The daycare daily report: what to write to parents, and how to save time
Meals, nap, diapers, mood and a personal note: what parents want to read in the daycare daily report, and how to write it without losing your afternoon.
The short answer
A good daily report answers the three questions parents ask at pick-up: did they eat, did they sleep, and how was their day? The rest supports it: diapers or toileting, mood, activities, what to bring tomorrow. And one sentence about them, only them, that shows the educator saw them.
The secret to writing it without spending the end of the afternoon on it: fill it in during the day, as things happen, instead of rebuilding everything at 4 p.m.
What parents want to read
- Arrival and departure, with the time.
- Meals and snacks: ate it all, half, a little or nothing. For infants, bottles and amounts.
- Nap: start and end time. It often explains the evening at home.
- Diapers (wet, BM) or toileting for older children: potty, diaper, accident.
- Mood: happy, calm, tired, fussy, not feeling well.
- Activities: what they did, with whom, what made them laugh.
- Please bring: diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, cream.
- A personal note: “Leo built the tallest tower in the group and showed it to everyone.”
That last line matters more than it seems. Parents read the report in the car or while making dinner: it gives them something to talk about with their child tonight.
What to avoid writing
- A diagnosis or medical advice. Write what you saw (“she had a fever at 2 p.m., we called you”), not what it might be.
- Comparisons between children, even flattering ones.
- Another child’s name in an incident: “a friend pushed him” is enough.
- Blame. Difficult behaviour is discussed in person, not in a box on the report.
Save time: log as the day goes
The report fills up fast when each thing is logged as it happens:
- For the whole group at once. Snack, activity, park outing: log them once, then adjust the child who’s the exception (“ate it all”, except Leo, “half”).
- Naps in real time. A start time when the child falls asleep, an end time when they wake up, no maths.
- A stack of sheets in the room, or a tablet, within reach rather than in the office.
- Review before sending. Two minutes at the end of the day to add the personal note and fix a box.
Our printable daily report prepares one page per child, in an infant or toddler version, to fill in by hand.
An example of a well-filled report
Here’s what two-year-old Leo’s day looks like once logged:
- Arrival 7:50 a.m. with Dad, who mentions a short night.
- Morning snack: ate it all. Lunch: half the shepherd’s pie, all the carrots.
- Nap from 12:40 to 2:25 p.m.
- Diapers: 9:30 wet, 1:10 BM, 3:45 wet.
- Mood: tired on waking, happy in the afternoon.
- Activities: finger painting, the park, songs with the group.
- Please bring: a change of clothes.
- The educator’s note: “Leo named every colour in his painting. He was very proud!”
In under a minute of reading, parents know how the evening will go.
Infants: what changes
For infants, the report is more detailed: the time and amount of each bottle, each nap, each diaper. These are the markers parents use for the evening and the night. Here, accuracy matters more than style: an exact time beats “around noon”.
The report as a link with the family
The daily report doesn’t replace the conversation at drop-off and pick-up, or the child’s educational record. It complements them: Québec’s educational program stresses that the partnership between the childcare service and parents is essential to the child’s development, and Ontario’s pedagogy sees families as partners who know their child best. A regular, accurate and warm report feeds that partnership every day.
A checklist before you send
Before sending the reports, a quick look: is every child’s arrival logged, every nap closed, every meal filled in? Is there one personal sentence per child? Then send them all at once, at the same time every day, so parents know when to look.
Both parents, same report
When parents are separated or work different shifts, a paper report reaches only the one who picks up. Make sure every parent with access receives the same report, at the same time, and that a reply from one is visible to the team. If a bad day needs explaining, call instead of writing: the report isn’t the place for difficult news.
Paper or an app?
Paper is simple, free and needs no training. It has its limits: the sheet gets lost in the bag, both parents don’t always see it, and nothing shows who wrote what.
An app builds the report from what the team already logs. In Maliah Classes, each entry keeps who logged it and when, the report prepares itself, and parents receive it in the Maliah app, where they can reply to the team. Whatever you choose, the rule stays the same: log during the day, and keep one sentence for the child.
Frequently asked questions
What should a daycare daily report include?
Arrival and departure, what the child ate at each meal and snack, the nap, diapers or toileting, mood, activities, what to bring, and one personal sentence about their day.
Do I write a report for every child?
Yes: parents want to read their own child’s day. What the group shares (activity, outing, menu) can be logged once for everyone, then adjusted for the child who’s the exception.
When should the report be filled in?
Throughout the day, as things happen. Waiting until late afternoon means rebuilding everything from memory just as parents arrive.
Paper or an app?
Both work. Paper is simple and needs nothing; an app like Maliah Classes saves copying, keeps the time and author of each entry, and sends the report to parents.
This article is for information; it does not replace advice from a health professional. In Québec, call Info-Santé 811 when in doubt (elsewhere in Canada, your provincial health line). In an emergency, call 911.
Sources
- Educational program for childcare services (in French), Gouvernement du Québec
- Introduction to How Does Learning Happen? for leaders, Government of Ontario
- Family Communication Plan, Nova Scotia Department of Education and Early Childhood Development