Arkansas Daycare Ratios: Staff-to-Child Ratios and Group Sizes by Age

Arkansas sets center ratios by age band in its Minimum Licensing Requirements for Child Care Centers, the center rulebook the Office of Early Childhood posts in its December 1, 2020 revision.

One staff member may care for 5 infants (birth to 18 months), 8 toddlers (18 to 36 months), 12 children from 2½ to 3 years, 15 four-year-olds, and 18 children from 5 years to kindergarten or in kindergarten and above.

The table above lists each band and ratio in the rule.

For staffing, the band a room sits in decides the headcount before anything else: 15 four-year-olds meet the ratio with one staff member on the floor, while 15 children in the 2½-to-3 band need two at the 1:12 ratio.

Our research found OEC linking this 12/01/2020 edition as of October 2026; ask the agency whether a newer revision is pending.

The center rule caps group size, not just the ratio: a room's headcount is limited to two times the number of children allowed with one staff member.

For infants that works out to the 10-child example the rule itself gives — 5 children per staff member, doubled.

The formula ties each band's group-size cap to its ratio number, so the cap runs alongside the ratio in the table above.

Structures licensed before November 1, 2002 are exempt from the group-size limit unless they expand.

A mixed-age room is staffed for its youngest child: the center rule requires the group to meet the ratio for the youngest child present.

The rule adds an exception for very small sites — where a site has 8 or fewer children in total, ages may mix at 1:6 with no more than 3 children under age 2, at 1:7 with no more than 2 under 2, or at 1:8 with no more than 1 under 2.

Nap time changes the picture for the 2½-and-older band: at least 50% of staff must stay with the children, and 75% of staff must remain in the building.

The ratio facts we read state the nap-time provision for the 2½-and-older band; ask OEC how it treats infant and toddler rooms.

Three staffing rules sit on top of the ratio table.

Center staff must be at least 18; 16- and 17-year-olds may work only while enrolled in high school or a GED program, never alone with children, always directly supervised, and without disciplinary control over children.

New staff — and volunteers counted in ratio — must complete the 8-clock-hour orientation within 3 months of employment, and the rulebook says they may not be alone with children until it is done.

Coverage also has a certificate floor: the director (or an assistant director or site supervisor) and 50% of the staff on site at any time must hold first aid and CPR certificates, with infant and child CPR required where infants and toddlers are served.

Home capacity runs on its own tier system.

A registered child care family home cares for 5 or fewer children, and registration is voluntary for homes not required to be licensed.

A licensed child care family home is required once one or more persons care for 6 or more children from more than one family at the same time, and it may care for a maximum of 16 children.

The one-caregiver ratios step with the ages in the home: up to 6 children with no more than 3 under age 2, 7 with no more than 2 under 2, 8 with no more than 1 under 2, 9 children ages 2 and up, or 10 children ages 3 and up; with two caregivers, up to 16.

Homes specializing in infant care keep a 1:3 ratio.

Center licensing starts at 6 or more children from more than one family, with an exemption for programs running under 10 hours a week.

Take a center with an infant room, a toddler room and a preschool room.

The infant room enrolls 10 children, the group-size example the rule gives for the 1:5 band, so two staff members are on the floor whenever the room is full.

The toddler room runs at the 18-to-36-month ratio of 1:8; a room that grows to 16 children — two times the one-staff number — needs two staff members.

The preschool room serves 15 four-year-olds at 1:15, one staff member at the ratio, rising to two if a toddler or a child in the 2½-to-3 band joins, because the youngest child's band then sets the ratio for the whole group; an infant would put the whole room on the 1:5 infant ratio.

Because the preschool children are 2½ and older, the nap-time provision applies: at least 50% of staff must stay with the children, and 75% of staff must remain in the building.

This is the rule's arithmetic on paper, not a schedule that will fit a real week; confirm room-by-room plans with OEC.