A daycare CCEYA cleaning checklist for Ontario licensed child care centres — the toy, diapering, washroom and food-area frequencies to follow, the records to keep on file, and a fill-in cleaning log you can hand to staff. Built to help your centre stay inspection-ready year-round.
A daycare CCEYA cleaning checklist turns the Child Care and Early Years Act's sanitary-environment expectations into a practical, daily routine for your centre. Environmental cleaning in licensed child care is judged on three things: it happens at the right frequency, uses the right child-safe product, and there's a signed record that proves it. This page breaks each area down into a checklist you can actually use, then gives you a free printable version to download.
Licensed child care is closely regulated because the children are young, put things in their mouths, and share toys, tables and washrooms. Three layers set the expectations your cleaning routine has to meet:
An inspector's core question is simple: for each thing you say you clean, is there a written procedure and a record that it happened? Centres typically keep a documentation set that covers:
| Record / "folder" | What's in it | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Written cleaning & sanitary policy | Room, washroom, diapering, food-area and toy procedures, dated and reviewed | Supervisor |
| Daily cleaning logs | Area, task, frequency, date and sign-off for each clean | Staff / provider |
| Toy cleaning / rotation log | When mouthed and shared toys were cleaned and disinfected | Room staff |
| Outbreak / enhanced-cleaning log | Kept for the duration of any public-health-directed outbreak | Supervisor |
| Product documentation | SDS + Health Canada DIN-registered, child-appropriate disinfectant info | Centre / provider |
| Staff screening & training | Vulnerable Sector Screening for staff with access + cleaning training | Centre |
A common inspection gap is a cleaning log that's blank or backfilled. Inspectors trust a simple, contemporaneously-signed log far more than a spotless-but-empty binder — the fill-in log in the download gives you area, task, date and sign-off columns so each clean is evidenced as it happens.
Disinfectant only works on a surface that's already clean, so cleaning in a child care centre follows a defined order:
Use colour-coded, single-use or laundered cloths so a cloth used on a diapering surface or washroom never touches a table children eat at — the same single-use principle inspectors expect staff to describe.
Toy cleaning is the task that most sets child care apart from other facilities. The rule of thumb inspectors look for:
The diapering surface is cleaned and disinfected after every use, with hand hygiene before and after each change.
Toilets, sinks and faucet handles at child height are cleaned and disinfected at minimum daily and whenever soiled.
Tables and food-prep surfaces are cleaned then sanitized with a food-safe product before and after every meal and snack.
Sleep cots/mats and bedding are cleaned on a set schedule and between children to avoid cross-contamination.
| Area / task | Minimum frequency |
|---|---|
| Mouthed toys | After each use |
| Shared toys / manipulatives | Daily + when soiled |
| Diapering surface | After every use |
| Child-height washrooms | Daily + when soiled |
| Eating & food-prep surfaces | Before & after each meal/snack |
| Floors & high-touch surfaces | Daily |
| Cots / bedding | Set schedule + between children |
These are minimums — increase them during an outbreak and adjust to your centre's own policy and your public health unit's direction. What an inspector wants to see is that the schedule is written down and each clean is logged.
When your local public health unit declares an outbreak (such as gastroenteritis or a respiratory illness), cleaning frequency steps up: high-touch surfaces and toys in affected rooms are cleaned and disinfected more often, extra surfaces are added to the schedule, and for enteric outbreaks a stronger, appropriately-registered disinfectant may be directed. Every enhanced clean is logged for the duration of the outbreak, and toy sharing is often restricted until it's declared over.
Walk your centre the way a program advisor would, using the checklist:
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Want cleaning that comes with the documentation built in? Zusashi Maintenance cleans daycares and child care centres across the GTA with written service logs, VSS-screened staff and child-safe products.
See our daycare cleaningThe Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and O. Reg. 137/15 require licensed centres to keep the premises clean and sanitary and to keep the records that show it. In practice that means daily disinfection of mouthed and shared toys and high-touch surfaces, food-safe sanitizing of eating and food-prep areas, daily cleaning and disinfection of child-height washrooms, disinfection of the diapering surface after each use, written cleaning logs, and Health Canada DIN-registered, child-appropriate disinfectants. Ministry of Education program advisors and public health verify this at inspections.
A toy a child puts in their mouth is removed when the child is finished and cleaned and disinfected before another child uses it. Shared toys and manipulatives are cleaned and disinfected at minimum daily and whenever visibly soiled. Machine-washable soft toys are laundered on a set schedule, and any toy that can't be cleaned isn't used. A labelled "mouthed-toy" bin makes the routine easy to follow and to log.
Public Health Ontario and local public health units publish child care cleaning and disinfection guidance that sets out how often toys, diapering surfaces, washrooms and food areas should be cleaned and disinfected. This free checklist condenses that guidance and the CCEYA record-keeping expectations into a printable, tick-box format your staff can follow and sign. Always confirm the current version with your local public health unit.
Use a Health Canada DIN-registered disinfectant that's appropriate for use in child care settings, following the label's contact time and any rinse instructions for food-contact surfaces. "Child-safe" doesn't mean no chemicals — it means the right registered product used correctly, with surfaces dry (or rinsed) before children use them again. Keep the product's Safety Data Sheet on file. During an outbreak your public health unit may direct a stronger product.
Staff and anyone with regular access to a licensed child care centre are generally required to have Vulnerable Sector Screening. If you contract cleaning to an outside company, confirm that the cleaners assigned to your centre are VSS-screened and that you keep that documentation on file — it's one of the things a program advisor may ask about.
Keep a written cleaning policy plus a signed daily log showing area, task, date and initials, and a separate toy-cleaning log. Contemporaneous sign-off — filling it in as each clean happens, not at the end of the week — is what inspectors trust. The fill-in log in the download gives you those columns; keep completed logs on file so you can show a current record on request.
Download-ready records and checklists for other Ontario facilities:
For the full background, see our guides to CCEYA cleaning requirements for Ontario daycares, how to prepare for a daycare Ministry inspection, and child-safe cleaning products — or see how our team supports centres on our daycare cleaning page.
This checklist is a general informational resource to help Ontario licensed child care centres organize their cleaning and documentation routine. It is not legal advice and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ministry of Education. Always follow the current Child Care and Early Years Act, 2014 and O. Reg. 137/15, your local public health unit's direction, Public Health Ontario child care guidance, and manufacturer instructions.
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