www.childmindingbabies.blog

In the last couple of years, we have homed our research into high-quality provision for babies. We started this research exploring quality in nurseries (https://thebabyroom.blog/), and we are now expanding our work by exploring what quality for babies looks and feels like with childminders. Each context has its own unique joys and challenges that shape the delivery of high-quality provision, while working under the shared ambition of giving children under two years old the best start in life.

In this blog post, we reflect on how babies’ experiences are distinct across childminders and nurseries. We consider where practices align and where they naturally diverge. We will focus our reflections on mixed-age provision, relationships with families, and pace and rhythm.

Mixed-age provision

By nature, childminders offer mixed-age provision for babies. This will vary from setting to setting, with some having babies through school age, and others only taking children under three. Contrastingly, nurseries tends to offer care to babies in ‘the baby room’, a space dedicated to caring solely for children aged 0-2 years olds. The EYFS (DfE, 2025a) for nurseries states that there must be a separate baby room for children under two years old. While it also encourages babies to mix with older children where appropriate, there is an inherent separation in nurseries that does not exist in the same way for childminders. 

With childminders, babies interact with older children throughout the day, offering opportunities for scaffolding play, language, physical development, and more. This can also have more of a family feel, akin to being with siblings in a family home. Throughout this project, we will be interested to learn more about the joys and challenges of this when delivering high-quality provision for babies.

Relationships with families

One of the reasons families choose childminders is to keep their children in a homely, family-like environment (although some childminders can now work on non-domestic premises). For some babies, this environment can feel more familiar and comfortable than a traditional nursery setting. Childminders in our network have described a very close relationship with parents, often feeling like an extension of the family. This can work well with babies, with childminders having a keen, holistic understanding of them, ensuring continuity and sensitive care. 

In our work on the baby room, baby room educators described some of the challenges of connecting with families, including having adequate time or resources to integrate them into the baby room (Sakr, Bonetti, and Halls, 2025). While several nurseries have open door policies and invite families to come for stay and play sessions, story times, and to chat with educators, this varies across the sector. We will be intrigued to learn more about how childminders work with families to deliver high-quality baby provision, and the challenges they face in doing so.

Pace and rhythm

Childminders working alone can only have one child under one year old (excluding exceptional circumstances), and up to 6 under the age of 8 years old (DfE, 2025b). As there are limits on the number of children they can have, the childminders in our network often describe being deeply child-led. They are able to follow children’s individual rhythms within the flow of the group, move at a slower pace, and attune to babies’ individual needs. Several childminders have also described having the flexibility to spontaneously follow children’s evolving interests and go on outings. This flexible approach may be particularly felt during the settling-in period where childminders can usually offer more flexible settling sessions that can fluidly mirror the needs of the baby in their care.

In baby rooms, educators have described the importance of following babies’ needs and interests, having flexible settling-in sessions, and maintaining calm environments; however, this can be difficult to execute within the pressures of nurseries and with more children (Sakr, Bonetti, and Halls, 2025). We are interested to learn more about how the pace and rhythm of the day flows with childminders, and how this links with quality provision.

Across our initial reflections, there are points of resonance, as well as places where experiences unfold differently between childminders and nurseries. We are excited to learn more about what childminders offer babies and families in their provision throughout this project. In the meantime, we want to hear from you: What other aspects of childminding would you like us to explore? Your insights, whether about environments, routines, relationships, or something else entirely, will guide the next steps in our blog. So, share your ideas in the comments below!

References

Department for Education (2025a) Early years foundation stage statutory framework: For group and school-based providers. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf.pdf 

Department for Education (2025b) Early years foundation stage statutory framework: For childminders. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6874e14383d39f474eb7d373/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_for_childminders_.pdf 

Sakr, M., Bonetti, S. & Halls, K. (2025) Opening the Door to the Baby Room: Learning from the Experiences and Perspectives of Baby Room Educators and Nursery Managers. Available online: www.thebabyroom.blog/report-2