Cubby labels you can print tonight

You can print cubby labels tonight in about five minutes: paste the children's first names into Peabody Teach's free label maker, pick cubby labels, and print ten to a page, each about 2 × 3½ inches, plain or with one of 52 theme drawings. Print on card, cover with clear packing tape, and they survive a month of wet hands. No sign-in, no ads, and Peabody is free through the end of 2026.

Cubby labels are the job that waits until the night before. A new child starts tomorrow, or the old labels have peeled, or it's August and every cubby is blank. Here is the quick way, and how to make the labels last.

Five minutes, start to finish

1. Open the label maker. If you have made a sign-in sheet on this device, your names are already in the box.
2. Paste first names, one a line. Commas work too. It takes up to 40 names.
3. Pick "Cubby labels". Ten a page, about 2 × 3½ inches each.
4. Pick a picture, or Plain. Any of the 52 themes' drawings, or none.
5. Print and cut along the printed borders. The sheet fits Letter or A4.

Twenty children is two pages. The maker shows the count as you type, so you know before you print.

Where cubby labels go

The same list makes a label for everything a child owns or uses in the first weeks:

• the cubby
• the coat hook
• the cot or rest mat
• the spare-clothes bag
• the cup or water bottle shelf

Print one page per place, or print a few pages at once and sort them at the table. Leave the box empty for a page of ten blank labels, handy for the child who joins in March.

What to put on a cubby label

Less than you think.

• The first name, big. A capital letter and then lower case, the way a child will meet their name in a book.
• No surname, no birthday, no photo. A cubby label is read by every family who walks past it.
• Nothing about health or allergies. That belongs in your program's own records, not on a shelf.

If two children share a name, add a last initial.

Theme drawing or plain?

Plain labels last all year. Theme labels make a fresh start: reprint the cubbies with a new theme's drawing in January, say the bear's face for Bears and hibernation or the snowflake for Winter and snow, and the room feels new without any new furniture.

The maker puts the same drawing on every label in a batch. Many rooms like each child to have their own picture, so a child who can't read yet can still find their cubby. For that, print plain labels and let each child pick one sticker for theirs. Use the same sticker on their hook and their cot label, and the picture becomes their sign.

Try this tonight: labels that last

Plain paper labels on a cubby don't last long. These hold up for the month or longer:

1. Print on card stock. Copy paper curls and tears.
2. Cover both sides with clear packing tape, overlapping the edges a little. That seals out water, glue and hands.
3. Stick them at the child's eye height, not the grown-ups'. Kneel down and check.
4. Use a fresh piece of tape on the wall side. Packing tape on packing tape holds better than tape on bare card.

Keep the label maker open while you tape. If one comes out wrong, fix the name and print one more page.

The same list, for the sign-in sheet

The names you paste into the label maker are the same list the daily sign-in sheet uses. The two tools share it on purpose: you paste the roster once, and both have it.

The list is kept in your browser and only there. It is never put in a link and never sent to us. If the office computer is shared, empty the box when you are done, and the saved list goes with it.

The sign-in sheet prints a day (name, in, signature, out, signature) or a week (names down, Monday to Friday across), with 8, 12, 16 or 20 rows. The sign-in sheet post has the details. Your state sets what a sign-in record must hold; the sheet links to Childcare.gov's state resources so you can check yours.

Cubby labels and the first week

In the first week, labels help the grown-ups as much as the children. A substitute can find every child's spare clothes; a parent can find the right hook. If you run the All about me theme in the first week, as many rooms do, names are the whole point: say each one at circle time, and let children find their own label on the cubbies as a game.

For the rest of the week's plan, the theme planner fills in circle time, books from Peabody's free stories, a craft, a song, a snack and a letter. And for the tags children wear, the name tags post uses the same maker with the bigger layout, six a page.

Three things providers ask

Can I print cubby labels on sticker paper?

You can, but the labels are sized for plain Letter or A4 paper, not a brand's die-cut sheet, so they may not line up with the cuts. Card stock, scissors and packing tape is the reliable route.

How do I change one child's label?

Fix the name in the box and print again. The list updates as you type, and the sign-in sheet sees the change too. To print only the one label, paste only that name; you get one label on a page.

Is it free?

Yes. The label maker needs no sign-in and shows no ads, and Peabody is free through the end of 2026.