A daycare substitute teacher is an on-call early educator who steps into a classroom at a childcare center, preschool or pre-K program when the regular teacher or assistant is out.
Centers keep substitutes on call so classrooms stay staffed every day, and a placement can last one morning or several weeks.
This guide explains how subbing works, what centers and states look for, what it pays, and how it can lead to a permanent role.
What is a childcare substitute teacher?
A childcare substitute teacher is an on-call staff member who covers a classroom at a daycare center, preschool or pre-K program when the regular teacher or assistant is absent.
The job goes by several titles — daycare substitute, classroom substitute, substitute aide — but the work is the same: keep the room running safely and follow the regular staff's plan until they return.
This guide covers the center side of substituting: daycare, preschool and pre-K substitutes, hired by the center itself or by a staffing agency the center works with.
Public-school district substituting is a separate hiring track this page does not cover.
Substitutes cover whatever rooms a center runs, from infant and toddler classrooms up through preschool.
BLS defines preschool teachers as educating and caring for children younger than age 5 who have not yet entered kindergarten.
The role is easy to confuse with a floater, but a substitute's defining feature is covering a specific absence, not holding a scheduled place in the weekly rotation.
Subbing can also be a first paid classroom job — a way to try the work before committing to a training program or a lead role.
How does subbing at a daycare work?
Centers need subs because their rooms have to stay staffed all day.
Childcare centers are usually open year-round with long hours, and BLS notes that some centers use full-time and part-time staff on staggered shifts to cover the whole day.
When a teacher calls out, takes leave or attends training, someone has to fill the room.
How a center fills that gap varies by employer: a center may keep its own on-call substitute list, work with a staffing agency, or extend part-time staff's days.
Expect short notice either way — the ask can come the evening before or the same morning, and a quick answer helps you get the placement.
Placements vary in length too.
A substitute may cover a single morning, a full week while a teacher recovers, or a multi-week stretch while the center hires for a vacated role.
Once you are in the room, the day looks like any other classroom day: you follow the regular teacher's plans and the center's routine.
Who you work alongside depends on the center and on your clearance status — under the federal background-check rule, a new hire who is not fully checked yet must be supervised at all times by a fully checked staff member.
The tasks themselves mirror what classroom staff do.
O*NET lists these among the routine tasks for childcare workers:
- Keeping records on individual children — daily observations, activities, meals served, medications given
- Dressing children and changing diapers
- Sanitizing toys
- Communicating with parents about daily activities and behaviors
The exact mix depends on the room and age group you are covering.
Some substitutes also work through childcare staffing agencies, which place them at centers that need coverage — a route that can spread your week across more than one employer.
What do you need to become a daycare substitute?
There is no single national answer.
Requirements for substitutes are set by each state's child care licensing agency, and the center can add its own preferences on top.
Here is the general picture — the agency in your state decides what applies to you.
Education. BLS lists the typical entry-level education for childcare workers as a high school diploma or equivalent — a statistical label, not a legal minimum.
Rules differ by state: BLS notes that education requirements for entry-level childcare positions range from a required high school diploma or equivalent to no education requirement at all.
Background check. Federal CCDF rules (45 CFR 98.43) require a comprehensive background check for every child care staff member of a licensed, regulated or registered provider — a federal floor the states administer, and one that reaches substitutes as well as permanent staff.
The check must be requested before you become a staff member and repeats at least once every 5 years.
Under the federal rule, a new hire may start work once they have a qualifying result on either the FBI fingerprint check or the in-state fingerprint criminal check, but must be supervised at all times by a fully checked staff member until every component is complete.
Health and training. BLS notes that to qualify for licensure, childcare staff often must pass a background check, have a complete record of immunizations and meet a minimum training requirement — and that states differ on requiring CPR and first aid certification.
Credential. When a state requires a nationally recognized credential for childcare workers, BLS says it is most often the Child Development Associate (CDA), which must be renewed every 3 years.
The CDA, issued by the Council for Professional Recognition, requires 120 hours of formal early childhood education training with at least 10 hours in each of eight subject areas, plus 480 hours of professional work experience with the setting's age group earned within 3 years before applying.
Substitutes gather classroom hours, but whether substitute time satisfies the CDA's work-experience requirement is a question for the Council — the job title alone does not settle it.
Confirm with your state licensing agency
How much do childcare subs make?
Start with the honest limit: our research found no national pay figure for childcare-center substitutes.
The closest benchmarks are the nearest occupations — childcare workers (SOC 39-9011) and preschool teachers (SOC 25-2011) — and the practical range check is what centers near you are posting.
For the broader occupation, BLS's OEWS data puts the May 2025 median for childcare workers (39-9011) at $34,980 per year, or $16.82 per hour.
The spread is wide: the lowest 10% earned less than $11.66 an hour and the highest 10% earned more than $22.12.
Within child daycare services specifically, the May 2025 median hourly wage was $16.43.
Preschool teachers (25-2011), the other code daycare classroom roles fall under, had a May 2025 median annual wage of $38,140, or $18.34 per hour.
These are occupation medians, not substitute pay — what a center offers an on-call substitute is its own decision.
Schedule shapes take-home pay.
BLS notes that part-time work and irregular hours are common for childcare workers, and a substitute's weekly income follows placements: a slow week earns less than a fully booked one.
For the figures we publish for this role, see our daycare substitute teacher salary page.
Pros and cons of subbing
Subbing trades security for flexibility, and whether that trade is worth it depends on what you need from work right now.
What you gain:
- Schedule control. You decide when you are available, so subbing can wrap around classes, another job or family commitments.
- Breadth of experience. Each placement is a different room, age group and teaching team — useful if you have not picked an age band yet.
- A low-stakes way in. You see how a center actually runs before applying for a permanent role, and the director sees your work first.
- Classroom hours. Time in rooms builds the experience credentials ask about — the CDA requires 480 hours of work experience with the setting's age group and 120 hours of training. Confirm with the Council how substitute time counts toward it.
What you give up:
- Guaranteed hours. Placements follow call-outs, so your income moves week to week — part-time and irregular schedules are common in this workforce.
- Continuity. You walk into unfamiliar rooms and routines, and you rarely stay with one group of children long enough to watch them grow.
- Onboarding friction. The background check has to be requested before you become a staff member, so clearance is part of onboarding before a first placement — and each new center can mean new paperwork.
- Benefits. Ask each center which benefits, if any, apply to substitutes before you accept a placement.
If you need predictable hours, a permanent assistant role may fit better.
If you need flexibility while you study or change careers, subbing is built for exactly that.
Find childcare substitute jobs
Where to look first: center and preschool websites, the larger childcare chains, Head Start and Early Head Start programs, and childcare staffing agencies that fill coverage for many centers at once.
Applying directly to centers in your area works too — it is worth asking even when no permanent role is posted, since coverage needs do not always show up as postings.
For the broader childcare-worker occupation, BLS projects employment to decline 2% from 2025 to 2035, yet still projects 150,300 openings each year on average over that span — all from replacement needs.
That is an occupation-wide outlook, not a count of substitute openings.
Make yourself easy to place: keep your availability realistic and current, list any classroom experience and training up front, and answer the short-notice call quickly, because responsiveness helps keep a roster calling you back.
Ask each center what its onboarding involves and how placements are offered, so you know what a yes commits you to.
Current openings are on our job board — browse daycare substitute teacher jobs at centers and preschools near you.
Career information, not licensing or legal advice. Substitute requirements are set and administered by each state's child care licensing agency — confirm the current rules with the agency in your state before you apply.