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Childcare means that someone takes care of your child while you work or study. Childcare in Åland includes daycare centers for younger children and after-school activities for school-age children. For those who are at home with their child, there are other activities and playgrounds run by Folkhälsan.
All guardians of children who have their home municipality in Åland have the right to municipal childcare in a daycare center or family daycare home. In Åland, people usually say "dagis" instead of daycare center or childcare; in Sweden, the term "förskola" (preschool) is used.
Submit your application to your home municipality at least four months before the child needs the place. If the need for childcare is due to work, studies, or training – and it is therefore not possible to predict when the need will arise – you should submit your application as soon as possible, but no later than two weeks before the child needs the place.
There are daycare centers for children aged 9 months to 7 years in every municipality. Contact your home municipality for more information about the municipality's daycare centers.
The year before the child starts primary school, the child is entitled to at least 20 hours of childcare with pre-primary education (school-preparatory activities) per week. Goals and guidelines for how pre-primary education should be conducted are found in the curriculum for childcare in Åland. Each daycare center must show in a work plan how the activities are planned and will be implemented.
After-school center activities are run by the municipalities, usually in special "after-school clubs" or "pre-school clubs" directly connected to the school. After-school center activities are not a subjective right in the same way as other childcare in Åland. The availability of places also varies from municipality to municipality.
Information about pre-primary education and after-school activities can be obtained from your home municipality in Åland.
The curriculum for childcare can be found at laroplan.ax.
If you are not working or studying but are at home with your child, there are other activities you can participate in, where the child can play with other children and you can meet other adults.
In several municipalities there are playgrounds run by Folkhälsan where children (2-5 years) can stay for a maximum of 3 hours per day. The playgrounds are outdoors.
Folkhälsan in Åland also has a great deal of activities aimed at children and families, such as family cafés and baby swimming. Also contact your library or congregation to see what activities they arrange.
At Åland's schools and daycare centers, the food is tasty and nutritious. It is important to have varied and nutritious food that is cooked from scratch.
The Åland daycare centers serve breakfast, lunch and an afternoon snack every day. In schools, lunch and an afternoon snack are served.
For lunch, the kitchen prepares varied home-cooked meals, preferably using organic and locally produced ingredients. At least once a week, fish and vegetarian dishes are on the menu. Vegetables and fruit are always available, and many daycare centers bake their own bread.
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