How much outdoor time is required in daycare by state?

The short answer, state by state

For a preschool room in a full-day center, the six state rules compared here require 1 to 1.5 hours outside every day. Georgia sets the most, 1.5 hours. Virginia, North Carolina, Kansas and Texas set 1 hour. Washington counts differently: 90 minutes of active play, and at least 60 of them outdoors.

The same rules give shorter programs less. A Virginia center open three hours or less owes 15 minutes. North Carolina programs open less than five hours owe 30. A Georgia center open less than five hours owes "a brief outdoor period".

If your state is not in the table, ask its licensing office three things. What are the minutes? What sets them, the center's hours or the child's? And what weather lets you stay in?

What an outdoor time requirement is

An outdoor time requirement is the least time a licensed center must schedule outside each day. It sits in the state's child care licensing rules, usually in the section on the daily schedule or activity plan. It is a floor. Virginia and North Carolina also require the daily schedule to be posted¹⁵.

It is not the same as active play. Some states also set minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, meaning play that gets children moving hard. The national standards give running, climbing, dancing, skipping and jumping as examples¹². Active play can happen indoors. Outdoor time is about where the child is.

"Weather permitting" is the clause that lets a center stay in. Each rule words it differently, and the wording decides how bad the day must be. That is covered below.

These rules are written for licensed child care centers. Family child care homes often have a softer rule. Georgia's home rule sets no minutes. It says only that children "shall spend some time of each day outside when the children's health and the weather permits"⁹.

Worked example: one preschool room, six states

Take a room of 4-year-olds. Walk it through each rule twice. First, the room is in a center open 10 hours. Second, it is a four-hour morning program.

Three things stand out.

Kansas turns on the child, not the center. The hour applies to "children spending more than four consecutive hours at the center"⁸. A child there exactly four hours is not over four, so the hour does not apply. That child still gets "a daily period of outdoor play".

Texas does not scale with the day. A 4-year-old is "pre-kindergarten age" in Texas, meaning three or four before the school year starts⁴. The 60 minutes applies to that child in any center³. Section 746.2206 sets no shorter figure for a short day. If you run a part-day program, ask licensing how it reads the rule.

Washington is a rate. For preschoolers it is 30 minutes "for each three hours of programming"⁶. A four-hour program holds one full three-hour block. Over six hours, the rule adds the 90 minute active play figure.

Why some lists say Texas and Georgia have no minimum

A directory page that ranks for this question puts Texas, Florida and Georgia under "no state minimum". It says only that a center must keep a written policy. It cites no rule. For two of those three states, the rule text says otherwise.

Texas writes the minutes into its activity plan rule. A child 13 months or older "must engage in outdoor play for a minimum of 60 total minutes daily"³. That comes in "a minimum of two daily opportunities for outdoor play, weather permitting". Florida's rule was not read for this page.

Georgia sets the highest figure in this table. Rule 591-1-1-.03 says centers open five hours or more "shall provide each child who is not an infant at least one and one-half (1 ½) hours of outdoor activity per day". Infants get "at least one (1) hour daily out of doors"⁹.

The likely reason is where the minutes sit. Texas puts them in its activity plan rule, not a playground rule³. Read the schedule and activity sections, not just the outdoor space section.

The other figure in circulation is 60 to 90 minutes. It comes from Caring for Our Children, a national book of health and safety standards for early care. Its Standard 3.1.3.1 says toddlers and preschoolers "should be allowed 60 to 90 total minutes of outdoor play"¹². That is guidance. Georgia is the only state here at the top of that range.

The four ways states write the rule

The minutes come in four shapes. Your schedule has to fit the shape, not just the number.

1. Bands by the center's hours. Virginia sets 15 minutes up to three hours, 30 minutes from three to five, and one hour over five¹. Georgia uses one line at five hours⁹. North Carolina also cuts at five hours, and adds an age line at 2⁵.
2. A threshold on the child's own hours. Kansas counts the child's consecutive hours at the center, not the center's hours⁸.
3. A fixed daily figure. Texas sets 60 minutes outdoors for every child from 13 months, whatever the day length³.
4. A rate per hours of care. Washington sets minutes "for each three hours of programming", then a full-day figure over six hours⁶.

Splitting the time is usually allowed. Texas requires it: at least two outdoor times a day³. Georgia's guidance accepts it, as long as the total is met by the end of the day. Its example is an infant room with two 30 minute periods, or three of 20⁹. Washington asks for "morning or afternoon" outdoor play⁶.

