Questions to Ask on a Daycare Tour, and How to Compare Your Notes
On a daycare tour, ask about licensing, hours, cost, teacher training, how long your child keeps the same teachers, the sick policy and how the program talks to families. Write the answers in one note per daycare, then compare.
Questions to ask on a daycare tour
Ask about the basics, the people in your child's room, health and safety, and how the program works with families. The questions below come from ChildCare.gov's steps for choosing child care and NAEYC's guides to infant and toddler programs.
The basics (ask by phone before you book the tour)
- Are you licensed? If not, are you legally license-exempt?
- Do you have space for my child, and when could they start?
- What are your hours, and what does care cost?
- Do you accept child care assistance payments, if you receive them?
Your child's room and teachers
- How long will my child stay in this room and with these caregivers?
- Will my child have one main teacher?
- How long has each caregiver been with the program, and what training do they have?
- What does the daily schedule look like, and how flexible is it?
Health and safety
- What is the policy when my child or a caregiver is sick?
- How do teachers handle routine times like lunch and diaper changing?
- What policies protect children's health and safety?
Working with your family
- How will you communicate with us, and how often?
- How will you include our preferences in daily care?
Add each answer to that daycare's note under the matching heading of the template below. A blank answer is your follow-up question.
Check inspection reports before the tour
Look up every daycare in your state's online child care search before you visit. ChildCare.gov says states and territories are required to have one, and federal law requires them to post monitoring and inspection reports online.
The reports show the date of each inspection, any health and safety violations, how the program fixed them and any complaints the state investigated and found valid. Check the licensing status too, including whether a license was ever suspended or revoked. If your state has a quality rating system, note the program's rating.
Paste the link to the report into that daycare's note. On the tour, ask about anything the report raised and write down the answer.
Set up the folder before the first tour
Create an Apple Notes folder called Daycare Tours, then make one note for every scheduled daycare. Name each note with the daycare's full name and neighborhood; similar names blur together, while the location helps you recall “the one near work” or “the one past the grocery store.”
Pin the next tour's note so it opens quickly while you are checking in, carrying a bag or settling your child. Keep every daycare separate. One giant comparison note is awkward on a phone and makes photos harder to match with the right place.
Use the same template every time
Paste this into each note:
Contact Director: Phone or email: Tour date:
Daily details Hours: Meals and snacks: Nap arrangements: Outdoor time: Closures:
Your child's room Teachers: Group size: Daily rhythm: What children were doing:
Enrollment Tuition: Extra costs: Waitlist: Possible start date:
Questions to follow up
First impression after leaving
Repeated structure makes comparison easier without forcing every observation into a score. Leave unknown fields blank; each blank becomes a useful follow-up question.
Record facts during the tour
Use short fragments so you can keep observing instead of looking at your phone. A polished lobby says little about a normal afternoon in the infant or toddler room; pay attention to the room your child would join.
Add handouts or photographs of relevant pages to that daycare's note immediately. Generic download names are easy to confuse later. Saving every possibility without a retrieval plan creates the same problem as an Amazon Save for Later list: the information exists but is hard to use when the decision arrives.
Add an impression before driving away
Before starting the car, dictate a short paragraph covering:
- What felt reassuring?
- What made you hesitate?
- How did adults speak to the children?
- What distinguishes this daycare?
- How would you feel leaving your child there on a difficult morning?
Name concrete details. “Nap nook beside the window” is more memorable than “nice rooms”; “chickens behind the playground” is clearer than “good outdoor area.” The immediate paragraph preserves smell, tone, interactions and your drop-off instinct before several tours merge into an imaginary composite.
Put photos beside the relevant observation
Take only photos the daycare permits. Useful subjects may include the entrance, a posted schedule, the outdoor area or something you want to discuss with your partner.
Add each photo to the correct note while still at the location and explain why you took it. A picture of an empty corner means little unless it says proposed nap area beside west window. Treat screenshots similarly: include the daycare name and the question raised so they do not disappear into a bookmark graveyard.
Build a daycare comparison chart
Once the last tour is done, make one more note called Daycare Comparison and add a table. In Apple Notes, tap the table button inside a note, as Apple's Notes guide shows. Give each daycare one row.
Useful columns:
| Daycare | Cost and hours | Start date | Inspection report | Best reason | Biggest concern |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Street Center | |||||
| Little Sprouts Home |
Keep each cell to a few words and leave the detail in the daycare's own note. If you prefer a daycare comparison spreadsheet, the same columns work in Numbers, Excel or Google Sheets. The chart shows the trade-offs at a glance; the notes explain them.
Compare only after the final tour
Search Apple Notes for distinctive words such as chickens, west playground or lunch. Exact search works best when capture used concrete language. If notes are dispersed across tools, a system that can search by meaning rather than keywords may fit better.
Coordinate with your partner
Decide who will capture each tour. If only one person attends, share the completed note and discuss the impression while it is fresh. Put the other partner's questions in the follow-up section instead of starting another list in messages.
If both attend, one can ask while the other records, swapping roles when useful. The goal is enough shared context for a decision, not a perfect record.
Keep the system contained
Apple Notes works well for text, photos and documents. Telegram Saved Messages or email can be quick inboxes, but every item should include the daycare's name before it is sent.
A dedicated context folder for later recall helps when files already live in several places. dEssence is another option for bringing saved material together through its Chrome extension, Telegram bot or web app and asking about it later. If you want an item monitored, you must set the watch yourself.
After choosing, keep the selected daycare's note and add enrollment documents and outstanding questions there. Archive the other tour notes instead of mixing them with information needed every week.
FAQ
What are the most important questions to ask on a daycare tour?
Ask whether the program is licensed, what it costs, how long your child will stay with the same caregivers, what training the staff have, what happens when a child or caregiver is sick and how the program will keep in touch with you.
What should I ask on an infant daycare tour?
NAEYC suggests asking how long your baby will stay in the same room with the same caregivers, each caregiver's schedule and training, the sick policy, what babies play with and how the program will include your family's preferences in daily care.
Where can I see a daycare's inspection reports?
In your state's online child care search. ChildCare.gov links to every state's search, and states must post monitoring and inspection reports online.
How many daycares should I tour?
Visit several. ChildCare.gov recommends visiting each program you are considering so you see the environment firsthand.