Parent experience
Infant Daily Report and Daycare Daily Sheet Templates
The daily report is the single most visible thing your center produces. Families judge care quality partly by it, and teachers resent it when it takes 20 minutes a room. The fix is a fixed structure with one specific detail added — not longer reports.
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Short answer
A useful daily report covers what a parent must act on tonight: meals, nap, diapering or toileting, mood or notable moments, and anything to bring tomorrow. Send it once, at a predictable time, in the same format every day. Long narrative reports for every child are the first thing teachers drop when a room gets busy.
Free printable daily sheets
Infant daily report
Feedings
| Time | What | Amount |
|---|---|---|
Diapers
| Time | Wet | BM | Dry |
|---|---|---|---|
Naps
| Start | End |
|---|---|
Notes to parents
This is a sample form. States differ on what must be recorded and how long records are kept. Check your state's licensing rules before using it.
Toddler and preschool daily sheet
Meals
| Breakfast | ☐ All ☐ Some ☐ None |
|---|---|
| Lunch | ☐ All ☐ Some ☐ None |
| Snack | ☐ All ☐ Some ☐ None |
Activities today
Notes to parents
This is a sample form. States differ on what must be recorded and how long records are kept. Check your state's licensing rules before using it.
What to include by age group
The specific detail is what turns a log into communication. 'Good day' tells a parent nothing; 'she spent almost the whole outdoor time filling and emptying the water table and told me it was soup' tells them their child was known today.
| Age group | Core fields | The detail that matters |
|---|---|---|
| Infants | Bottles (time, amount), diapers, naps (start/end), mood | Anything unusual about feeding or sleep |
| Toddlers | Meals eaten, diapers or potty, nap, activities | One new word, skill, or friendship moment |
| Preschool | Meals, nap or rest, activities, learning focus | One specific thing the child said or made |
| School age | Snack, homework, activities | Social notes and anything needing follow-up |
Daily report template
[Child Name] · [Date] · [Classroom]
Meals: Breakfast — most; Lunch — all of the pasta, none of the carrots; Snack — all.
Sleep: 12:40 p.m. – 2:05 p.m.
Diapers / bathroom: 9:15 wet, 11:40 BM, 2:15 wet.
Today: Painted at the easel and joined circle time for the whole song. Practiced putting on her own shoes and got the left one on unassisted.
Notes for home: We're low on extra pants in her cubby. She mentioned her knee after outdoor play — no injury observed, no mark.
What to skip
- Long narrative paragraphs — parents read these on a phone at a red light.
- Judgment language about behavior; describe what happened, not what it means.
- Any mention of other children by name.
- Duplicate information already in the app (attendance times, menus).
- Reports sent after pickup — a report the parent reads at 8 p.m. cannot start a conversation at the door.
Making it fast
Log entries as they happen rather than at 4:45 p.m. Bottles, diapers, and naps take five seconds each when tapped in real time and fifteen minutes to reconstruct at the end of the day, badly.
Use quick-tap fields for the routine data and reserve typing for the one personal note. A teacher who only has to write one sentence per child will write a good one.
Attach one photo. A photo gives families a direct look at their child’s day.
Frequently asked questions
Should daily reports be paper or digital?
Do preschoolers still need daily reports?
When should the daily report be sent?
How Caredence supports this
- Parent communication app — Daily reports, photos, and messaging for families.
- Childcare management app — Apple App Store and Google Play apps, plus access from any modern browser.
Run your daycare on one platform
Caredence brings attendance, billing, messaging, and reporting into one place — so you spend less time on paperwork and more time with kids.
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