Starting your own daycare center is a bit like embarking on a new adventure—exciting, rewarding, but not without its challenges. The first step is understanding what’s required, so you can navigate the process smoothly.
Think of it as building a house: you wouldn’t start without a blueprint, and you certainly wouldn’t go in without knowing what materials you need. The same goes for a daycare—knowing the requirements upfront is essential.
First, education is key. Most states require at least a high school diploma or GED, and while a college degree in child development isn’t always mandatory, it’s definitely beneficial.
Once your educational foundation is in place, the next big decision is whether to run your daycare from home or in a commercial space. This choice will shape everything from your business plan to the licenses and permits you’ll need.
A solid business plan is your roadmap. It’s not just a formality—it’s your strategy for success, outlining everything from your budget to the daily operations of your center.
And don’t forget the legal requirements: licenses, permits, and safety regulations are non-negotiable. These aren’t just hoops to jump through—they’re protections that ensure you’re providing a safe, nurturing environment for children.
Background checks are another crucial step. They’re not just about ticking boxes—they’re about building trust with the families who will depend on you.
And finally, you’ll need certifications in first aid and CPR, because safety is at the heart of what you do.
Opening a daycare isn’t just about meeting requirements; it’s about understanding why those requirements exist—to create a safe, supportive space where children can thrive.
With the right preparation, you’ll be well on your way to turning your vision into reality, one step at a time.
What are the Requirements for Starting Your Own Daycare Center?
Knowing the requirements for starting a daycare center business is essential to move through the process smoothly. Creating any type of company can be difficult, but don’t let that intimidate you. Let’s break down the requirements so that you know what you need to do to open a daycare center.
Starting a daycare center business is an excellent idea because there will always be a demand for childcare services. It will be rewarding and profitable, but you must know the requirements for running a daycare center to ensure success.
You should take starting a daycare center business seriously.
Let’s look at this one step at a time.
Setting up a daycare center business can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Knowing what you need to get started will help you proceed through the procedure smoothly. Don’t get overwhelmed; beginning any kind of business is challenging. We’ll discuss the requirements one step at a time so you know what you must do to open a daycare center.
All-round development
If you’ve already accomplished it, you may skip over this step, but we must discuss your education. Most states require a high school diploma or a General Educational Development (GED) certificate.
Firstly, you must ensure that you have completed this step before moving on to the other steps. In most jurisdictions, you will not be granted daycare center licenses or permits unless you have graduated from high school or passed and received your GED. There are numerous online GED programs if you did not receive a diploma in high school.
Its usually advantageous to have a lot of education. In some cities and states, daycare center owners don’t need college degrees, but some require college degrees. You’ll benefit from obtaining additional education and earning a degree in education or child development.
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Whether to use in-home or commercial daycare is up to you.
Once you’ve decided on the type and style of daycare center you want to open, you must decide whether to open it in your own home or seek a commercial location. You should think things over before taking this step.
Here are some things to consider if you are thinking about opening a home daycare:
When considering opening a brand new daycare center, you should consider the following:
Once you’ve decided what type of daycare center business you want to open, you will begin constructing your business plan. You will need to consider your budget, how big your company will be, and all the tasks you must complete before opening for business and caring for children.
You create a business plan.
A clear business plan is an unwritten requirement for opening a daycare center.
Your daycare center may require bank funding to open, or you may want to seek investors. In either case, you will need to provide the powers-that-be with your business plan’s details to obtain the money you need to begin.
A well-designed business plan will help you determine the licenses, permits, and certifications you require to open your daycare center. You will also be requesting those items. Authorities will likely require a lot of information about your business, and you won’t know what you need to open your daycare center without a well-designed business plan.
Suppose you do not have your business plan well-developed. In that case, you will have difficulty answering the questions you need to respond to receive the necessary licenses and certifications in your area.
What are the seven critical components of a good business plan, according to Quickbooks Intuit.com? Every good business plan should include the following seven components:
Ensure you have the necessary paperwork.
Before opening your daycare center business, you must obtain several different licenses, permits, and certifications. Across the board, some will be pretty standard, but it will depend on the state and city where you operate your daycare center and whether you need certain things to make it operate legally.
In certain states, you must have a general business license.
You must also have a license specific to daycare centers in most cases. For example, a daycare in the home will usually have a license specific to that situation.
Concerning opening a daycare center, one of the most significant things is ensuring the health and safety of the children. There must be health and safety regulations following these standards. Before opening your daycare center enterprise, your site must be inspected and authorized in accordance with safety and health guidelines. Each state will require this.
You must research to discover what standards a daycare center must meet in your specific city and state. The U.S. National Database of Child Care Licensing Regulations website is an excellent resource for anyone contemplating starting a daycare center business.
