The best questions to ask daycare staff on a tour cover safety, staffing and ratios, daily routines, food, illness and medication policies, parent communication, costs and vouchers, and transitions.
In Brooklyn, you should also verify a program’s regulator and performance history instead of relying only on how the space looks. Strong answers are specific, transparent, and consistent with what you observe. Use the 25 questions below to compare every center on the same criteria.
Before Your Daycare Tour, Verify What You Can Online
Before a tour, review basic regulatory information independently. NYC Health recommends checking a program’s performance history through NYC Child Care Connect, and center-based group child care programs must display a performance summary card. NYC Health also requires comprehensive background checks for group child care staff and volunteers.
This homework helps you separate what you can verify online from what you need to observe in person. During the tour, use your time to watch teacher-child interactions, ask how policies work during normal routines, and compare what staff say with what you see in the classroom.
Little Me Daycare Center’s Answers to Common Daycare Tour Questions
Before your tour, here are the most frequently asked questions we could provide:
| What Parents Ask | Little Me’s Information |
| Teacher-to-child ratios | 0–12 months: 2 teachers/8 children; 12–24 months: 2/10; ages 2–3: 2/12; ages 3–4: 2/15; ages 4–5: 2/20 |
| Hours | Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. |
| Meals | Three nutritious meals per day plus snacks |
| Parent updates | Brightwheel schedule updates, classroom photos, and digital forms |
| Vouchers | ACS and HRA vouchers accepted |
Safety and Licensing Questions
Safety should be one of the first things you evaluate during a daycare tour. Before focusing on curriculum or classroom activities, make sure you understand who regulates the program, how staff is screened, and what procedures are in place to protect children during everyday routines and emergencies. Clear, specific answers in these areas can help you determine whether a center takes safety requirements seriously.
1. Which agency licenses or permits this program, and can I review its inspection history?
What a good answer sounds like: The director clearly identifies the regulator, shows current documentation, and explains where you can independently review inspections or performance history.
In NYC, we recommend checking the city’s child care guidance and performance-history resources before or after your tour.
2. What background checks are required for staff, substitutes, and volunteers?
What a good answer sounds like: The center can explain the required checks, how clearances are tracked, and how people who are not fully cleared are supervised.
For NYC group child care, the Health Department’s background-check guidance describes comprehensive checks for staff and volunteers.
3. How do security, authorized pickup, and emergency procedures work?
What a good answer sounds like: You hear a clear process for sign-ins, authorized adults, controlled access, evacuations, lockdowns, medical emergencies, drills, and contacting families.
Ask what staff would actually do if an emergency happened during your child’s normal classroom routine, not only whether an emergency plan exists.
Ratios and Staffing Questions
Staffing directly affects how much attention, supervision, and consistency your child receives throughout the day. During a daycare tour, ask for specific ratios, group sizes, teacher qualifications, and backup staffing procedures so you can understand who will care for your child and how the center maintains coverage when staffing changes.
4. What is the staff-to-child ratio and maximum group size in my child’s room?
What a good answer sounds like: You receive specific numbers for your child’s age and a clear explanation of how the center maintains supervision during breaks, staff absences, and transitions.
At Little Me Daycare Center, our classroom staffing is 2 teachers for 8 children at 0–12 months, 2/10 at 12–24 months, 2/12 at ages 2–3, 2/15 at ages 3–4, and 2/20 at ages 4–5.
5. What qualifications, first-aid training, and ongoing training do teachers receive?
What a good answer sounds like: The director can explain qualifications by staff role, required health and safety training, and how educators continue developing their skills.
Do not settle for “everyone is trained.” Ask what training applies to the educators who will actually spend the day with your child.
6. How do you handle staff absences and turnover?
What a good answer sounds like: Children have stable core caregivers, while the center has a vetted backup plan that preserves supervision and required staffing when someone is absent.
Daily Routine Questions
A daycare’s daily rhythm can tell you a lot about how children experience the program from morning drop-off to afternoon pickup. Ask how the center balances learning, play, movement, meals, rest, and flexibility, and make sure the schedule works with your family’s routine as well as your child’s age and needs.
7. What does a typical day look like in this classroom?
What a good answer sounds like: The schedule includes a predictable mix of care routines, play, learning, movement, meals, and rest without expecting every child to function on an identical timetable.
8. What are your operating hours, closure dates, and late-pickup procedures?
What a good answer sounds like: The hours and policies are specific and available in writing, including holidays, unexpected closures, and what happens when pickup runs late.
At Little Me Daycare Center, our hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
9. How much active movement and outdoor play are built into the day?
What a good answer sounds like: The program can describe age-appropriate physical activity, how outdoor time fits the routine, and what children do when weather or other conditions keep them inside.
Food and Feeding Questions
Meals and feeding routines are an important part of your child’s day, especially for infants and young toddlers. A strong daycare should be able to explain how meals, snacks, allergies, dietary restrictions, bottles, formula, and individual feeding plans are documented and communicated to families.
10. Are meals and snacks provided, and can I see a sample menu?
What a good answer sounds like: The center clearly explains what it serves, what families must provide, and how menus vary across the week.
At Little Me Daycare Center, we provide three nutritious meals each day plus snacks.
11. How do you handle allergies and dietary restrictions?
What a good answer sounds like: The center documents each child’s needs, explains how staff reduces accidental exposure, and has a clear response plan if a reaction occurs.
12. How do you handle bottles, breast milk, formula, and new foods for infants?
What a good answer sounds like: Feeding follows a parent-approved plan, with clear procedures for labeling, storage, preparation, timing, and communication about what the baby consumed.
