Nursery Practitioner Career

Ever wanted your Sim to spend their working day changing nappies, planning activities, negotiating with toddlers and discovering that sleeping like a baby is a phrase invented by somebody who has clearly never worked with babies?

This custom career adds a British-inspired Nursery Practitioner career to The Sims 2, loosely based on my own experience working in childcare in the UK.

Your Sim will begin as an agency nursery assistant before gaining their qualification, working with different age groups and eventually progressing into nursery leadership and management.

The career includes nine custom chance cards, with outcomes including skill changes, promotions, demotions, bonuses and potentially getting fired. The scenarios themselves are left out here so you can discover them in-game!


Career Levels

- Level 1: Agency Nursery Assistant
One day you're building towers with toddlers, the next you're trying to remember the names of twenty preschoolers. Turn up, learn the routine quickly and try not to look too alarmed when somebody tells you it's nappy round.
Wage: §100 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 9:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 1, Cleaning 1


- Level 2: Level 3 Childcare Apprentice
You've secured a permanent nursery position and started working towards your Level 3 childcare qualification. Between observations, coursework and actual children to look after, try not to leave your portfolio until the night before your assessor visits.
Wage: §120 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 2, Cleaning 2, Logic 1, Cooking 1


- Level 3: Baby Room Practitioner
You're qualified! Now it's time to juggle bottles, naps, nappies, sensory play and individual routines while discovering just how much washing can be produced by such tiny people.
Wage: §160 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 3, Cleaning 2, Logic 1, Charisma 1, Cooking 1


- Level 4: Toddler Room Practitioner
Toddlers are faster, louder and considerably more opinionated. Your days now involve toilet training, messy play, developing independence and negotiating disputes over plastic dinosaurs.
Wage: §200 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 4, Cleaning 3, Logic 2, Charisma 2, Cooking 1


- Level 5: Preschool Practitioner
Welcome to Preschool, where the questions never stop. Prepare children for their next big adventure through play, stories and early learning while answering "why?" approximately four hundred times a day.
Wage: §250 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 4, Cleaning 4, Logic 3, Charisma 3, Cooking 2


- Level 6: Room Leader
You're ready to run a room of your own. The children, practitioners, planning, paperwork and the mysterious cupboard full of empty cereal boxes are now your responsibility.
Wage: §325 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 5, Cleaning 4, Logic 5, Charisma 4, Cooking 2


- Level 7: Early Years Lead
Your influence now stretches beyond a single room. Support practitioners, improve planning and practice, and develop the nursery's early years provision without making everybody think you've criticised their tuff tray.
Wage: §425 per day, (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 6, Cleaning 5, Logic 6, Charisma 5, Cooking 2


- Level 8: Deputy Nursery Manager
You've escaped the room! Sort of. Support the manager with staffing, safeguarding, rotas, parents and paperwork while remaining available whenever somebody urgently needs the laminator.
Wage: §550 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 8:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 7, Cleaning 5, Logic 8, Charisma 7, Cooking 2


- Level 9: Nursery Manager
Congratulations, the entire nursery is now your problem. Manage staff, parents, budgets, safeguarding and standards while attempting to finish a cup of tea before it goes cold.
Wage: §700 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 7:00 to 17:00
Skills: Creativity 8, Cleaning 6, Logic 9, Charisma 8, Cooking 2


- Level 10: Area Manager
Once an agency assistant, you're now responsible for several nurseries and the managers running them. You may carry a laptop more often than a paintbrush these days, but you'll never truly escape glitter.
Wage: §850 per day (Mon, Tue, Weds, Thu, Fri)
Hours: 9:00 to 17:00


This career uses British terminology and is inspired by the general structure of UK nursery and early years work. Some progression has been simplified to fit The Sims 2's ten-level career structure. In particular, Baby, Toddler and Preschool Practitioner are consecutive levels for gameplay purposes rather than because one is more senior than another in real life.

Have fun, and try not to lose the laminator.