Background checks are required.
You will require a background check to be performed on yourself and any other workers in your daycare center. You will probably be fingerprinted as well. This ensures that those in contact with the children are entitled to be there and will not jeopardize them.
You must have your entire household fingerprinted and undergo background checks if you want to open an in-home daycare. If someone in your household has a criminal background or other red flags in their background check, you will not be allowed to open a daycare in your home.
The background check may include a wide range of information, including employment history, academic accomplishments, criminal records, driving records, and credit history.
It is important to remember that an orientation session may be required before you are issued the daycare center licensing you need. The fee for the course will be your responsibility, and it will be your responsibility to pay it if you have employees working for you.
During the orientation sessions, you and your team will learn how to care for children effectively and safely. You’ll learn about supervising children and supporting their development and health.
You and your team will also be informed about maintaining professional conduct in the workplace and maintaining ethical standards, as well as how to communicate with parents to ensure a safe and healthy environment for them and their children.
Provide First Aid and CPR lessons.
It is uncommon, but childcare providers must be certified in first aid and CPR. If an emergency arises when children are being cared for, your employees should know how to handle it with a calm demeanor.
Various organizations offer courses that teach you and your employees what to do if one of the children or daycare workers needs medical attention. Once you’ve been certified, you’ll be able to perform some first aid procedures and CPR, should a scenario arise.
People’s lives may be saved if these certifications are taken seriously and maintained up-to-date throughout the operation cycle.
Visit the American Red Cross website for information about first aid and CPR certification. You can locate classes in your area to get certified.
Having a Food Handlers Certification is essential.
It’s up to you whether or not your daycare center business requires a food handler’s certification.
Do you desire to prepare meals on-site or not? The procedure of preparing food is defined here using an example. If you’re solely feeding children fruits and vegetables or prepackaged foods, a food handler’s certificate is unlikely to be required.
If you want to cut up fruits and vegetables or serve them as mixed fruit cups or similar dishes, you will require food handlers’ certificates for all your employees who will be involved in food preparation. This qualification will soon be mandatory.
Choose a daycare center director to run daily operations.
When starting an in-home daycare center, you may not need to take this step. An in-home daycare center is typically run by the homeowner, which is most likely you. If you’re setting up a separated, freestanding daycare center, you may need to appoint someone other than you as the daycare center director.
According to education guidelines, the person in charge of a daycare center must have a degree in child development or early childhood education. You may serve as the director of your daycare center if you have the required qualifications. Otherwise, you must find someone who does. This is the person in charge of the daycare center who will run the center daily.
It’s common for daycare director positions to require a license. You must ensure that the person you select has the necessary documents and takes the steps needed to obtain them.
The purpose drives the development of requirements.
The specifications may seem extensive if you are establishing a daycare center. They might be since your business’s strategy determines the requirements. However, remember that the conditions have been formulated for a purpose. Use this to assist you in checking off each requirement on your list.
After you have educated yourself, created a strategy, obtained necessary certifications, undergone a background check, finished any required training, and named a director if necessary, you may open the daycare center of your dreams.
Is an in-home daycare facility subject to different standards than a commercial daycare facility?
Generally, the guidelines and requirements for opening an in-home daycare are more lenient. However, there are some, and they will all be geared toward the same outcome. That doesn’t mean that you won’t be subject to any laws; it just means that they will not be as strict.
Is starting a daycare center expensive?
Starting your daycare center can be expensive. It depends on the type of institution you want to establish and the size of the facility.
You can start an in-home daycare for as little as $10,000 to $50,000. The cost will depend on whether you need to purchase equipment or renovate to make your house safer.
The price of other daycare centers can range from $60,000 up to millions. Your operation’s size and whether you buy an existing daycare franchise will determine how much you’ll pay. You will have to pay a lot more to open a commercial daycare center than an in-home daycare center.
One of the most significant cost differences is the structure where your daycare business will be housed. If you already have something or are paying for it, an in-home daycare center won’t cost you anything.
-This article was written by Rebecca Calbert.
Rebecca is a licensed architect with over 30 years of experience. She owns and operates an architectural firm, Calbert Design Group, and educates her clients through the commercial real estate development process with online content at SaveOnBuilding.com. Rebecca’s “purpose” is to educate small business owners and protect them from what they don’t know.
The Adventure of Starting a Daycare: A Step-by-Step Journey
Starting a daycare is a lot like planning a road trip across the country—exciting, full of promise, but without a proper map, you’re bound to take a few wrong turns. And let’s face it, in the world of daycare, getting lost isn’t an option. Imagine pulling up to your dream destination, only to realize you forgot your suitcase or, worse, you didn’t budget for gas. That’s what starting a daycare without understanding the requirements can feel like. But if you plan well, that adventure can turn into the most rewarding trip of your life.
