Childcare Worker Career

Job Description: Attend to children at schools, businesses, private households, and childcare institutions. Perform a variety of tasks, such as dressing, feeding, bathing, and overseeing play.


Is Childcare Worker the right career path for you?
Take the MyMajors Quiz and find out if it fits one of your top recommended majors!

Childcare Worker Career

What Childcare Workers do:

  • Observe and monitor children's play activities.
  • Maintain a safe play environment.
  • Organize and store toys and materials to ensure order in activity areas.
  • Sanitize toys and play equipment.
  • Discipline children and recommend or initiate other measures to control behavior, such as caring for own clothing and picking up toys and books.
  • Read to children and teach them simple painting, drawing, handicrafts, and songs.
  • Support children's emotional and social development, encouraging understanding of others and positive self-concepts.
  • Communicate with children's parents or guardians about daily activities, behaviors, and related issues.
  • Identify signs of emotional or developmental problems in children and bring them to parents' or guardians' attention.
  • Instruct children in health and personal habits, such as eating, resting, and toilet habits.
  • Assist in preparing food and serving meals and refreshments to children.
  • Perform general administrative tasks, such as taking attendance, editing internal paperwork, and making phone calls.
  • Create developmentally appropriate lesson plans.
  • Keep records on individual children, including daily observations and information about activities, meals served, and medications administered.
  • Organize and participate in recreational activities and outings, such as games and field trips.
  • Care for children in institutional setting, such as group homes, nursery schools, private businesses, or schools for people with disabilities.
  • Regulate children's rest periods.
  • Perform housekeeping duties, such as laundry, cleaning, dish washing, and changing of linens.
  • Dress children and change diapers.
  • Perform general personnel functions, such as supervision, training, and scheduling.
  • Help children with homework and school work.
  • Sterilize bottles and prepare formulas.
  • Accompany children to and from school, on outings, and to medical appointments.
  • Provide care for children with physical, developmental, or mental health disabilities.
  • Operate in-house day-care centers within businesses.

What work activities are most important?

Importance Activities

Assisting and Caring for Others - Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.

Making Decisions and Solving Problems - Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

Thinking Creatively - Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work - Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others - Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships - Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events - Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Performing General Physical Activities - Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.

Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings - Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

Coordinating the Work and Activities of Others - Getting members of a group to work together to accomplish tasks.

Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

Developing Objectives and Strategies - Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.

Developing and Building Teams - Encouraging and building mutual trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public - Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge - Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials - Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.

Training and Teaching Others - Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.

Scheduling Work and Activities - Scheduling events, programs, and activities, as well as the work of others.

Processing Information - Compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data.

Communicating with People Outside the Organization - Communicating with people outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged in person, in writing, or by telephone or e-mail.

Judging the Qualities of Objects, Services, or People - Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

Coaching and Developing Others - Identifying the developmental needs of others and coaching, mentoring, or otherwise helping others to improve their knowledge or skills.

Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others - Translating or explaining what information means and how it can be used.

Guiding, Directing, and Motivating Subordinates - Providing guidance and direction to subordinates, including setting performance standards and monitoring performance.

Handling and Moving Objects - Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.

Providing Consultation and Advice to Others - Providing guidance and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-, or process-related topics.

Holland Code Chart for a Childcare Worker