Child care training hours tracker v0.1.0
Log every course you finish, see this training year's hours against what your state asks, and get a calendar reminder a month before your CPR card or any certificate runs out. Free courses to start with are listed under the tracker. Kept on this device.
Free courses, checked at the source
Each read on its own site on 2026-10-31. Your state decides how many hours you need each year and which courses count. Check with your licensing office or registry before you count a course.
- Early Education Pathways (EEP) (Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care (HHS)). No cost to enroll or take courses; self-paced courses and clock-hour trainings with certificates; eight iCDA courses give 80 of the 120 CDA training hours; more than 30 states approve its courses.
- Watch Me! Celebrating Milestones and Sharing Concerns (CDC, Learn the Signs. Act Early.). Free; one hour in four modules on watching development and talking with families; 0.1 CEU through CDC TRAIN (course WB5027) until 1 August 2029.
- Institute of Child Nutrition iLearn courses (Institute of Child Nutrition). Free, self-paced online courses with a certificate of completion, among them CACFP Child and Adult Meal Pattern Requirements, CACFP Infant Meal Pattern Requirements, Food Safety in Child Care and Family Child Care FUNdamentals.
- Virtual Lab School (Virtual Lab School, which partners with the U.S. military's child and youth programs). All course content is free to read for child care professionals; completion certificates go only to military-affiliated programs and partners, so ask your licensing office before counting the hours.
- Your state's free trainings (Your state's child care licensing office and professional development registry). Childcare.gov links each state's child care offices. Your state's registry lists the trainings it approves and is where your hours count.
CPR and pediatric first aid need a hands-on class from a provider your state accepts (for example the American Red Cross or the American Heart Association), and those usually cost a fee; log the class and its card's date here.
How to use it
- Set the month your training year starts and the hours you need.
- Add each course when you finish it, with the date its certificate runs out.
- Save the reminders to your calendar; print the log for a licensing visit.
Ideas for class
- Add the course the day you finish it, while the certificate is in your hand.
- Keep the certificates in one folder in the same order as the printed log.
- Save the backup file each quarter: it is the only copy.
Related
- CACFP menu planner
- Logs and postings
- Preschool theme planner: the week, planned and printed
- Daycare and preschool newsletter maker
- Daycare daily report app: the daily log, kept on your device
- Daycare sign-in app: a tablet by the door with a live count
- Daycare sign-in sheet, daily or weekly
- Daycare daily report slip: infant, toddler and preschool
- Name tags and cubby labels for preschool
- Circle time board: calendar, weather, days at school and helper
Questions
How many training hours does a child care provider need?
It depends on the state and the kind of program. Your state decides how many hours you need each year and which courses count. Check with your licensing office or registry before you count a course.
Where can I find free child care training?
Start with the free courses listed on this page, each checked at its own site, and your state's professional development registry.
Does the tracker remind me when CPR runs out?
Yes. The certificates running out in the next 60 days show at the top, and Save reminders to my calendar makes a calendar file with a reminder 30 days before and on the day.
Nothing you type here is sent to us. Your log stays in this browser; the calendar file is made on this device. No account, no ads.