Comparing daycare options, what actually differs between them

Every daycare comparison list starts with price. Price matters, but in British Columbia it moves alongside something more useful to compare first: group size and staffing, which the Child Care Licensing Regulation fixes in bands by care type. Once you know which band a room sits in, the price differences make more sense, and so does what your child's actual day would look like.

The bands the regulation actually sets

British Columbia's Child Care Licensing Regulation sets a maximum group size and a minimum staffing ratio for each licensed care type. These numbers are the same everywhere in the province; they are not something an individual centre chooses.

Care type	Maximum group size	Staffing at that size
Group Child Care, under 36 months	12 children	One infant and toddler educator, one other educator, and one assistant
Group Child Care, 30 months to school age	25 children	One educator and two assistants
Multi-Age Child Care	8 children (at most 3 under 36 months, at most 1 under 12 months)	One educator
Preschool, 30 months to school age	20 children	One educator and one assistant
Family Child Care (home-based)	7 children	One licensee

A Multi-Age room and a larger Group Child Care room can sit in the same building, under the same operator, and still be genuinely different environments. One caps at 8 children with a single educator who knows every child well. The other can run more than three times that size, with more staff in the room but also more children moving through it.

Each size answers a different question. A larger group usually means more same-age peers for a child to play alongside, and it often costs a family less per space, because one educator's time is being paid for by more families at once. A smaller group usually means fewer transitions in a day and often costs more per space, since that educator's time is spread across fewer children. Both sizes are held to the same standard, because the regulation requires a safe, adequately staffed environment at every size the law allows.

Why the ratio on the wall is not the number in the room

The maximum group size a centre is licensed for is a ceiling, not a daily count. A room licensed for 25 children under Group Child Care might have 14 present on a Tuesday morning and closer to 22 by mid-afternoon as more families arrive after work or school drop-off. The licensed maximum tells you what the room is legally allowed to hold at its fullest. It does not tell you what your child's Tuesday actually looks like.

This is the single most useful question to bring on a tour: how many children are usually in this room, on a normal day, not the maximum the licence permits. Ask it plainly. A centre that can answer with a specific number, rather than pointing back at the licence, is giving you something the paperwork cannot.

What changes the price, beyond the type of care

Fees are not standardized across BC's licensed child care providers, and this site does not publish a fee schedule for its own program; a family's actual cost depends on the child's age, the schedule chosen, and which government programs the specific provider has opted into. But a few structural facts are worth knowing before you compare quotes from different centres:

The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative lowers monthly fees automatically at participating licensed providers. Families do not apply for it separately, the savings are passed on each month at any centre that has opted in. Because participation is a choice each individual provider makes, two centres offering the same care type can have very different starting fees depending on whether either one takes part.

The Affordable Child Care Benefit is a separate, income-tested subsidy that families apply for directly, and it can stack with fee reduction savings at a participating provider. It applies at Group Child Care, Multi-Age Child Care, Family Child Care and licensed preschool alike, so the care type itself is not what decides eligibility; enrolment at a participating licensed provider is.

Hours of care are not fixed by licence type. A licence sets what a care type is allowed to offer, not what a specific centre chooses to open for. Some centres run a standard weekday schedule ending in the late afternoon, some extend into the evening, and some add weekend or drop-in options. Preschool programs in particular often run only one to four hours a day rather than a full working day, which matters if your family needs full-day coverage. Ask any centre directly for its actual hours; do not assume from the care type alone.

What a tour actually tells you that a licence cannot

A licence tells you the ceiling. A tour tells you what happens under it, and this is where a comparison between centres becomes real instead of theoretical. Walk in expecting to watch, and to listen.

Ask to see the specific room your child would join, during an ordinary block of the day rather than a quiet moment set up for visitors. A room in the middle of an activity, with children moving between a rug, a table and an art corner, shows you far more about pacing and noise level than an empty room with chairs stacked neatly. If a centre offers to show you only an empty classroom or only photographs, ask directly whether you can come back during active hours.

Watch how an educator moves between children rather than counting how many adults are present. A room with three staff and twenty children can feel calmer than a room with two staff and eight, if the educators are positioned so someone is always within reach of a child who needs them. Ratios on paper describe a minimum. What you see in the room describes how that minimum is actually used.

Ask what a transition looks like: how the room moves from free play to snack, or from outdoor time back inside. Transitions are where group size shows up most, since a larger group naturally takes longer to gather coats, wash hands or settle at a table. A brisk transition and an unhurried one each suit a different family, and a tour is where you find out which one a specific centre actually runs.

Bring your child if you can, and watch how they respond to the room rather than only how the room responds to them. Some children settle faster in a smaller, quieter Multi-Age setting where they can find one adult easily. Others come alive with more peers and more activity around them. A centre cannot tell you which fits your child; only watching your child in the actual space can.

