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Check List For Daycare Centers
You should visit
several child care centers before selecting one.
This checklist will help you, as a parent, look
at certain aspects of each center. Then compare
one center with another.
Before you visit, read and
be familiar with the items on this checklist.
Phone the centers you would like to visit, and
set up an appointment at each one, allowing
yourself 20-30 minutes per visit. Let the
director know the ages of your children and that
you are interested in learning more about the
program.
Sometimes it is more
convenient to visit without your child. However,
if you do take your child along, note if and how
the adults greet the child and whether the child
finds the center attractive and friendly.
Feel Free To
Print This Check List To Use When Checking A
Child Care Facility.
Practical Considerations:
1.
Name/and address/phone number of center
2. Hours center is open
3. Fees charged
4. Ages of children licensed for
5. Care of sick children?
6. Location easy to reach?
Checklist
For the following items use a rating of:
0 Can't tell
1 No, not in center
2 Somewhat
3 Yes, center has
Physical Facility, Health, Safety
-
Floors are carpeted or have nonskid
covering.
-
The center is clean.
-
Adults do not smoke in the same room with
children.
-
No children are seen in the center with
soiled diapers or training pants.
-
Detergents, cleansers, and medicines are
out of reach or locked up.
-
Electrical outlets are covered with
safety caps.
-
Toys and equipment are in good repair,
with no sharp edges, splinters, or loose
parts.
-
At least one adult in the center has
first-aid training, and first-aid supplies
are available.
-
Each child has an individual space to
store coats and belongings, such as a cubby,
box, coat hook, or drawer.
-
A space can be made dark and quiet for
naptime, and a clean cot is set up in this
space for each napping child.
-
The toilet is easy for the children to
get to.
-
Outdoor play area has both a bare surface
for riding toys and a soft surface, like
sand or grass, for playing
-
The center is homey, warm, cheerful, and
inviting.
Caregiver Competencies
-
Enough caregivers are with the children
so that individual attention can be given if
needed. For example, an upset child can be
held, talked to, etc.
-
You can see caregivers communicating
effectively with children - explaining in
clear steps what they want the children to
do, answering children's questions
patiently, frequently kneeling down to the
child's eye level when talking.
-
Children appear happy, comfortable, and
relaxed - laughing, smiling, involved in
play.
-
Children enjoy one another - smile at
each other, hold hands, hug, help each other
more than they fight or argue.
-
Caregivers seem warm and affectionate
with the children, smiling, cuddling,
speaking pleasantly.
-
Caregivers use children's first names or
nicknames when talking to or about them.
Caregivers do not refer to children by
unpleasant names, such as "smarty," "brat,"
etc.
-
Caregivers are seen working and playing
with the children more than standing back
and directing or ordering them around.
-
At least one caregiver knows where all
the children are. For example, if a parent
comes to pick up a child, a caregiver knows
who and where the child is.
-
Caregivers encourage children to do some
things for themselves, patiently giving time
and help and praise so that the child can
learn to master the skill, such as getting a
drink alone, washing hands, putting away a
coat or toy.
-
The caregivers are people you would like
your child to copy or imitate. In other
words, children are apt to "do as caregivers
do, more than as they say."
Program Materials
-
Attractive and well-written story and
picture books are available for the
children.
-
Caregivers encourage listening and
talking through planned activities like
storytelling, word games, puppetry, doll
play, and show and tell.
-
The center has materials for quiet play,
such as puzzles, and active play, such as
riding toys.
-
Children can get at least some materials
by themselves and are encouraged to take
care of and put away materials.
-
There are enough toys and materials so
that each child can participate without
having to wait more than a few minutes.
-
For at least part of the day, children
can choose what they want to do, either
individually or in small groups.
-
Caregivers encourage both boys and girls
to play with all the materials - such as
climbing and riding toys, dress-up clothes,
tools, dolls, cars, and trucks. Caregivers
do not give children the idea that a certain
activity is only for boys or only for girls.
-
Children have the opportunity to use
creative materials, such as paint, crayons,
big blank pieces of paper rather than
coloring books, paste, clay or playdough,
scissors, and pencils.
-
The children's art work is displayed in
the center and is also sent home for
parents.
-
Three or more of the following are
available for the children's use:large and
small riding toys, pull toys, pounding toys,
beads for stringing, puzzles, small and
large blocks, nested toys, small building
toys like Tinkertoys, dress-up clothes,
dolls.
-
The outdoor play area has three or more
of the following: cartons or boards for
building, sandbox with sand toys, low slide,
riding toys, balance beam, tires, see-saw.
-
Children are in small enough groups
within the center so that the children
appear to be secure and "at home" rather
than lost in a crowd.
-
Children may watch only appropriate
television programs if there is a TV. They
are not forced or encouraged to sit in front
of the TV for long periods of time.
Home Center Coordination
-
Meal and snack menus are posted so that
parents know what the children are eating at
the center.
-
The menus are nutritious and contain
foods your child likes.
-
If possible, ask what the caregivers do
if a child does not like a certain food
being served, and see if you agree with
their methods.
-
The caregivers use discipline and
guidance methods similar to your own and are
consistent and fair with the children.
-
The center has a bulletin board for
parents and posts the program schedule and
other messages.
Total Score - ___
Things To Think About:
1. Overall, how do
you feel about this center?
2. Overall, how would your child feel about this
place?
The total score reflects both how good or poor
the center is and how much you were able to
observe. In general, go by the following:
- 100-123
points - EXCELLENT CENTER, worth getting on
a waiting list to enroll your child.
- 80-100 points -
GOOD CENTER, worth serious consideration.
- 60-80 points -
POSSIBLY ADEQUATE, think this over carefully
though.
- 40-60 points -
LOOK ELSEWHERE.
- 0-40 points -
DEFINITELY OUT, probably in violation of
licensing requirements.
If you have a lot of items on the checklist with
0 points because you were not able to tell, then
this will lower the overall score a lot. In this
case, look at how you scored the rest of the
items.
If most of your other scores are 3's, then this
could be a very good center despite the fact
that the total score is lower than it should be.
Above all, trust your own judgment and feeling
about a center. You know your child best and can
tell which center will be right for your family. |
