Beginners Guide For A Daycare Daily Report

Daycare Daily Report

Hey there, daycare mama.  I see you, being the best substitute mom that you can be to kids that aren’t yours.  You are killing it, Rockstar!

I applaud you for choosing to be a daycare provider, whether at your home or in a center.  It is the most challenging and exhausting but supremely rewarding job I have ever done outside of being a mom to 4 wonderful kids of my own.

Taking care of someone else's child/children day in and day out is not for the faint of heart.  But I know you are strong enough to do it.

I believe in you!

You are making a positively huge impact on those kids’ lives.

Need a daycare provider friend to bounce ideas and questions off of?  I am your girl!  Leave me a message in the comments below.

Why A Daycare Daily Report Is Important

I wasn’t always a daycare provider, which allowed me to also stay home with my 4 kids.  My oldest 2 were in a home daycare until they were 2 and 4 months old.

When I would pick them up every day, I would get a verbal report on their day but nothing was written.  It worked fine since I didn't know any other way.

Then their daycare closed suddenly, which sent me into a tailwind of quitting my job and opening my daycare.

I took some courses to prepare to be a home daycare provider but I didn’t have a clear idea about how I should set everything up to work best for me. 

When I opened my daycare 3 months after my kids’ daycare closed, I did a lot of things my previous daycare did to start, and that included not using a daycare daily report. 

I quickly realized that I needed one and here’s why.

At parent pick up, they would be asking important questions about their child’s day and I could remember most of it but not all.

Usually, I was trying to get a word in around all the kids going crazy since a parent was there.  Does this happen at your daycare?

And multiple times a week I would say to myself, oh shoot I forgot to tell the parent this or that.

By having a written daycare daily report, you can run right down the list of each kiddo’s exact day without trying to remember if you have it right.

It is also a great place to write down items the kiddo is running low on like diapers, wipes, and extra clothes.  You can also tell the parent what kind of activities their child did that day and what kind of emotions they had.

Who Needs A Daycare Daily Report

Every child in your care should have their own daycare daily report.  It helps the end of your day run so smooth and helps you to not forget anything you want to tell the parent.

They are important for infants and toddlers by letting the parent know how many and what kind of diaper changes happened, what they ate and how much, if they need more supplies like diapers, wipes and food, and so on.

One of my daycare parents asked me every day for almost a year how many times her infant pooped.  No lie.  He was never constipated, just in case you were curious.

At first, I thought that daycare daily reports would only be needed for infants and toddlers but the big kids needed them as well.

Bigger kids have just as busy days as the little ones do and it is important to jot down what they did.  It is also a great way to capture their emotions throughout the day.  They have more of them as they get older!

I had older kids that would arrive, go to school, and come back from school.  And summertime with them, whew, their schedule at my house was crazy. Their parents liked the fact that they were able to know those times.

What To Include In A Daycare Daily Report

There are so many things that you can choose to include in your daycare daily report.  And each report will vary per child since they are most likely not the same age.

Try to be as thorough as possible.  What would you want to know about your child if you were dropping them off at daycare?

Below you will find a list of options that you can choose to include.  The ones that I think should be on every daycare daily report for every child are in bold.

• Name of Kiddo in care
• Date
• Arrival and Departure Times
• Food – What they had for Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, and Supper if you provide it.  If it is a baby, how many ounces they had from their bottle and what time they ate
• Naps or Quiet Time – From start time to end time
• Fun Activities – I like to include games we played, songs we got to sing, something fun we saw or did outside
• Books Read – We always try to read 3 books together
• Injury report – Not just for the major injuries, but the little ones too.
• Extra Items Needed – For example: formula, diapers, wipes, food, and extra clothes
• Emotions of the Day – Happy, Sad, Cranky, Tired, Not Feeling Well
• A Blank Section – Here you can include anything else you want to make sure to tell the parent about their child’s day or upcoming days you may be closed

What To Use For A Daycare Daily Report

When I first started doing daycare daily reports, I bought these 5” x 7” notebooks.  

I never filled up a full-size notebook page and always thought I was wasting so much.  The 5" x 7" turned out to be the perfect size.

I would rip the page out to give to the parent so they could take it home with them.

This is the most cost effective option I could find.

Another option is to have a notebook for each child in your care.  This works well if the parent is willing to bring it back and forth every day.

I had one parent prefer this method when their baby started.  They liked to compare previous days’ information.  I also liked this way and would opt for it if I was the parent.

There are daily reports that you can find on Amazon, but you will get more bang for your buck with the notebook method, I think.  I try to save money where I can.

You can also find them on Etsy.

An Example Of An Infant Daycare Daily Report

Let's say I have "James" in my care and he is 7 months old.  Here is what I would write down in the traveling notebook or on a notebook page for him.

James

1/12

Arrival: 8:10am, Departure: 3:40pm

Nap: 10am – 11am, 1:30pm – 3:00pm

Breakfast: ½ a container of bananas at 8:30 am with a 4 oz bottle.  

Lunch: the rest of the container of bananas and oatmeal at 12 with a 4 oz bottle.

Snack: 6 oz bottle

Diapers: 8:15 – wet, 9:50 – wet, 12:40 – wet and bm, 3:10 – wet

He needs more wipes by Friday and diapers by next Wednesday (I always highlight this section for the parents if I made any notes in it.)

Books read: Little Blue Truck, The Kissing Hand, and Where Do Diggers Sleep At Night (these are some of our favorite board books!)

Reminder I have to close early next Thursday for my dentist apt.

As you can see it isn’t a ton of information but it is all the main info of this child’s day, which is what the parents want to know about.

An Example Of A 6-Year-Old Daycare Daily Report

The following is what I would write down for a summer day for Ali, who is 6.

Ali

6/25

Arrived: 7:40am, Left: 4:45pm

Rested but didn’t sleep from 1:00 – 2:00

Breakfast: Waffles and a cutie orange with milk

Lunch: Quesadillas, green peppers, apple slices, milk

Snack: Granola bar, banana, milk, and water

Books: Narwhal Unicorn of the Sea, Animal Encyclopedia, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

She will need extra clothes tomorrow

Ask Ali about our science experiment: elephant toothpaste

This rundown of Ali's day is similar to James's but of course, leaves out all the infant stuff.

I hope this is incredibly helpful.  Have the best day being a daycare provider.  You got this!

This post was all about the best daycare daily reports.

If you have any questions or comments about daycare daily reports or anything else daycare, feel free to leave them in the comments below.  

I look forward to hearing from you and thanks for stopping by.