Baby and toddler groups tend to cater for young children up to two and a half years old, while stay and play groups tend to cater for children up to five years old.
Baby and toddler – and stay and play – groups do not need to register with Ofsted because parents and carers stay with their children and remain responsible for them at all times. Drop-in visits from relevant advisers such as a health visitor, speech and language therapist or dental nurse are often arranged to provide additional support and guidance to young families.
How do I start a baby and toddler or stay and play group?
To start a group, you will need to find suitable, safe premises with appropriate toilets and kitchen facilities, space for activities and storage space for equipment.
You also need to consider legislation such as health and safety, fire regulations, data protection, food hygiene and the Equality Act. It is important that you have appropriate insurance cover in place.
Check that no one else is operating a group at the same time in the area. You can often do this via your local authority’s Family Information Service, who may also be able to list your group on the local authority website. Children’s centres, early years settings, primary schools and libraries in the area may also be willing to help publicise your group, and health visitors may help to pass on information too.
How do I run a brilliant group?
Have a simple set of guidelines for everyone to abide by including topics such as hot drinks, no phones, no smoking, no shouting and no smacking.
You might also want to include information on how incidents such as biting and scratching will be dealt with. Giving this information out to all parents helps everyone to understand what is acceptable behaviour in the group.
Involving parents from the start will help maintain high standards and retain volunteers. Activities should be designed to support a young child’s developing skills such as communication and motor skills, for example, through sand and water activities, mark-making, board books and action songs.
How can I make my group sustainable?
Setting a budget at the start will help to ensure sustainability. Making a list of regular outgoings such as rent, insurance payments, consumables and equipment replacement will help you work out how much income you need to generate to keep your group going.
Many baby and toddler/stay and play groups form a committee as a way of sharing the work of running the group and some are set up as charities.
The Alliance has a model constitution specifically designed for baby and toddler/stay and play groups with an income of less than £5,000 that wish to operate as a charity. Please note that the model constitution is only available to members of the Early Years Alliance.
Want to find out more?
Download our free Baby and toddler groups mini-guide
Not yet an Alliance member?
Find out more about our fantastic baby and toddler membership benefits on our Membership page.