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Child Care

Resources and Tools (Ressources françaises)

The resources included on this page were created b SMDHU to assist child care operators with operating their centre in a safe and sanitary manner. If you have any questions regarding the resources available on this page, please contact your local public health inspector.

The Childhood Illness Brochure is a document created by SMDHU which outlines details such as symptoms, whether or not an illness is vaccine preventable, the contagious period, and exclusion recommendations for common childhood illnesses for reference and use by child care centres.

In child care settings there are times when staff may need to clean up areas affected by blood or body fluids (vomit, urine, feces, etc.). The poster below outlines the steps to effectively clean and disinfect areas to the prevent the spread of germs.

It is essential to ensure surfaces within a child care centre are cleaned and then disinfected routinely to prevent the spread of illness. The health unit sets minimum required frequencies for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces within the centre. The cleaning and disinfecting checklist is available as a reference tool to ensure cleaning and disinfecting is occurring at the minimum required frequency.

Following a proper diapering procedure is important to prevent the spread of pathogens around the centre as staff and children are mostly likely to come in contact with bodily fluids during diaper changes and toileting.

Following a proper toileting procedure is important to prevent the spread of pathogens around the centre as staff and children are most likely to come in contact with bodily fluids during diaper changes and toileting.

There are a variety of critical monitoring points when it comes to food safety. In order to ensure adequate temperatures are maintained during storage, cooking, hot holding and delivery, SMDHU has created a variety of food safety log sheets to assist with temperature monitoring. Additionally, a pest surveillance template is available to assist with the requirement for monthly surveillance of pests.

Food Safety and Pest Surveillance Log Sheets

Growing a garden can be a lot of fun for children and can provide many learning opportunities. Gardening is a great way for children to learn about food and nutrition and to learn responsibility by caring for plants. It can also encourage physical activity, promote eating more fruits and vegetables, can help develop teamwork and improve self-confidence. There are, however, infection risks with gardening that can be prevented with the proper precautions.

Gardening

Natural play offers a variety of opportunities for children to learn about the natural environment. Many natural play items can safely be incorporated into child care with precautions in place. However, some natural play items can be hazardous and should not be handled by children. Centres should utilize our natural play guideline when deciding which natural play items to incorporate at the centre.

Sensory activities offer opportunity for children to learn and explore their senses. However, sensory play items must be appropriate for use by children and handled in a sanitary manner to prevent transmission of pathogens. Centres may refer to our sensory play guideline when deciding on incorporating sensory activities at the centre.

Infections can spread when a person touches a contaminated surface or object and then touches their mouth, nose or eyes. Some germs can survive for long periods of time on surfaces including doorknobs, faucet handles, toys and diapering tables. Frequent cleaning and disinfection is an important measure to prevent the spread of infections in child care centres. Centres can refer to our toy cleaning and disinfection resource to ensure toys are properly cleaned and then disinfected.

Many centres utilize bleach as their primary disinfectant. Bleach can be mixed to various concentrations for disinfection depending on the situation. It is important that all mixtures of bleach are tested with test strips to confirm concentration. Centres may use our bleach dilution chart as a reference tool when mixing bleach disinfectant at the centres.

Il existe une variété de communautés francophones dans le comté de Simcoe et le district de Muskoka. Le SMDHU a traduit les ressources ci-dessous en français pour soutenir nos centres francophones.