Childcare CPR & first aid requirements
First Aid & CPR Arkansas
If you work in childcare in Arkansas — whether at a daycare, preschool, home-based care, or camp — first aid and CPR certification is not optional. It's a licensing requirement, and for good reason: children are among the most vulnerable to choking, allergic reactions, and injuries. Being prepared to respond can mean everything.
What Arkansas requires
Arkansas' Minimum Licensing Requirements, administered by the Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education, require the director, the assistant director or site supervisor, and half of the staff on site at any moment to hold current first aid and CPR certificates — including infant and child CPR wherever babies and toddlers are in care. The curriculum must involve hands-on, skill-based instruction and practical testing, so a course delivered solely online is not accepted, but a blended course that ends in an in-person skills check does qualify.
Anaphylaxis and medication administration
In Arkansas, staff may give medication only with the parent's signed permission, and any child who needs an emergency medication such as an epinephrine auto-injector or rescue inhaler must have a written care plan stating the symptoms, parameters and directions for use. All medications are kept in separately locked areas children cannot reach. That care plan is what lets a caregiver recognize anaphylaxis early and use the auto-injector without delay.
How our courses meet these requirements
A recognized, standards-based certification — online theory paired with a hands-on skills check — meets Arkansas’s requirement and keeps your team ready to act.
Don't wait for renewal day
A child who cannot breathe has only the adults already beside them, and what those adults do in the first moments often decides everything that follows. Certification keeps that response calm and practiced, reassures the parents who count on you, and keeps directors and staff in line with Arkansas' requirement. A recognized course that combines online lessons with a hands-on skills evaluation satisfies the rule while fitting into a full center schedule.