Illness and Medication Questions
Health policies matter because young children share close spaces, toys, meals, and routines throughout the day. Look for clear written policies on illness, cleaning, hygiene, medication, and parent notification so you know what happens during everyday care and when a child becomes sick at the center.
13. What symptoms require a child to stay home, and when can the child return?
What a good answer sounds like: The center has a written illness policy with specific exclusion and return criteria, plus a clear process for contacting you if your child becomes sick during the day.
NYC Health’s center-based child care information states that enrolled parents must receive program policies covering emergencies and illness management.
14. What are your cleaning, hand-hygiene, diapering, and illness-response routines?
What a good answer sounds like: Staff can explain routine hygiene and sanitation, how toys and shared materials are handled, and what the center changes when illness is circulating.
15. How does administering medication work?
What a good answer sounds like: The center explains who may administer medication, what written authorization is needed, how medication must be labeled or stored, how doses are documented, and what happens in an emergency.
Communication With Parents Questions
Consistent communication helps you understand what your child experiences between drop-off and pickup. Ask how the center shares daily routines, developmental observations, photos, incidents, and urgent updates, and confirm which communication method is used for routine updates versus time-sensitive concerns.
16. How will I receive daily updates about my child’s day?
What a good answer sounds like: The center has a consistent system for sharing meals, naps, toileting, activities, photos when appropriate, and important incidents, with a separate method for urgent communication.
At Little Me Daycare Center, we use Brightwheel for schedule updates, classroom photos, and digital forms. You can see the communication features on our programs page.
17. How do you share a child’s progress and developmental observations?
What a good answer sounds like: Teachers share specific observations about your child’s progress and give you a clear way to discuss development, concerns, or goals outside routine pickup conversations.
18. How are families notified about urgent issues or important facility updates?
What a good answer sounds like: The center explains which situations trigger an immediate call and which use an app, email, or other notice, while protecting children’s privacy.
Cost, Contracts, and Voucher Questions
Cost is only one part of choosing a daycare, but unclear fees or enrollment terms can create problems later. Before enrolling, ask for written details about tuition, deposits, closures, schedule changes, withdrawal policies, and financial assistance so you understand the full commitment.
19. What is the full tuition and fee structure, and what is included?
What a good answer sounds like: You receive a written breakdown of tuition, deposits, registration fees, supplies, late-pickup charges, and any other recurring or one-time costs.
20. Do you accept child care vouchers or other financial assistance?
What a good answer sounds like: The center names the programs it accepts and clearly separates its own enrollment process from the government agency’s eligibility and approval process.
Little Me Daycare Center accepts ACS and HRA vouchers. Voucher eligibility and approval are handled by the relevant public agency rather than by the daycare provider.
21. What happens to tuition during holidays, closures, vacations, or absences?
What a good answer sounds like: The policy is written and explained before you pay a deposit, including whether tuition continues during scheduled closures or missed days.
22. What are the enrollment, waitlist, withdrawal, and schedule-change terms?
What a good answer sounds like: The center clearly explains current availability, deposits, start dates, required notice, refunds, and rules for changing your schedule.
At Little Me Daycare Center, enrollment is open year-round based on availability, and our process begins with scheduling a tour before completing enrollment forms.
Transition and Behavior Questions
Transitions and behavior support can shape how secure and understood your child feels throughout the day. During a daycare tour, ask how teachers handle separation, challenging behavior, peer conflicts, classroom changes, and kindergarten preparation so you can see whether the program uses clear, age-appropriate strategies and keeps families informed.
23. How do you help a new child adjust during the first days and weeks?
What a good answer sounds like: Teachers ask about your child’s routines and comfort needs, explain how separation is handled, and communicate more closely with you while the child is settling in.
24. How do teachers respond to biting, hitting, tantrums, or peer conflicts?
What a good answer sounds like: Staff describe calm, age-appropriate guidance, redirection, co-regulation, and teaching skills instead of humiliating, threatening, or purely punitive discipline.
25. How do children transition to the next classroom or prepare for kindergarten?
What a good answer sounds like: The center explains what determines a room transition, how families are prepared, and which age-appropriate independence, social, language, literacy, and early math skills are supported before the next stage.
Our preschool program includes play-based learning, social-emotional development, and foundational literacy and numeracy as part of kindergarten readiness.
What to Look for in a Daycare While You Listen to the Answers
Knowing the right daycare tour questions is only half of how to choose a daycare. Watch whether the environment supports the answers.
Notice how teachers respond when a child needs help, whether supervision is active, whether transitions feel organized, and whether staff answer practical questions comfortably. A polished room cannot replace clear policies and attentive caregivers, so look for patterns across the full visit.
How to Use This Checklist
Bring the same daycare tour questions to every center you visit and take notes immediately after each tour. Compare answers across safety, staffing, routines, food, illness policies, communication, cost, and overall fit for your child.
Do not choose based only on one polished answer, a convenient location, or a nice-looking classroom. The strongest daycare choice is usually the one where clear policies, attentive caregivers, and your in-person observations all line up.
Bring the Right Questions to Your Brooklyn Daycare Tour
The goal of a daycare tour is not to find a center that gives a polished answer to every question. It is to find care where the answers are clear, the policies make sense for your family, and what you see in the classrooms supports what you are being told.
If you are considering infant, toddler, or preschool care in Crown Heights, bring this checklist with you and ask us the same questions you would ask any other daycare. Schedule a tour at Little Me Daycare Center, then review our infant, toddler, and preschool programs before your visit.
Download the free printable daycare tour checklist (PDF)