Daycare equipment and supplies list for opening
An opening inventory organized by room — infant sleep and diapering, toddler and preschool learning materials, kitchen and safety, and the office — with the licensing checks to run before you buy.
A new daycare's opening equipment and supplies break down by room: a sleep-and-diapering station and soft flooring for infants, tables and play-based learning materials for toddlers and preschoolers, a kitchen set up to store and serve food safely, safety hardware throughout, and an office that holds records and billing. This daycare supplies list works through each room as an opening inventory you can turn into purchase orders. Requirements differ by state and by setting — confirm the details with your state child care licensing agency before you order.
Infant room equipment and supplies
An infant room runs on three routines — sleep, diapering and feeding — and the daycare equipment list for this room follows directly from them.
Buy for the youngest band you will enroll first: infant gear is sized to the youngest children on your list, so it is the stock you will replace and re-check as the room grows.
- Sleep: cribs with firm mattresses and fitted sheets, plus spare sheets and a clean place to stage them between laundry days
- Diapering: a dedicated changing surface with disposable liners or a paper roll, gloves, diapers, wipes and diaper cream arranged within arm's reach of the caregiver, and a lidded, lined container for soiled diapers
- Feeding: high chairs or feeding seats, labeled child-specific bottles, bottle brushes, and refrigerator space for prepared bottles
- Floor play: soft, cleanable mats or flooring — the surface infants actually use — plus soft blocks, rattles and board books within reach
- Storage: low open shelving anchored so it cannot tip, and labeled cubbies for each child's spare clothing, bottles and comfort items
Sleep and diapering are the two routines to get right from the first day, so read your state child care licensing agency's expectations for cribs, bedding and changing surfaces before you place the order.
Ask what the agency expects rather than assuming — these details are state-specific.
Toddler and preschool room supplies
Organize toddler and preschool rooms by activity area — that makes the daycare supplies list here a list of areas to stock.
Plan the areas first — blocks, dramatic play, art, books, manipulatives and sensory play — then furnish each at child height, so children can reach their own materials and help reset the room.
- Rest: cots or rest mats with sheets and blankets, plus child-sized tables and chairs for meals and activities
- Belongings and rotation: cubbies or hooks for coats and belongings, and open shelving for rotating materials without cluttering the room
- Blocks and construction: unit blocks and construction sets, with vehicles and animal figures to extend the play
- Dramatic play: a play kitchen, dress-up clothes, dolls and puppets
- Art: an easel, washable paint, crayons, markers, glue sticks, blunt scissors and paper bought in volume
- Books and quiet play: a book corner with picture and board books and soft seating, plus puzzles and manipulatives
- Sensory and gross motor: sand, water and play dough materials indoors; climbers, ride-on toys, balls and sand toys outdoors
Buy the furniture once and treat the consumables — paint, paper, glue, play dough — as a recurring purchase rather than an opening one.
Rest equipment gets the same licensing check as the infant room's cribs: ask your state child care licensing agency what it expects for cots, mats and bedding before you buy.
Kitchen and safety equipment
The kitchen and the safety list are where daycare equipment and health-and-fire regulation meet, which makes them the two areas to price last and confirm first.
Your state child care licensing agency and your local health and fire authorities set expectations here, and both are worth a phone call before the orders go out.
Kitchen equipment and supplies:
- Refrigerator and freezer space sized to your menus, with appliance thermometers so food temperatures are checked rather than guessed
- Food-storage containers with dated labels, plus prep surfaces and cutting boards you keep separate for produce and meats
- A dishwashing and sanitizing setup — dishwasher, sink compartments or a sanitizer — configured to whatever your licensing agency and local health department point you to; ask before you buy
- Child-sized plates, cups and utensils, and the high chairs or booster seats your tables need
Safety equipment and supplies:
- A stocked first-aid kit in each room children use, plus one that travels for outings
- Fire extinguisher, smoke detection and carbon-monoxide detection, placed as your fire authority directs
- Outlet covers, cabinet and drawer locks, and gates for stairs and doorways
- Handwashing supplies — soap and paper towels at the sinks — plus disposable gloves and cleaning and sanitizing solutions, kept labeled and stored away from the children's areas
- Emergency and allergy information staff can reach quickly, from the first day
The safety list has a federal floor behind it. Under the Administration for Children and Families' Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) rules (45 CFR 98.41), a license-exempt provider paid with CCDF subsidy must still meet federal health, safety and background-check requirements — the health and safety rules' main exception covers relatives specified in 98.42(c).
If subsidized enrollment will be part of your model, treat the safety items above as a starting inventory and confirm the full requirements that apply to your setting with your state child care licensing agency.
