What does a child minder do?
A childminder's tasks would typically include:
- providing inspirational learning activities
- providing a range of free play activities, both indoors and outside
- planning, preparing, and serving meals
- changing nappies and making up bottles for babies
- taking children on outings
- taking older children to and from playgroup or school
- working with other local childcare professionals to support children's learning and development
What do I need to do to become a child minder?
You'll need to get a childcare qualification, and certificates in health and safety, and safeguarding before you register as a childminder.
Registration
If you want to care for children under eight for more than two hours a day, you'll need to register with Ofsted. Before you register, you'll usually need:
- a childcare qualification approved by your local council
- a paediatric first aid course
- training in safeguarding children
- training in food hygiene
First, you should take a look at Ofsted’s pre-registration briefing on becoming a childminder.
Requirements
You'll need to pass:
- enhanced background checks
- a medical check
Where to find out more
Where could I be working?
You could work from home. Your working environment may be outdoors some of the time and physically demanding.
Career opportunities
With experience, you could expand your business and take on a childcare assistant. You could also become a network coordinator, supporting other local childminders.
With further training, you could become a tutor on childminding courses. You could also move into a related job like nursery worker, playworker, community play leader, or teaching assistant.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0