Finally, ask the same three or four questions at every centre you tour, in the same order, so the answers are genuinely comparable. It is easy to remember that one centre had a lovely garden and forget to ask whether it had the same staffing consistency as the one down the street. A short, repeated list protects you from comparing a strong first impression against a weak version of the same question asked differently somewhere else.

Writing your own comparison down

A tour is easy to remember warmly and hard to remember precisely a week later, once you have visited three or four centres and the details start to blend. Write down what you saw the same day, while the room, the noise level and the specific answers are still fresh: the care type and licensed group size, roughly how many children were actually present, what a transition looked like, what the centre said about staffing an absence, and what hours it actually runs. A short paragraph per centre, written the same day, is worth more than a stronger memory of a single favourite detail from two weeks ago.

This matters most when a family is choosing between two centres that felt similarly good on the day. The feeling of a warm welcome is real and worth noticing, but it does not tell you which room has a lower ratio at 4 p.m. on a Friday, or which one can absorb a staff absence without combining groups. Comparing your own notes side by side, rather than comparing memories, is what turns a pleasant afternoon of tours into an actual decision.

Frequently asked questions

What is the actual difference between a smaller daycare group and a larger one?

Mostly staffing ratio and room size, which the Child Care Licensing Regulation sets by care type. A Multi-Age Child Care group caps at 8 children with one educator. A Group Child Care room for children 30 months to school age can run up to 25 children, with one educator and two assistants at that top size. More children in a room usually spreads staffing cost across more spaces, which is one reason larger group settings often cost less per space.

Does a smaller daycare cost more than a bigger one?

Often, yes, though it varies by centre and by which government funding programs a specific provider has opted into. A smaller group means one educator's wage is spread across fewer spaces, which tends to push the per-space cost up. A larger Group Child Care room spreads that same cost across more children. This site does not publish fixed fees; ask any centre you are comparing for its current rate and which funding programs it participates in.

Are the hours of care the same at every licensed daycare?

No. Licensed centres set their own opening hours within what their licence allows, and hours vary by care type and by individual provider. Some run a standard weekday schedule, some offer extended hours into the evening, and some add weekend or drop-in care. Ask any centre directly what its actual operating hours are, since a licence does not fix them.

What should I actually watch for on a tour to compare group size fairly?

Ask how many children are in the room today, not the maximum the licence allows. A room licensed for 25 children might have 14 present on a Tuesday morning and 22 by mid-afternoon as more families arrive. The number on the wall is a ceiling. The number in the room when you visit is what your child would actually experience most days.

Is a Multi-Age group the same as a mixed-age classroom at a bigger centre?

Not necessarily. Multi-Age Child Care is a specific licensed care type capped at 8 children, with no more than 3 under 36 months and at most 1 under 12 months. A larger centre can also choose to mix ages within a bigger Group Child Care room, but that room is still bound by the higher group size and ratio numbers for that care type, not the Multi-Age numbers. Ask which licensed care type a specific room operates under.

Does a bigger daycare have more staff turnover than a smaller one?

There is no rule that ties turnover to size, and this site has not found a BC-specific figure that would let us state one honestly. What differs by size is how a centre covers an absence: a larger centre with more educators on staff has more people to draw on when someone is away sick, while a smaller one has fewer options. Ask any centre directly how long its current educators have been with them and how it covers a sick day.

How do government funding programs change what different daycare types cost?

The Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative reduces fees automatically at participating licensed providers, so families do not apply for it directly, it is passed on through lower monthly fees. The Affordable Child Care Benefit is an income-tested subsidy families apply for separately. Both are available at licensed Group Child Care, Multi-Age Child Care, Family Child Care and preschool providers that have opted in, so the care type itself does not decide eligibility, participation by that specific provider does.

Should I compare daycares on price per hour or price per month?

Compare on the same basis every centre quotes, and ask each one directly since the terms are not standardized across providers. Some quote a monthly rate that assumes a fixed number of days, others quote daily or hourly rates for part-time schedules. A number that looks lower can turn out higher once you account for the days and hours your family actually needs.

Is a preschool program the same thing as a daycare?

No. Preschool is its own licensed care type in BC, for children 30 months to school age, capped at 20 children in a group, and it typically runs shorter sessions of one to four hours a day rather than a full working day. Group Child Care and Multi-Age Child Care are licensed for longer, full-day care. If your family needs coverage for a full work day, confirm the hours a specific preschool program actually offers before assuming it functions like full-day daycare.

What is the one comparison question that matters more than the type of daycare?

What does an ordinary day look like in the specific room your child would join, not the type of licence on the wall. Two centres can hold the same licence type and still run very differently depending on staffing that day, the educators assigned, and how full the room actually is. Ask to see the room during a normal activity, not an empty one, and ask what a Tuesday looks like, not what the brochure says.

Before you visit

We run a Multi-Age program and a Group Child Care program at 1103 Confederation Drive, alongside our French, Mandarin and English language programs. A tour here takes about thirty minutes and shows you the actual rooms your child would join. Book a tour and bring the questions from this list; we would rather answer them in person than have you guess.