Meet Jessica. A natural with kids, she spent years running a small neighborhood babysitting gig, but one day she had a revelation. “Why not start my own daycare?” It was a lightbulb moment, but quickly, reality kicked in. Jessica didn’t just need to love kids—she needed to navigate regulations, licenses, and all sorts of legal hoops. It’s like deciding to become a chef and realizing that cooking is only half the job—you also have to understand food safety, restaurant permits, and maybe a fire extinguisher or two.
The Blueprint: Education and the Foundation
Before Jessica could dream about nap times and snack schedules, she needed to check off a few essential boxes—starting with her education. In most states, running a daycare requires at least a high school diploma or a GED. While a degree in child development wasn’t mandatory, she realized it would help her understand how kids grow, learn, and occasionally turn into tiny tornados. A good education is like having a compass on a road trip—sure, you might get there without it, but it’ll be a whole lot easier if you know which direction you’re heading.
Jessica decided to go the extra mile, signing up for a few child development courses, knowing it would only strengthen her daycare’s appeal to cautious parents. Education became the first brick in the solid foundation she was building.
Home or Commercial Space: The Big Decision
With her education checked off, Jessica faced the next big choice: home daycare or commercial space? This was the decision that would shape everything—kind of like choosing between driving a cozy camper van or investing in a massive RV. Home daycares have their charm—cozy, familiar, intimate—but they come with their own set of rules and restrictions. Commercial spaces? More room to grow, but also more paperwork, higher costs, and the challenge of finding the right location.
Jessica weighed the pros and cons over endless cups of coffee with her husband. She realized that starting in her home would be more affordable, but a commercial space gave her room to expand. She chose the commercial route, dreaming of a bustling daycare that could serve more families in her community. And with that decision came the next step—a business plan.
The Business Plan: Your GPS to Success
A business plan isn’t just paperwork—it’s your roadmap. Jessica sat down and outlined everything, from her initial budget to how many kids she could care for, to what kind of programs she wanted to offer. This wasn’t just about getting a loan from the bank (though, let’s be honest, she needed one). The business plan was Jessica’s GPS, helping her navigate everything from staffing to daily operations to the critical question of whether her snack budget could handle a room full of toddlers with endless appetites.
Every good business plan includes the nuts and bolts: the costs, the marketing, the competition. But Jessica also added a personal touch, outlining her mission to create a safe, educational, and fun environment where kids could thrive. This wasn’t just a daycare—it was going to be a place parents felt good about, a place where kids couldn’t wait to return each morning.
The Legal Jungle: Licenses, Permits, and Safety First
Now came the part no one tells you about in the initial excitement of starting a daycare—the licenses, permits, and background checks. Jessica found herself in the thick of it. Every state has its own labyrinth of legal requirements for daycare centers, and skipping even one step could mean serious delays. And this wasn’t just bureaucracy—these regulations exist for a reason: to ensure the safety of every child who walked through her doors.
Jessica had to make sure her facility was up to code, which included passing inspections for health and safety. Background checks were next, not only for herself but for anyone she planned to hire. If you’ve ever applied for a job, you know the drill. But in the daycare world, it’s even more intense—fingerprinting, criminal record checks, the works. “It’s not just about ticking boxes,” Jessica said, “it’s about building trust.”
Parents were about to hand over their children—their most precious treasures—and they needed to know those kids would be safe.
First Aid, CPR, and Food Safety: The Unseen Essentials
Jessica soon learned that running a daycare wasn’t just about playing with kids—it also meant being prepared for the unexpected. She and her team had to be trained in first aid and CPR. After all, in a room full of toddlers, anything can happen. From scraped knees to bigger emergencies, Jessica knew she needed to be ready. First aid certification was like packing an emergency kit for her daycare road trip—something you hope you never need but absolutely must have.
Next on the list was deciding whether to serve food on-site. In her case, Jessica wanted to provide healthy snacks and lunches, which meant getting a food handler’s certification. Whether it’s cutting up fruit for snack time or serving warm meals, having the certification ensures that everyone knows how to prepare food safely, reducing the risk of any unpleasant surprises.
The Journey Begins
Armed with her business plan, licenses, certifications, and an unwavering sense of purpose, Jessica was ready to open her daycare center. It wasn’t just about meeting state requirements—it was about creating a safe, welcoming space for kids to grow. She wasn’t just following a checklist—she was building a community.
Sure, the road was long, and the paperwork never seemed to end. But as she opened the doors on that first day, with kids streaming in and parents offering grateful smiles, Jessica knew it had all been worth it. She had taken her dream and turned it into reality, one step at a time. And just like any great adventure, it was the journey that made the destination so rewarding.