Confirm before you buy: equipment, facility and safety requirements are state-specific, and the rules for a family child care home are their own category — separate from center rules.
Check the current expectations with your state child care licensing agency, and fire and food-service questions with your local authorities, before you place orders.
Office: records, software and billing
The office is the smallest zone on the list and the one your licensing consultant, your staff and your families pass through.
Set it up to hold records, answer families and run billing without paper piles:
- A computer, printer and scanner for enrollment packets, incident reports and staff records, plus filing that separates family records from personnel files
- A sign-in and sign-out station at the entrance
- A phone line families can reach, and a bulletin board or screen for schedules, menus and announcements
- Office consumables: paper, toner, and labels for cubbies, bottles, bins and files
Childcare management software pulls attendance, family messaging and billing into one place, and it is a quote-driven line: neither brightwheel nor Procare publishes list prices — brightwheel's pricing page asks for program information and returns a customized quote, and Procare's is a request-pricing form (both checked October 2026).
Shortlist with our childcare management software guide, then collect quotes before a number goes into the budget.
Keep the office in proportion to the rest of the opening budget — equipment is one line among many, and wages are a larger one.
Treasury (2021), citing a Center for American Progress cost analysis, puts wages at no less than 50-60 percent of child care expenses on U.S. averages, with labor's share larger for infant care.
There is no verified national per-square-foot build-out figure to anchor the facility side either — our research did not verify one from any primary source — so price equipment and build-out against your actual floor plan and licensed capacity rather than a ready-made estimate.
Our guide to startup costs walks the rest of an opening budget, line by line.
This page is employer information, not licensing or legal advice. Equipment, safety and food-service expectations are set by your state child care licensing agency and your local health and fire authorities, and they change — confirm the current requirements with them before you buy.
Before you order: the cross-check
- Your state child care licensing agency's current rules for each room and age band you will open — facility, equipment and safety expectations are state-specific, and family child care rules differ from center rules
- Sleep equipment first: cribs with firm mattresses and fitted sheets for infants, cots or rest mats and bedding for toddlers and preschoolers, plus spares for laundry days
- Diapering and feeding: a changing surface with liners, gloves and a lidded soiled-diaper container; high chairs or feeding seats; labeled child-specific bottles; refrigerator space
- Learning materials by area: blocks, dramatic play, art, books, manipulatives, sensory play, and outdoor gross-motor equipment
- Safety hardware: first-aid kits, fire extinguisher, smoke and carbon-monoxide detection, outlet covers, cabinet and drawer locks, gates, handwashing supplies and labeled cleaning solutions
- Kitchen: refrigerator and freezer space, appliance thermometers, dated food storage, and a dishwashing and sanitizing setup confirmed with your local health department
- Office: computer, printer and scanner, family and personnel filing, a sign-in station, and software quotes collected before a budget number is set
- The budget around it: equipment priced against your floor plan and licensed capacity, then slotted into the wider startup budget
Questions employers ask
What is the difference between daycare equipment and daycare supplies?
Equipment is the durable stock you buy once and replace over years: cribs, tables, chairs, cots, the changing station, the refrigerator. Supplies are the consumables you reorder constantly — diapers, wipes, gloves, paper towels, paint, glue, play dough, cleaning and sanitizing solutions, and food. Budget them differently: equipment is a large opening outlay, while supplies become a monthly operating line from your first week on.
How much does it cost to equip a daycare?
There is no single verified figure: cost scales with licensed capacity, the ages you enroll, your setting — home or center — and how much you buy new versus secondhand. Our research did not verify a national per-square-foot build-out figure either, so be wary of ready-made estimates. Price equipment against your floor plan and the rooms you will actually open with, and collect software quotes before a number goes in the budget.
What supplies does a home daycare need compared to a center?
Start from the same room-by-room list. A family child care home works from a residential kitchen and household furniture, so many lines shrink or double as everyday items. The rules do not shrink with them: family child care licensing is its own category, separate from center rules, and federal health and safety requirements can still attach when CCDF subsidy pays for care. Ask your state child care licensing agency which rules apply to your home.
Should I buy all the equipment before my program is licensed?
Ask your state child care licensing agency what it expects your program to have in place before it issues a license, and stage purchases so the rooms children will use are ready first. Sleep, diapering, feeding and safety items come first because they protect children from the first day; learning materials can start lean and grow with enrollment. Keep receipts and product information together so you can document what you installed.
More hiring resources
Rooms need staff as much as supplies
An opening inventory fills rooms; teachers bring them to life. When your equipment plan is set, list your director, lead teacher and assistant openings on ChildcareHires, where the audience is early educators looking for work in programs like the one you are building.