Infant care, childcare and kindergarten in Singapore: how and when to register

ECDA says there has been no central registration or waitlist for infant care and childcare since 1 April 2024: parents find centres with vacancies on LifeSG and contact each centre directly. No Government body sets a date by which to register. Some operators publish their own earliest dates, and MOE runs a yearly registration exercise for its kindergartens.

Checked against official sources on 29 September 2026

Changing from 1 January 2027: Budget 2026 (Ministry of Finance) raises the income ceiling for the Additional Subsidy and KiFAS from S$12,000 to S$15,000 a month. It says centres apply the new rates automatically.

Infant care, childcare and kindergarten: which ages

Preschool types and ages, from ECDA and MOE
Type	Ages	Hours
Infant care	2 to 18 months	Full day, 7am to 7pm
Childcare	18 months to below 7 years	Full day, 7am to 7pm
Kindergarten (K1)	The year the child turns 5	Half day

ECDA says infant care and childcare centres open 7am to 7pm, 5 or 5½ days a week. Kindergartens run half-day sessions, 5 days a week, and follow MOE's school holidays. MOE says K1 is in the year the child turns 5. A child born on 1 January goes with the previous year's cohort.

How registration works: no central waitlist

ECDA's preschool search is in the LifeSG app or website: Services, then Search for a preschool. ECDA says it shows centres within 2km of an address, and centres with vacancies. ECDA's guide says parents then contact the preschools directly by email or phone, and that since 1 April 2024 there is no separate step of registering interest through a central portal. "Every centre has its own enrolment procedures and is responsible for maintaining its own waitlist."

The operators' own pages describe four separate steps:

Registration of interest on the operator's form or with a centre. It puts the child on that centre's waitlist. It is not a place.
An offer from the operator. M.Y World says an offer must be accepted by its deadline, or the place goes to the next child on the waitlist.
Enrolment at the centre: forms, documents, a registration fee and usually a deposit.
The subsidy application, through LifeSG, on or after the first day (below).

What the Government has said about waits

MSF told Parliament on 5 February 2024: "From the point of registration of interest, waiting time typically ranges from a few weeks to a few months". It added that "some parents prefer to send their children to a specific centre. If the centre is full, they may have to wait longer." It said there were about 14,600 centre-based infant care places in 2023, of which about 10,500 (72%) were taken up. No Government body publishes how early to register.

What each operator says about lead times

These are the operators' own statements, from their websites. They are not Government rules, and other operators may differ.

Lead times and allocation, as each Anchor Operator states them
Operator	Before the birth	Ahead of the start date	How places are given
PCF Sparkletots	Infant care interest from 3 months before the expected due date. Parents who registered before the birth contact the centre within a month after the birth with the birth certificate number, date of birth and citizenship to stay on the waitlist.	Not stated	By each centre's waitlist; it says it will contact parents once there is a vacancy.
My First Skool	Infant care interest as early as 3 months before the expected date of delivery.	Registration up to 12 months before the preferred enrolment date; up to 3 centres, ranked.	Priority to parents who need care immediately and want an earlier start date, subject to vacancies.
E-Bridge Pre-School	Registrations accepted when the expected due date is within 3 months of the registration date.	Interest and a preferred start date up to 12 months ahead.	Waiting list; the admissions team contacts parents when a place is available.
M.Y World	Not stated	Not stated; up to 3 centres.	Wait time varies by centre. An offer must be accepted by its deadline, or the place goes to the next child on the waitlist.

Documents and one-off fees

PCF Sparkletots, M.Y World and Skool4Kidz each publish what to bring to register a Singapore citizen child. Between them they list:

The child's birth certificate
Both parents' NRICs
The child's Health Booklet or immunisation record
A recent passport-sized photo of the child
A Child Development Account or bank account for GIRO payment of fees
The NRIC of anyone authorised to collect the child

Registration fees and deposits, as each operator states them
Operator	Registration fee	Deposit
PCF Sparkletots	S$87.20 including GST, non-refundable (S$54.50 at dual-service centres)	One month's fees
My First Skool	S$87.20, non-refundable	Not stated on the fees page
M.Y World	S$80 before GST, non-refundable	One month's fees, refundable; cannot be used for the last month's fee

ECDA says lower-income families (household income of S$3,500 a month or less) can get a Start-Up Grant of up to S$1,000 towards these one-off costs, applied for with the subsidy.

Applying for the subsidy: 14 days from the first day

ECDA says subsidies are applied for only after a place is confirmed. On or after the child's first day at the preschool, the preschool sends a subsidy application form through LifeSG, and both parents complete it within 14 calendar days. LifeSG sends the outcome by email within 1 to 4 weeks. The date shown is the earliest possible start: ECDA says infant care is for children from 2 months. Source: ECDA

ECDA says a child must attend at least 1 day in a month to get that month's subsidy, and that a mother counts as working at 56 hours a month or more. ECDA says infant care is for children aged 2 to 18 months and childcare is from 18 months. It says the move from infant care to childcare is one of the fixed points at which it reassesses household income for subsidies. Source: ECDA

Fee caps and subsidies today

ECDA says Anchor Operator centres cap full-day infant care at S$1,235 a month and Partner Operator centres at S$1,290 (before GST, before subsidies) for Singapore citizen children. Other centres set their own fees. Source: ECDA

ECDA says Anchor Operator centres cap full-day childcare at S$610 a month and Partner Operator centres at S$650 (before GST, before subsidies) for Singapore citizen children. The 2026 Rally announced lower fees from 2028. Source: ECDA

MSF says Singapore citizen children aged 2 to 18 months in full-day infant care get a Basic Subsidy of up to S$600 a month if the mother works, or S$150 if she does not. It is paid to the centre. Source: MSF (Made for Families)

ECDA says Anchor Operator kindergartens cap fees at S$150 a month before GST. KiFAS, the kindergarten fee subsidy, is only for Singapore citizen children at Anchor Operator or MOE kindergartens, not private kindergartens.

More detail: infant care costs after subsidies.

Announced changes in 2027 and from 2028

From 1 January 2027: the Ministry of Finance says the Additional Subsidy and KiFAS income ceiling rises from S$12,000 to S$15,000 a month (from S$3,000 to S$3,400 per person for larger families), and every lower income band moves up. It says this will benefit more than 60,000 families, and that existing families need do nothing.
From 2028 to 2030: the Government announced at the National Day Rally that full-day fees at government-supported centres will fall to about S$300 a month for infant care and S$150 for childcare, before subsidies.
Details in early 2027: Made for Families says full infant care and childcare subsidies will go to families with Singapore citizen children whatever the main applicant's working status, and that details of this and of the fee timeline come in early 2027.

Today's Additional Subsidy, as MSF states it: MSF says working mothers with gross household income of S$12,000 a month or less get an Additional Subsidy of S$40 to S$710 a month for full-day infant care, on top of the Basic Subsidy. Lower incomes get more. The Ministry of Finance's Budget 2026 (Annex E-2) says the income ceiling rises from S$12,000 to S$15,000 from 1 January 2027, and that centres apply the new rates automatically, with nothing for families to do. Source: MSF (Made for Families)

MOE Kindergarten: a yearly registration exercise, the year before K1

MOE says its 2027 K1 intake registered online from 23 March 2026 to 31 March 2026, for Singapore citizen and permanent resident children born 2 January 2022 to 1 January 2023, with outcomes by email by 1 June 2026. That is the year before K1 (children born in 2022 registered in 2026 for K1 in 2027). MOE announced the 2026 exercise on 11 February 2026; it publishes each year's dates separately.

MOE's priority order for places:

Singapore citizen children from households earning S$4,500 a month or less (or S$1,125 per person) who live within 1km: one-third of places
Singapore citizen and PR children with a sibling in K1 to P6 at the MOE Kindergarten or its primary school
All other Singapore citizen children
All other permanent resident children

MOE says children in a partner Early Years Centre by 15 March of their N2 year are offered a K1 place at a partner MOE Kindergarten, if registered through the Early Years Centre. MOE's fees in 2026: S$160 a month for Singapore citizens and S$320 for permanent residents.

An example: the dates for a baby due on 15 June 2027

This is an example, not advice. It is built from the lead times operators publish and the official rules above, for a baby born on the due date who goes to centre care from the earliest age. It is not a recommendation of when to register. Operators and dates may differ, and MOE has not yet published later registration dates.

Example dates for a baby due on 15 June 2027
When	What the source says
From 15 March 2027	PCF Sparkletots, My First Skool and E-Bridge say they accept infant care registrations of interest from 3 months before the due date. Source: PCF Sparkletots (Anchor Operator)
15 June 2027 to 15 July 2027	Birth on the due date, in this example. PCF Sparkletots asks parents on its waitlist for the birth details within a month. Source: PCF Sparkletots (Anchor Operator)
15 August 2027 at the earliest	Infant care can start from 2 months. If it started that day, ECDA says both parents complete the LifeSG subsidy form within 14 days (by 29 August 2027), and the outcome comes in 1 to 4 weeks. Source: ECDA
From 15 December 2027	For a childcare start on 15 December 2028, My First Skool and E-Bridge say they accept registration up to 12 months before the preferred start date. Source: My First Skool
15 December 2028	At 18 months ECDA moves the child from infant care to childcare and reassesses subsidies. Source: ECDA
By 15 March 2031	MOE says children enrolled in a partner Early Years Centre by 15 March of their N2 year are offered a K1 place at a partner MOE Kindergarten, if registered through the Early Years Centre. Source: MOE
2031, dates not yet published	MOE Kindergarten registration for K1 in 2032. In 2026 it ran from 23 March to 31 March 2026, with outcomes by 1 June 2026. Source: MOE
January 2032	K1 starts, in the year the child turns 5. Source: MOE

For your own due date or birth date, the free tool lists these steps with the payments and deadlines for your family.

Infant care costs after subsidies · Planning parental leave between you · Deadlines after your baby is born

Not yet confirmed

These details were not published on the official pages when we checked them on 29 September 2026. We will update this page when they are.

No official source publishes priority rules for infant care or childcare places at Anchor or Partner Operator centres, such as for siblings or distance. My First Skool's line about parents who need care immediately is the only allocation rule we found.
Budget 2026 Annex E-2 gives S$7,500 a month (S$1,700 per person) as the income level at which childcare families get the Additional Subsidy whatever their working status. ECDA's page still says S$6,000. We have not confirmed with ECDA that S$7,500 is the figure from 1 January 2027.
The Government has not yet published how the lower fees will be phased in from 2028, whether they cover half-day care or kindergartens, or when full subsidies regardless of working status start. Made for Families says details come in early 2027.
MOE has not yet announced the dates of the 2027 MOE Kindergarten registration exercise, for K1 in 2028.
We read My First Skool's pages through a summary, not the original page, so its exact wording may differ. Registration fees for Skool4Kidz and E-Bridge were not published on the pages we read.

Sources

Checked against official sources on 29 September 2026

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