Five-year-old Jalo Jäppinen skips into his new daycare centre in Jyväskylä, holding his father's hand. The city opened the 170-place facility two weeks ago, replacing an older daycare for 100 children.
"I like playing here with my friends because there are such great jungle gyms," Jalo said.
Jyväskylä has been at the forefront of a trend towards ever-larger daycare centres. In recent years the city has opened six facilities for between 170 and 250 children, with two more under construction.
According to Tarja Ahlqvist, the city's head of early childhood services, the move is driven by costs.
"One big building is considerably cheaper to maintain than several smaller ones," she explains.
Shifting strategies in Helsinki
Across Finland, large daycares have become more common since 2010. The National Agency for Education says there were 30 centres with more than 250 children last year.
In Helsinki, the number of facilities with more than 150 children grew from 28 in 2021 to nearly 40 last year, three of them with more than 250. The city has faced a surge in demand for thousands of new early education places.
Deputy Mayor Reetta Vanhanen (Green) told Yle that large centres have advantages, such as access to special needs teachers and substitute staff. But the city's latest strategy calls for a mix of sizes.
"We will build new daycares on children's terms: the youngest need spaces that feel safe," the strategy states.
Some families and staff prefer smaller units, Vanhanen added.
"People value the feeling that we all know each other."
Concerns over big centres include small, concrete yards and noise, especially in dining halls. But Vanhanen insists that "with good design, large daycares can also provide children with an excellent environment."
Leadership more important than size
Elina Fonsén, associate professor of early childhood education leadership at the University of Jyväskylä, said quality depends more on skilled staff than on the size of the centre.
"The larger the organisation, the more leadership is required to manage pedagogy well," she said. She warned against prioritising finances over children's needs.
"Children need time, familiar adults and pedagogically high-quality activities."
Big centres also demand new approaches.
"Old practices from small daycares cannot simply be copied into large ones," Fonsén added.
At the Lohikoski daycare in Jyväskylä, children move on a tightly managed schedule to reduce noise. Jalo's father, Mikko Jäppinen, admitted he was initially sceptical.
"At first I was a little nervous about whether such big institutions could work, but we've been pleasantly surprised by how well everything functions," he said.
