A Guide for Child Care Centers on All Things Summer!

This blog was originally published on June 21, 2022, and was updated on July 14, 2025, with new information.

Summer is here! It’s a really fun time for your child care center. Splash times, outdoor snack times in the shade and maybe even field trips are ways you might be taking advantage of the sun-filled days.

We’ve assembled a quick guide to make sure you’re ready for all that summer brings!

Keep Families in the Loop with a Child Care App

Make sure families know to send water bottles, sunhats, sunscreen and anything else their kids will need to enjoy the summer day. Other items might be towels or even bikes and scooters (with helmets!) so kids can ride outside.

Family engagement in early childhood education is important to make sure everyone is on the same page. With the Procare child care mobile app, you can send reminders to parents, either in a message or you can post it to your child’s activity log.

Procare’s robust child care management solution has enhanced family engagement functionality and through the child care mobile app, you can immerse parents into their children’s day-to-day activities – from tracking developmental milestones to sharing photos and videos to enabling two-way communication. 

And don’t forget to ask parents to label everything! 

You might also ask families to send spares of certain items, such as water bottles or an extra change of clothes, so your staff is able to provide kids with what they need, even when busy parents forget. 

Daycare Summer Fun Activities

Be prepared for rainy days. Ask families to bring in large cardboard boxes and turn them into cars your kids can take to a pretend drive-in movie! If your daycare has the space, keep the decorated cars somewhere out of the way so you can pull them out and kids can sit in them to either enjoy an educational show, if your center allows screen time. If you plan ahead for a movie day, send parents a note to tell them what movie you’ll be watching and make sure parents approve. 

Painting rocks, and hiding them, also is a lot of fun for kids of all ages. You likely have plenty of paint on hand, so let kids decorate rocks and you can hide them! Smooth, flat rocks work best. Here’s a blog with more ideas on how to have fun with this project! 

Bubbles are always a hit too! If you don’t want to buy any, check out this bubble-mix recipe used by the London Science Museum for its famous bubble show and uses just three ingredients. 

Stay Healthy

Summer is a great time to make sure your staff is up to date on which kids have allergies. Being outside means a child could be stung by a bee, or exposed to allergens in the air.

Make sure you have the medicines you need on hand, and that the proper paperwork in place for parental permission to administer them. 

It’s also a good time to make sure your daycare staff’s CPR certifications are current as well. 

Check your supply closets and make sure you have plenty of Band-Aids, bug spray, sunscreen, hydrocortisone cream, hand soap, ice packs and gauze. Before you do a shopping run or online order, take a look at our list of 100 must-have materials and supplies for your child care center to see what else you might need.

And make sure kids and staff drink plenty of water. Dehydration and heat exhaustion are serious, and plenty of water and shade will dramatically reduce the risk of these serious conditions.

How Procare Early Learning Can Help with Summer Activities

Just because the traditional school year is over doesn’t mean learning has to stop!

For many child care centers, it has been a challenge to find ways to keep educating children through the summer months. Many curriculum programs are not designed to go year-round. 

Procare Early Learning Powered by Learning Beyond Paper is an all-digital curriculum specifically designed to meet the unique needs of educating children from infancy through pre-kindergarten.  

This 100% digital offering is seamlessly embedded into the Procare online application, giving teachers everything they need to provide high-quality instruction for infants to pre-K at their fingertips. New content, training and tools arrive automatically! It’s designed so teachers of all experience levels can understand it easily.  

Lessons can be easily loaded by day, by week, by month or annually. All 52 weeks of lessons are available within Procare for five age groups – infant, young toddler, older toddler, preschool and pre-kindergarten.

Learn how much time and money your center could save with a digital curriculum by using our online calculator:

Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator Automated Payment Processing Cost
& Time Savings Calculator Digital Curriculum Cost and Time Savings Calculator

Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s all-in-one child care management software. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s secure and effortless child care payment processing. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*: Calculate your potential cost and time savings by using Procare’s classroom management. All we will need from you is some information about your child care location*:

Number of Staff Number of Students Type of Center Child Care Center Multi-Center or Franchise Center School District Before and After School Program Park District Church or Faith-Based Organization In-Home Child Care

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* Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.

Hourly Rate (constant)

Switching to will save you
hours and a month!* a month!

	Manual	Procare
	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Family Registration
Attendance Tracking
Family Communication and Engagement
Financials
Payment Processing
Classroom Management

Family Registration
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Attendance Tracking
Manual		Procare
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Family Communication and Engagement
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Financials
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Classroom Management
Manual		Procare
Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)

The cost and time savings shown here are what the Procare all-in-one solution will help you save at your child care organization. Fill out the form below to see the full breakdown.

We understand that smaller centers and in-home daycare providers are operating on a tight budget, and that is why we provide all these features for the affordable price of just $25 per month. Let us handle the business of child care so you can get back to caring for your children.

To learn more about Procare home version, click below.

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*Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.​ *Please note that the report you see only factors in cost and time savings for the in-home solution features. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative. *Please note that the classroom management functionality is not available for in-home users. For Procare home version users that are interested in seeing how they can benefit from Procare’s full suite of capabilities, contact us today to speak to a Procare representative.

Cost & Time Savings
Date
Automation
Number of Staff
Number of Students
Hourly Rate
Savings per Month

For over 30 years, Procare Solutions has helped child care businesses big and small tackle their biggest operational challenges.

From contactless check-in, attendance tracking and staff management to family engagement, tuition collection and extensive reporting, we have the solutions that child care professionals want most.

More than 37,000 child care businesses choose Procare because we give them everything they need to focus on what they love—providing amazing experiences to the children in their care.

Our data model is based on our experience working with over 100,000 child care centers, before and after school programs and youth organizations since 1992.

Learn more at procaresolutions.com

Procare Cost and Time Savings Calculator

Family Registration	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Enrollment
Waitlist / Lead Management
eDocuments
Family Data Entry / Management
Health and Immunization Records
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Attendance Tracking	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Check-in/Check-out
Class Roster Management
Teacher-Student Ratio Tracking
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Family Communication and Engagement	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Child Activity Tracking
Family Messaging
Staff Messaging
Meal Planning
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Financials	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Payroll
Financial Reporting
Business Planning and Reporting
Staff Time Tracking / Scheduling
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Payment Processing	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Registration Payments and Processing
Tuition Processing
Subsidy Management
Payment Reminders
Annual Tax Statements
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Classroom Management	Manual	Procare
Task	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)	Time(hr/month)	Cost($/month)
Activity Planning
Develop and Maintain Curriculum
Assessments and Milestones
State Compliance / Licensing Reporting
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