October 24th, 2024 will mark the 24th Child Care Worker & Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day.

Each year, the day is proclaimed by the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), municipalities and school boards across Ontario, and is observed by hundreds of child care centres, unions, and allies.

Join us in marking this day and celebrating the ECE workforce! On this page, you will find tips and resources to help you plan ECE Appreciation Day with your community and to help children & families show gratitude and love for their ECEs!

Download the Appreciation Day Preparation Toolkit in PDF here!

Before Appreciation Day: Spread the Word!

Early Childhood Educator and Child Care Workers Appreciation Day is an opportunity to raise public awareness about the importance of ECE and to celebrate the people who make early learning and child care possible.

Mark Your Calendars!

Let people in your community - families, staff, children, students, everyone! - know about ECE Appreciation Day is coming up on Oct. 24th!  Share a “mark your calendars!” message via all the ways you share communications: email list, social media, bulletin boards, apps, etc.

• Share the pinned post on the AECEO Facebook Page and Instagram Profile via your organization's social media
• Print and share our save the date/colouring pages & share the print-at-home link via your other digital communications. Post them around your centre, school, campus, neighbourhood...

Planning Resources

Printables:

• Save the date! Let everyone know Early Childhood Educator & Child Care Worker Appreciation Day is coming up on Thursday, October 24th!
• Show love! Share these colouring pages via your email list, social media and make hard copies available for children and families.
• Write a message or draw a picture for your ECEs in the heart!

Share with families: Tips for making cards & writing messages for ECE Appreciation Day 

• Print one of our card templates and make it colourful with markers, crayons, stickers, or a picture of your child (with their educators if you have it!)
• Make sure you write down your child's name, their school/centre/program, class/group and the date, including the year
• Write the message for your child or help them write it themselves
• Talk to your child about their educators individually, showing pictures if available
• Be specific, mentioning activities from your child's day at school/child care: books they read, songs they sing, games they play, mealtimes...

Tip: Include a message from the whole family! Share your gratitude and why you all appreciate ECEs!

Celebrating Appreciation Day

Make a mural or guest book

Invite people in your community to write or draw Appreciation Day messages throughout the week, on Thursday, Oct. 24th, set them up on the wall for everyone to see! If a mural doesn't work in your space, you can use a large blank notebook as an Appreciation Day guest book!

Tips for setting up: 

• Ask the school-age kids to help decorate the set up/guestbook cover! They can be the first ones to write on the mural/book!
• Make sure paper, markers, pens, crayons and stickers are available
• Display information about Appreciation Day and clear directions for this activity
• Save the messages and make them available for staff to read afterwards!

Planning a party/group activities

ECE Appreciation Day celebrations can look many different ways, depending on your setting - school, community/child care centre, college/university campus, etc - the number of people involved, the space available and the resources you have available.

Things to consider when planning:

• Will it negatively impact staff/program in any way?
• What kind of celebration makes sense for your team?
• How much time do you have? Include set up, clean up and schedules/shifts

Making the most of Early Childhood Educator & Child Care Worker Appreciation Day

To mark Early Childhood Education Appreciation Day, we invite you to show appreciation and recognition for the hard work you do and the important role you play in the lives of children and their families. You will find suggestions for celebrating yourself & your peers below:

Rest & recharge

• Decompress and disconnect by going for a walk on your lunch or taking a screen break with a warm beverage
• Go home ON TIME!
• Set time aside to do something that specifically fills YOUR cup this upcoming weekend: spending time with a hobby, going on a hike, browsing a bookstore, library, or thrift store for things not related to work or school, etc.

Care for & treat yourself!

• Let your loved ones/people you live with know it's ECE Appreciation Day!
• Start off your day with your favourite uplifting playlist or podcast
• Pack your favourite lunch/snack for work/school
• Do something that makes you feel good: take a bath, do a hair mask, follow an exercise/dance/recipe video, get a massage, go for a run, etc.

Connect with other ECEs

• Share our Appreciation Day content on social media
• Send a Happy ECE Appreciation Day message to your ECE friends
• Get dinner together on the day of or make plans to hang out soon!
• Join an AECEO CARE Collective 

ECE Appreciation Day is also an invitation for educators to engage in self-reflection, or in deeper conversations with their peers about their profession. We put together a list of prompts/questions to help guide your reflection/discussion. We invite you to check out this resource along with our other CCWAD printables and use them how it suits you best.

Access reflection questions/prompts here!

Making sure everyone knows about Early Childhood Educator & Child Care Worker Appreciation Day increases the visibility of the early childhood sector and gives children and families the chance to recognize these professionals who play vital roles in theirs lives!

Help us grow our online presence by interacting with our social media content and following the AECEO on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok.