic. Poured-in-place rubber surfacing is an ideal flooring option as it meets all the criteria we&#;ve discussed above.

If you are considering a new surface for your childcare center, get in touch with the River Rock Resurfacing team. We have been offering residential and commercial flooring solutions for more than three decades. Call us now and we will guide you with the best flooring solutions.

Our primary concern is the safety of our children. &#; Keith Sullivan

The children&#;s safety is the utmost important factor regardless at home or at school. As a parent, you definitely looking for a safe learning environment for your children. So, let&#;s start with kindergarten flooring today. Whether considering the children playing or running around in the school, the material of kindergarten flooring will need to be taken seriously.

There is a wide range of kindergarten flooring options as different material offers different needs. Each flooring has its strengths, and it depends on the features you are looking for. You might be looking for floors that not only are safe for the children but also can withstand their tumbles and falls. Today, let us share with you the top 5 best materials for kindergarten flooring, so you can have more information about the best choices.

5 Best Material for Kindergarten Flooring

1. Hardwood Flooring

More and more homes are upgrading their flooring to hardwood floors, and there is no exception for kindergarten. First of all, hardwood flooring never fails to make a good look of your classroom, it enhances the classroom design. Since hardwood floors are easier to clean, it has become the biggest advantage of using this flooring. You can seep, vacuumed or steam-cleaned to clean the floor.

Besides, hardwood can last for many years and only sanding is necessary for repairing. The most important thing is it is definitely natural kid-friendly as it provides a non-toxic flooring material. Hardwood flooring doesn&#;t contain bacterial growth, mould, pollen or dust, it is a benefit for children who have allergies.

The most common selection for hardwood flooring is oak: red oak and white oak. Both materials are hard and durable, but red oak can cover dents and scratches better as it has a stronger grain. If you are picking the hardwood for your kindergarten flooring, remember that lighter colours help cover dents and scratch better.

2. Bamboo Flooring

While the bamboo plant is a type of grass, not a tree, bamboo flooring behaves much like wood flooring&#;it can even be refinished in the same way. Bamboo is every bit as hard as most hardwoods and is highly resistant to moisture (Spruce, ).

With competitive price and timely delivery, Okler sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.

The reason for choosing bamboo flooring is that it is considered one of the most durable and hardest flooring. Bamboo is also super easy to maintain by using non-wax, non-alkaline, or bamboo floor cleanser. Bamboo is more resistant to water damage than hardwood and offering greater resistance to scratches. That&#;s why it is also a suitable material for kindergarten flooring. 

If you are keen on natural and renewable resources, bamboo flooring is more eco-friendly.

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3. Vinyl Flooring

Vinyl flooring has been used widely in schools and homes for many years due to its superior water resistance. It is the most popular resilient flooring because of its low-maintenance, water-resistant, cost-effective, and long-lasting. Besides, it is easy to install which means it&#;s cost-effective as the professional installation is inexpensive as it is uncomplicated and fast.

Kindergarten flooring is easy to get abuse from children: spilling food, water splashing and etc. Vinyl flooring is strongly recommended since it is very difficult to rip, tear, or damage. You can surely find your pick in terms of colour and pattern selection with its varieties.

Vinyl offers a softer texture than hardwood flooring. Walking on vinyl flooring is more comfortable than any wood or ceramic flooring as it does not get cold in cold weather. It is a great option for children who are still learning to walk.

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4. Rubber Flooring

You&#;ll mostly see rubber flooring in many kindergartens or childcare centres. Rubber is a strong material that can stand up to a wide range of conditions. Do you know rubber flooring can last 20 years or longer when you take care properly? It possesses the same features as the above materials as it is easy to clean and maintain.

To enhance your kindergarten classroom acoustics, rubber flooring can reduce noise by up to 18 decibels. It enhances the learning effectiveness by minimizing unwanted noise and offering students a better focus on learning. Furthermore, rubber provides extra cushioning and shock-absorbing material for accidental falls, which make the perfect choice for the playing area.

5. Laminate Flooring

Laminate flooring might be a cost-effective choice if you have a smaller budget for your kindergarten renovation. Laminate floors are mainly made from wood byproducts fused with anti-abrasive materials.  This material is good for children because it protects children to suffer from dust, dirt, animal hair and allergies due to its tight seal.

Plus, it is a wonderful kid-friendly flooring with its protective scratch-resistant layer and is indentation-resistant: high-density fiberboard (HDF) or medium-density fiberboard (MDF) core. Simply saying that it can protect dropping things from damage. At the same time, it&#;s also stain-resistant in case of any boisterous play.

Still unable to decide which flooring to choose? Consult a professional to help you solve your worries.

Looking for a good plan design for your kindergarten? Our experts are ready to assist you!

Planning to get started at your kindergarten but have no idea about it?

Childcare Center Renovation Singapore is a reliable company for renovation and interior design. They have about ten years of experience in this field and also have a good reputation from customers.

Call us now to get your desired kindergarten design ideas now!

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Safety Flooring in Daycares: What You Need to Know

Choosing The Right Kindergarten FlooringKindergarten Flooring Material