What "weather permitting" lets you skip

Every rule here lets a center stay in for weather. They differ in how bad the weather must be, and only Washington's rules name a temperature.

Kansas sets the highest bar in words. Outdoor play happens "unless extreme weather conditions prevail"⁸.

North Carolina and Texas use the plain form. North Carolina's minutes apply "when children are in care and weather conditions permit"⁵. Texas attaches "weather permitting" to its two daily outdoor times³. Neither rule defines the phrase.

Virginia adds air. Its words are "weather and air quality allowing"¹. For infants, the rule ties the call to the Air Quality Color Code Chart from the state's Department of Environmental Quality².

Washington puts no weather clause in its minutes rule. A separate rule tells providers to watch conditions and act. Its list starts with heat over 100 F and cold under 20 F, or what the local authority advises. It goes on to lightning, tornado, hurricane or flooding where danger is immediate or likely, earthquakes, air quality emergencies and lockdowns⁷. The same rule says providers must "dress children for weather conditions".

Georgia says "weather permitting". Its licensing tip sheet says outdoor time "should be restricted only when there are weather-related alerts or conditions"⁹. Its Weather Watch chart rates wind chill and heat index as green, yellow or red. In red, infants, toddlers and young children "should not play outdoors"¹¹.

Georgia's Quality Rated sheet goes further. Quality Rated is the state's quality rating program, and the sheet follows its rating scale guidance, not licensing. It lists reasons that do not justify staying in: "Muddy or wet playground" and "Busy schedules"¹⁰. A parent saying a child can't go out does not count either, unless a doctor's note is on file. It lists reasons to stay in: active rain or snow, temperatures in the red, high pollution, mosquitoes that pose a health risk, and safety advisories. If rain clears, the sheet says to go out later.

Caring for Our Children allows a shorter day outside in poor weather. When that happens, "the time of indoor activity should increase so the total amount of exercise remains the same"¹².

No rule read here names mud as a reason to stay in, and Georgia's sheet rules it out. Heat and cold have their own pages: heat and burn risk covers hot equipment, and playground on frozen ground covers winter surfacing. For storms, the lightning rule is to come in at the first thunder.

Infants and toddlers

Infant rules are softer, and the words "as tolerated" do the work.

• Georgia requires at least 1 hour a day outdoors for infants⁹.
• North Carolina requires 30 minutes for children under 2 in every program, short or long⁵.
• Washington requires 20 minutes per three hours for infants "as tolerated" and toddlers. Over six hours, infants and toddlers get 60 minutes of active play⁶.
• Texas lets infants to 12 months play outside "as tolerated". From 13 months, the 60 minutes applies³. Texas calls a child an infant through 17 months and a toddler from 18 through 35 months⁴.
• Virginia and Kansas require infant outdoor time daily, with no minutes²⁸.

Caring for Our Children says infants should go out two to three times a day, as tolerated. It sets "no recommended duration"¹².

An hour outside with babies is mostly a shade and surface question. Plan shade structures over the infant area. Use toddler equipment sized for the group, and keep older children apart as age-appropriate zones describes.

What these figures do not cover

These are six state center rules, read in November 2026. They are not a 50-state survey. Massachusetts, Colorado and Florida are not included. Rules are amended, so check the current text with your licensing office.

The minutes are a floor, not a safety finding. A rule that says go out does not make the yard safe on a 98 F afternoon with dark slides in full sun. The licensing minutes and the heat, cold and lightning advice all apply at once. The safety call still belongs to the adult on the yard.

Quality rating systems and accreditation can expect more than licensing. Georgia's Quality Rated sheet is scored on what an observer sees, not on the rule text¹⁰. Head Start sets no minutes at all. Its standard says a program "must not use physical activity as reward or punishment"¹³. Family homes, school-age programs and summer camps often have separate chapters with different numbers.

What to do with the number

Find your rule and write the minutes into the posted daily schedule, by room. Georgia's guidance says outdoor time "should be reflected on the daily schedules posted in each classroom"⁹. Then check the yard can carry it. More minutes outside means more children out at once. Outdoor space per child sets how big the yard must be for that group. The playground capacity calculator shows how many children the equipment can hold.

Plan for the days you cannot go out. A room that owes 90 minutes needs an indoor plan. Indoor play spaces covers what that room should hold. For the rest of the licensing checklist, from fences to surfacing, see childcare playgrounds. Once the children start school, state recess laws set the minutes for grades K to 5.