Looking to Start Your Own Child Care Facility? Here's How!

Is your preschooler ready for their first child daycare center experience? If you're not sure how to choose the best daycare for your three to five-year-old, take a look at the questions to ask before you select a center.

What Are the Age Groups?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Some centers use a multi-age approach. This type of grouping combines children of multiple ages into one classroom. It's unlikely that you'll find a classroom with infants through six-year-olds. Instead, most multi-age classrooms have closer age-related groupings — such as one to two-year-olds and three to five-year-olds. This type of approach can foster social development and help children to learn new skills.

If the center has an age-by-age grouping, it could include one year at a time (such as three-year-olds, four-year-olds, and five-year-olds) or a partial-year grouping arrangement. Partial-year grouping classrooms may have younger threes, older threes, younger fours, and so on.

Think about how your child learns best, your educational goals or values, and what feels the most comfortable for your child and your family before you choose a classroom.

Who Are the Teachers and How Many Are In Each Room?

State licensing laws regulate preschool teacher requirements. This could include the number of years of education the teacher should have, the type of degree (such as early childhood education), or the number of years of experience working with children. Like teachers, instructional aids and educational assistants will also have to meet minimum requirements to work with children in an early learning setting.

Not only should you learn more about who will teach your preschooler, but you should also ask how many teachers or adult caregivers are present daily in each classroom. According to the Office of Child Care, younger preschooler (age three) classrooms should have one adult caregiver for every seven children. This number increases to one adult for every eight children in four or five-year-old classrooms.

How Does the Program Prepare Children for Kindergarten?

School readiness is a major issue in the pre-k years. Your child is building skills that they will need to use right now and in elementary school. This means you need to choose a program that will prepare your child for kindergarten.

Along with academic areas (such as early literacy, math, and science), the child care center should help your preschooler to build physical (gross and fine motor) skills, develop socially, and improve emotional identification, regulation, and expression.

Speak with a child daycare center in your area to learn more.