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Choose quality child care for your
child!
Quality child care helps your child’s development, whether your child is an
infant, a toddler or a preschooler. You can help make child care
a good experience for your child. Stay in close contact with your child
care provider and make sure that
your values, language and culture are supported.
Finding Quality Child Care:
• Do the children seem happy and well cared for?
• Are the providers welcoming and willing to take time to talk to you?
• Are the providers alert and do they respond to the children in their care?
• Is the place comfortable for both children and the providers?
• Are the setting and equipment safe and appropriate?
• Are there small groups of children with each provider?
• Do the providers kneel or sit at the children’s level?
• Do the providers plan what the children will do each day?
• Are the providers licensed and trained?
Infant &
Toddler Child Care
Infant
and toddler child care should be based on a close, caring relationship
between one or two caregivers and your child.
Research shows that infants and toddlers do best when they have the same
caregivers over time. Close relationships help
them feel secure.
Checklist for
Infant and Toddler Child Care
•
Does the provider hold and cuddle the children?
• Does she respond to the needs and interests of the children, rather than
making them fit into her schedule?
• Is the infant child care setting calm and soothing, without glaring lights
that can hurt an infant’s eyes?
• Is the setting uncluttered
and free from chaos and loud noise?
• Is the center divided into small, intimate spaces?
•
Are toddlers allowed to make
choices? For example, can they choose when to nap or what toys to play
with?
•
Has the provider received training on infant and toddler
care?
Preschool
Child Care
Child
care for preschoolers should not look or feel like school. There should be
some group time, such as circle time, meals and other outdoor play.
There should also be plenty of free time for preschoolers to explore
interesting materials and activities on their own.
Checklist for Preschool Child Care
• Do the providers respond to the children’s interests and needs?
• Do the providers talk a
lot with the children and encourage language skills?
• Do the providers and children talk to each other with kind words and smiles?
• Do the providers give kind, clear and consistent messages to the
children about behavior?
• Do the providers get down
on the floor with the children?
• Is there a large play space where the children can build and move things,
run and jump?
• Is there a place where children can do arts and crafts and play games?
• Is there a quiet place
where children can take a break, read a book or be read to?
• Are chairs, tables and
other equipment child-sized?
• Are there many
kinds of toys, playthings and art supplies? Do they fit the ages of
the children?
Click here to view a sample of the Alabama Partnership for Children's Choose Quality Child Care for your Child! information card which contains the above information. To order copies for distribution at a minimal charge click here to download and print the order form.