What does a day care aide do?
A day care aide works at daycare centers where they facilitate activities and provide care to children. Their daily tasks include cleaning and preparing the facilities before the children arrive, organizing lesson plans and recreational activities, welcoming parents and their children, preparing meals, and promoting personal hygiene. They may also play with the children, read storybooks, lead nursery songs and dances, and solve issues promptly and efficiently. Moreover, as a day care aide, it is essential to keep an eye on the children and maintain a safe environment for them.
Day care aide responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real day care aide resumes:
- Train in first aid and CPR.
- Certify in basic first aid and certify in CPR.
- Implement strategies learned in TCI to assist clients in crisis.
- Work in a fast pace environment with many kids of elementary school age.
- Create and distribute nutritional meals and snacks in accord with the USDA standard.
- Provide care and play time for a group of dogs while pet parents are away.
- Help the younger children learn basic skills such as walking, talking, ABC's and counting.
- Interact with kids in a positive, healthy, and safe manner; motivate children and create an enjoyable atmosphere.
- Monitor free, supplementary meal program to ensure cleanliness of facility and that eligibility guidelines are met for persons receiving meals.
- Include some academic and age appropriate development activities (ABC's, numbers, color recognition and outside physical activities).
- Deliver patient belongings and information as well as provided exceptional assistance to patients and their families.
- Prepare, plan, organize, and instruct interactive classes to engage children in bible and life lessons.
Day care aide skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Day Care Aides are proficient in Patients, CPR, and Child Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Physical stamina, Communication skills, and Interpersonal skills.
We break down the percentage of Day Care Aides that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 25%
Delivered patient belongings and information as well as provided exceptional assistance to patients and their families.
- CPR, 13%
Certified first aid and CPR enabled me to anticipate end of life situations and final care.
- Child Care, 10%
Maintain a safe environment based on safety standards set by the child care provider and Department of Human Services.
- Home Health, 6%
Care AidKnowledge sets include: personal care, aid, care, elderly, home health.
- Professional Growth, 6%
Attend required hours of professional growth in accordance with licensing requirements.
- Direct Care, 6%
Provided direct care to paraplegics and quadriplegics residing at the facility while attending college.
"patients," "cpr," and "child care" are among the most common skills that day care aides use at work. You can find even more day care aide responsibilities below, including:
Physical stamina. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a day care aide to have is physical stamina. Their role and responsibilities require that "working with children can be physically demanding, so childcare workers should have a lot of energy." Day care aides often use physical stamina in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "till inc.-towards independent living and learning taught life skills to mentally/physically disabled adults. "
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform day care aide duties is communication skills. Day care aides responsibilities require that "childcare workers need good speaking skills to provide direction or information effectively and good listening skills to understand parents’ instructions." Day care aides also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintained daily open communication with parents maintained confidentiality reported any child suspect abuse. "
Interpersonal skills. day care aides are also known for interpersonal skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to day care aide responsibilities, because "childcare workers need to work well with people in order to develop good relationships with parents, children, and colleagues." A day care aide resume example shows how interpersonal skills is used in the workplace: "maintain a safe and healthy environment for children from age two to thirteen years old utilize strong interpersonal and communication skills"
Patience. A big part of what day care aides do relies on "patience." You can see how essential it is to day care aide responsibilities because "childcare workers need to be able to respond calmly to overwhelming and difficult situations." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical day care aide tasks: "display of proper patience, kindness and other moral values to be a proper role model. "
The three companies that hire the most day care aides are:
- The Medicus Firm
56 day care aides jobs
- Ymca Of Metropolitan Atlanta33 day care aides jobs
- CARE32 day care aides jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable day care aide resume templates
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Day care aide vs. Toddler teacher
A toddler teacher is responsible for teaching young learners by administering physical care and monitoring their social and mental development. Toddler teachers prepare fun and engaging activities for the children and evaluate their behaviors and assess how they interact with the environment. They create lesson plans that adhere to the learners' appropriate curriculum, such as teaching them how to speak and count. A toddler teacher must comply with the safety guidelines to keep and promote a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, day care aide responsibilities require skills like "patients," "home health," "professional growth," and "direct care." Meanwhile a typical toddler teacher has skills in areas such as "customer service," "child development," "classroom management," and "naeyc." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Toddler teachers tend to make the most money working in the finance industry, where they earn an average salary of $42,458. In contrast, day care aides make the biggest average salary, $37,374, in the finance industry.On average, toddler teachers reach similar levels of education than day care aides. Toddler teachers are 1.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Day care aide vs. Vocational childcare teacher
A vocational childcare teacher teaches vocational subjects at a secondary school level, in either public or private schools. Their duties include preparing materials for classroom activities, assigning and grading classwork, and designing assignments. They are also expected to instruct students, making use of different teaching methods like discussions, lectures, or demonstrations. They generally have to instruct students in the specific knowledge and skills needed for a specific occupation.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, day care aide responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "home health," "professional growth," and "direct care." Meanwhile, a vocational childcare teacher has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "child development," "continuous supervision," and "early childhood development." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Vocational childcare teachers earn similar levels of education than day care aides in general. They're 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Day care aide vs. Assistant daycare teacher
An assistant daycare teacher is responsible for performing support tasks in a daycare center. Most of the duties primarily revolve around maintaining a safe and healthy environment for children, preparing meals and learning materials, assisting children during bathroom or hygiene-related activities, and keeping the classroom clean and sanitized. Furthermore, there are instances when an assistant daycare teacher must come up with recreational activities, maintain student records, and help children improve their motor skills and basic knowledge in concepts such as recognizing the alphabet or coloring.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from day care aide resumes include skills like "patients," "home health," "professional growth," and "direct care," whereas an assistant daycare teacher is more likely to list skills in "child development," "learning environment," "diaper changes," and "abc. "
When it comes to education, assistant daycare teachers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to day care aides. In fact, they're 0.8% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Day care aide vs. Child care counselor
Child care counselors monitor the progress of children who have behavioral, physical, and mental issues in between counseling appointments. These counselors create daily schedules for children that include field trips, play dates, and learning plans to ensure that children get the most out of their days. They use their critical thinking skills, organizational skills, and interpersonal skills to deal with children diagnosed with psychological issues and to coordinate with their patients' families. Most of the cases they handle are the abuse, bullying, and past traumas of children.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between day care aides and child care counselors, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a day care aide might have more use for skills like "patients," "home health," "professional growth," and "compassion." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of child care counselors require skills like "crisis intervention techniques," "direct supervision," "mental health," and "stars. "
The finance industry tends to pay the highest salaries for child care counselors, with average annual pay of $41,472. Comparatively, the highest day care aide annual salary comes from the finance industry.The average resume of child care counselors showed that they earn higher levels of education compared to day care aides. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 5.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.Types of day care aide
Updated January 8, 2025











