In this article you will find CHECK LIST with all essentials that you need to have at the daycare in Norway for your child. I think this a can work pretty much not only for Norwegian kindergartens, but for all Scandinavia as well, such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark.
Down below a few practical tips for you, from mom of 4 boys and someone who worked in Norwegian daycare before ⬇️
INDOOR SHOES: It can be slippers or sandals, it can be soft plush shoes, it can be special socks with gummy sole for smaller kids.
Best if they sit good and not fall off the feet all the time. Uncomfortable shoes kids take of all the time and at some point, teachers giving up putting them back on.
For babies that learn to walk best choice would be good sandals with hard back that fixate feet good. Don’t be greedy, good sandals speed up learning process.
OUTDOOR SHOES: Kids, especially small ones, can not tell you when shoes are getting too tight. Check size every 1-2 month by taking out the sole from the shoe and checking together with baby feet. Or draw feet around on the piece of paper and cut it of, then put it together with the sole to compare. Remember, that shoes often look bigger and wider on outside, than it in fact is.
And as someone who work in kindergarten, I will tell you, that of course we will put on whatever fashion shoes you bring. But it makes our life so much easier, when kid has snickers or winter shoes, that is not too tight, and he can actually put them on themselves.
If your kid is in process of getting out of diapers, then make sure they have enough changes of panties/pants/tights. I would advice to have at least 4-5 for that period.
OUTDOOR CLOTH: This is very variable, because the middle season goes for very long time, and it can be dry/sunny/cold/wind/rain in one week. Thats why for spring-autumn is best to have two options of dress for outside.
One is just cheap plastic set of rain cloth (either dress or pants and jacket for older kids) that is 100% waterproof. If you have just one of that in kindergarten, then make sure you also have extra layer of fleece/wool cloth that can be put on under this rain dress.
Or you can also have extra dress called “skalldress” or jacket and pants. This one is not 100% waterproof, and if child sits in a pond of water, it will get wet. But it is good protection against light rain in colder days, because it has an extra layer of fleece inside. If you have this two available in kindergarten, then teachers can choose themselves what to put on a kid accordingly to the weather. And often you will see that for cold and wet weather your child will have a warmer dress and on top of that plastic pants to protect this warm dress from water.
If you have good budget, then you can find waterproof dresses with fleece inside like brand “Kattnakken”, but those are much more expensive then just having simple waterproof set and dress fleece underneath it. In my opinion is not needed, because kids growing out of those super quick, as from rain shoes and its no point to spend thousands of kroner on that.
WASHING: I see one question quite often and it sounds like “How do I wash this sandy rain dress”. You don’t want to put this in washing machine and cleaning it every day is very irritating. I get it.
What I do is just hang it in shower and spray it with water to remove sand. If you have gardens hose, or your daycare has it, you can actually wash of sand from your child while you are there. In the end, if you leave this dress to hang – next day sand will be dry, and you can just shake it off.
Also, my personal recommendation – invest 500 NOK in shoe dryer from ClasOhlson. It saves my life with drying gloves and shoes in wet and winter seasons every year.
If you are not very good or don’t have time for keeping record of cloth change in the daycare drawer, then take more than 2 pairs of seasonal cloth, like pants, tights, socks, t-shorts and panties.
Also, for the winter, I have a little trick from my childhood. When I get a pair of winter gloves, I sew them on the elastic. Like on picture and get into dress. This way my baby is not losing gloves anymore. Before in our kindergarten it was at least 2-3 missed pairs in a winter season.
Last, but not least. Label your child’s cloth. You can write name with marker or order labels from special company. I personally use Navnelapper, but there is askeladen and others.
I’m living in Oslo, and here is my personal favourites when it comes to buying good quality and non-expensive child cloth⬇️
OFFLINE (If you don’t have time to wait):
- XXL
- Lindex
- Oslo Sport Outlet