Early childhood education during the holidays

This page explains how holidays affect when you apply for early childhood education, and how early childhood education and pre-primary education are organised during holidays. Holidays have no effect on getting a place in early childhood education.

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Every child has the right to early childhood education all year round. Autumn break, Christmas break, winter break and summer holiday bring changes to the opening hours of municipal early childhood education and pre-primary education. Those holidays are school holidays, so pre-primary education will not be provided at that time. When your own daycare centre or family daycare centre is closed, your child's early childhood education will be arranged at the nearest open daycare centre.

If your child is in early childhood education, your family will always be asked in advance if your child needs early childhood education also during the holidays. These questionnaires are important because the information is needed to secure enough staff, meals and special diets for children, as well as to plan the activities for the children.

Daycare centres and family daycare centres decide the opening hours and holidays based on the questionnaires, previous years' experiences and feedback from the parents and guardians. Daycare centres and family daycares notify guardians about these times. Similarly, private service providers inform customer families about the opening hours.

If you are just applying for a place in early childhood education, please note that if the start date is in the holiday period, your child may start in another daycare centre that is open during that holiday. The early childhood education fee always begins from the start date that you choose in the application. At the same time, your right to receive child home care allowance ends.  
 

Holidays

During the autumn break, daycare centres are usually open, but groups and nearby daycare centres can combine their activities. In family daycare, the autumn break may cause changes, and family daycare managers inform you about these. 

During Christmas and New Year, some of the daycare centres and family daycare centres will be closed based on the holiday questionnaire, previous years' experiences and the feedback received. 

During the winter break, daycare centres are usually open, but groups and nearby daycare centres can combine their activities. In family daycare, the winter break may cause changes, and family daycare managers inform you about these. 

In the summer, most children go on holiday. In this case, many staff members are also on holiday, so most of the daycare centres will be closed. During April, we will update this page with a map showing the Helsinki daycare centres, which are open throughout the summer.  

During summer activities, both children and staff may change daycare centres. In the summer, children and staff spend a lot of time outdoors. 

Applying for and starting early childhood education during the holidays 

The guardian must submit an application for early childhood education no later than four months before the child needs a place. If you want your child to start early childhood education during the Christmas or summer holiday, please note that many daycare centres are closed. In this case, the child begins early childhood education at a daycare centre that is open during that holiday. The child returns to their own daycare centre after the holidays. Daycare centres’ holiday times have no impact on getting a place in early childhood education; the grounds for getting a place are the same. 

For the child, it is easiest to start early childhood education so that the daycare centre, adults and friends around change as little as possible. The best time to do this is usually after the holidays, when all daycare centres and family daycares are normally open. You can, of course, apply for an early childhood education place whenever the child needs it. The decision on the child's early childhood education is made from the start date you choose on the application. The early childhood education fee starts from this same date and entitlement to Kela's child home care allowance ends on this same date.    

In the summer, most of the daycare centres and family daycares are closed from Midsummer for 5–6 weeks onwards. In summer 2024, many of the daycare centres opened at the end of July after the summer holidays. The starting date of the 2025–2026 period for schools and pre-primary education has not yet been decided.  

After the Christmas break, daycare centres usually open at the beginning or by Mid-January after the Epiphany.  

A case example: The Nieminen family applied for a place in Daycare Kamppi for their child, Matti. They chose 2 January 2025 as the start date of the child’s early childhood education in the application. The decision on early childhood education will be made as of that day. However, the Daycare Kamppi which The Nieminen family chose as their 1st option is closed on 2 January due to the Christmas break. The start date can no longer be changed because it is one of the main criteria for getting a place. However, the family has a few options to choose from. It is up to them to decide what is best for their child:

  1. Matti can begin early childhood education on 2 January 2025 at another daycare centre that is open during that holiday. If they so wish, guardians can start the introductory period* with Matti at Daycare Kamppi when it opens on 7 January 2025. This will be agreed with the daycare centre staff. However, early childhood education fees will start on 2 January 2025 and entitlement to child home care allowance will end on the same day. The start date can no longer be changed because it is usually one of the main criteria for getting a place.  

  2. The family Nieminen does not want to take Matti to another daycare centre, because it is located at the other side of the city, and it is not convenient for them. They start the introductory period* with Matti when the actual daycare centre opens on 7 January 2025. This will be agreed with the daycare centre staff. Early childhood education fees will start on 2 January 2025 and entitlement to child home care allowance will end on the same day.  

    *The introductory period refers to the first 3–5 days of early childhood education, where parents or guardians can join the child at the daycare centre or family daycare to help them get used to the new environment, staff, and other kids. They participate in daily activities together, easing the transition before the child attends alone.

    Learn more about the grounds for getting a place in early childhood education
     

How holidays affect the fees in early childhood education

If the child is absent from early childhood education during the autumn, Christmas and winter breaks, the absences will not be refunded in client fees. If a child in full-time pre-primary education and early childhood education needs full-time care also during the holidays, a fee will be charged according to the service need for the booked days.

For the summer, the information will be updated on the Early childhood education fee page.