Ages 1-5 — preschool

Preschool is available to children from age one to the time they begin preschool class for six-year-olds or primary school. Thanks to a legal cost limit, it is affordable to all parents. While supporting parents during daytime work or studies, preschool offers a safe and instructive place for children to learn, explore and play.

Preschool is the collective name for three types of activities available to young children: preschool, family daycare homes and open preschool. Like childcare for schoolchildren, preschools have two primary goals. First, they help provide stimulation for a child’s development and learning. Second, they enable parents to combine parenthood with work or studies.

Municipal governments are responsible for providing preschool, normally within three to four months after the parents have submitted their request. Preschools can be either publicly or privately run. In most cases, this allows parents to return to full-time work as soon as their parental leave is finished. It also applies to children of parents who study, are unemployed or on parental leave.

A place is to be made available to each child for at least three hours a day, or 15 hours a week. Places must be provided at a reasonable price that is strictly limited by each municipality, and meals are always included. The maximum cost for preschool is SEK 1,260 a month per child, according to 2009 levels.

Children in Sweden begin preschool at different ages, and attend for different amounts of time per week. Preschools are open year-round — apart from certain holidays — according to a daily schedule based on the needs of parents and children.

Read more about finding a preschool