Appreciation Day 2026
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 is the 26th annual Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day. This day recognizes the commitment, skills and hard work of Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) and staff who work with young children. 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 marked by hundreds of childcare centres, unions, and allies.
This year’s Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day theme is Care Counts, to centre the importance of care in early learning and child care and the pride that ECEs and child care workers feel in their work. There is no education without care. “Care Counts” also speaks to the need to value and remunerate those doing care work better – and builds solidarity across care work professions.
Thanks to generous sponsors, including the AECEO, AEFO, CUPE Ontario, ETFO, OFL, OSSTF, Society of United Professionals, Unifor and USW District 6, we can draw attention to the value of ECEs and child care workers/providers in our communities October 21st.
- For tips to celebrate the day, please check out our tip sheet.
- In case your community did not receive a proclamation request, here is a sample- Sample Proclamation Request and Sample Proclamation.
- An English fillable PDF Appreciation Certificate can be found here
Button and poster orders are now open.
This year we have bilingual posters and French or English buttons.
- Organizational members (child care centres and ally partner organizations) ordering within their complimentary limit of 200 buttons & 100 posters, please click here.
- Individual members (including students and retiree members) ordering within their complimentary limit of 5 buttons & 2 posters, please click here.
- General public, non-members, and members ordering above their complimentary limit, please click here.
We set complimentary limits for members to ensure we have enough for everyone. Materials are free for members, and there is a nominal charge to cover the production and shipping costs for non-members. If you would like to become a member please click here.
Place your order early to ensure on-time delivery. The on-time order deadline is October 1, 2026.
