The 3-Step Cleaning Process for Daycare
Most educators meet the 3 step cleaning process in their first week at a daycare, and it is simple enough to fit on a sink splashback: clean with detergent, rinse, and dry, then disinfect only where the risk calls for it. This guide explains each step, why none of them can be skipped, where the third step changes for nappy areas, kitchens and spills, and the mistakes that quietly undo the work. There is a free printable poster for your staff room and change areas. For the rest of our method notes, see the childcare cleaning guide library.
What is the 3-step cleaning process in daycare?
Clean, rinse, dry. Scrub the surface with detergent in warm water to lift dirt and germs; rinse it with clean water; then dry it. Where body fluids, toilets, nappy change or an outbreak are involved, disinfectant goes on as an extra step once the surface is clean and dry.
- 1Clean
Detergent and warm water, with some effort behind the cloth. Staying Healthy points out that the scrubbing itself is what physically removes germs.
- 2Rinse
Clean water lifts away the loosened germs and the detergent film, which would otherwise attract new dirt and end up on hands.
- 3Dry
Germs survive and multiply on damp surfaces. Drying finishes the job, and it is the step people skip most.
This is the routine the NHMRC describes in Staying Healthy, 6th edition, as the best way to remove harmful germs from hard surfaces. You will see it taught in different words, sometimes as "wash, rinse, dry" and sometimes with disinfecting counted as the third step. The substance is the same: the surface is always cleaned first, and disinfectant is never a replacement for cleaning.
How does the process change around the daycare?
The first two steps never change. What changes is the finish: a plain dry for tables, shelves and floors; a disinfectant wipe for toilets, spills, and any change mat a nappy has soiled; and a food-safe sanitiser wherever food is prepared or eaten.
| Surface | Clean and rinse | Finish |
|---|---|---|
| Meal tables and chairs | Detergent, warm water, rinse | Dry |
| Toys used that day | Wash in warm soapy water, rinse | Air-dry fully before use |
| Nappy change mat | After every change | Dry; disinfect if body fluids touched it |
| Toilets and potties | Daily and when soiled | Dry, then disinfect |
| Kitchen benches, high chair trays | Before and after food | Food-safe sanitiser, then air-dry |
| Vomit, faeces or blood | Lift the spill first, then clean | Dry, then disinfect and let dry |
For the change mat, the guide is specific: after every nappy change, clean the mat with detergent and water, rinse and dry it, and add a disinfectant wipe only if body fluids have touched it. That keeps disinfectant use where it belongs and stops mats being coated in chemical dozens of times a day.
Why can't you skip straight to disinfectant?
Because dirt protects germs. Disinfectant struggles to reach germs sitting under grime, food or dried body fluids, which is why the guidance says you must clean first. A disinfectant sprayed onto a dirty table and wiped off does far less than a proper clean with detergent.
There is also the child in the room to think about. Every extra product on a surface is something a toddler may touch and then put in their mouth. Keeping disinfectant to the jobs that need it, and rinsing everything else, keeps chemical residue low without giving up any real protection.
The one exception the guide mentions is a combined detergent-disinfectant product, of the kind used in hospitals. Where a service chooses one of those, the separate detergent step can be dropped. Most daycare services keep the two separate: staff learn one rule instead of two, and a checklist shows plainly which step happened.
What is the best way to dry a surface?
With something clean and single-use, or a cloth that goes through a hot wash afterwards. Paper towel suits change mats and spills; clean microfibre suits tables and benches; and toys and trays can air-dry on a rack, as long as nothing goes back into use while it is still wet.
The cloth you dry with matters as much as the one you clean with. A tea towel used on every table through the day spreads exactly what the first two steps removed. For spills, the guide itself says to dry the area with paper towels before the disinfectant goes on, which keeps the whole process single-use from start to finish.
In busy rooms, air-drying often wins by default: tables are wiped and rinsed after lunch, and children are outside for long enough that they are dry before anyone sits down again. That works well, provided someone checks. A table that is still damp when the next group arrives needs a quick dry with paper towel, not a hopeful wait.
How do you teach the three steps to new educators?
Show it, then watch it. A two-minute demonstration at the change bench and a meal table, followed by watching the new educator do it once, teaches more than any document. Put the poster up where they will use it, and mention it again at the first room meeting.
Relief and casual educators are the people most likely to skip a step, simply because each service does things a little differently. A laminated poster at each sink and change bench, with the same three words on every one, removes the guesswork. Colour-coded cloths help too, because the colour on the wall matches the colour in their hand.
It is worth checking every so often, too. A room leader who spends a minute watching an ordinary table wipe will spot quickly whether the rinse and dry are still happening, or whether the routine has quietly slipped back to a spray and a wipe.
What undoes the 3-step process?
One cloth used for everything, a bucket of water that has turned grey, wiping in circles that spread dirt around, and skipping the dry because the next group is already waiting. Each one keeps the look of cleaning while leaving germs behind.
- One cloth for the whole room
Colour-code cloths by area, and change them when they are visibly dirty.
- Grey water
Rinse water that is no longer clean just moves germs from one table to the next. Change it often.
- Old spray bottles
Diluted disinfectant loses strength. Mix it when you need it rather than leaving it for days.
- Wet surfaces put back to use
A damp high chair tray or change mat is exactly where germs thrive. Dry, then use.
The poster below puts the steps, the "when to disinfect" list and the four "never" rules on one page, so a relief educator can follow the method without asking anyone.
Where should the 3-step poster go?
Wherever the method is used: above each nappy change bench, beside the kitchen sink, in the laundry and in the staff room. It is a single A4 page, so it can be laminated and wiped like any other surface in the room.
Steps, when disinfectant is needed, and the four things never to do. Free, no sign-up.
When should professional cleaners take on the 3-step process?
For the after-close clean, when every surface in every room needs the full routine and educators have already done a day's work. Daytime spot cleaning stays with the room team; the evening, when the whole building gets the three steps properly, suits a cleaner with time set aside for it.
Ask any cleaner you are considering to explain their method in their own words. If they describe spraying and wiping, or cannot say when they use disinfectant, you will know the three steps are not being followed in your rooms.
See our cleaning process, from the walk-through to the signed log.
What else do educators ask about the three steps?
Short answers for the staff room noticeboard.
01How often should the 3-step process be used?
02Which products do the three steps need?
- Staying Healthy (6th edition, NHMRC 2024): How to do routine cleaning, Clean first then disinfect, Nappy changing
Clean, rinse, dry. Every surface, every night.
Evening cleaning that follows the method and logs it.