Daycare daily report sheets for infants, toddlers and preschoolers

Peabody's free daily report slip comes in three versions, infant, toddler and preschool, and prints four to a page so one sheet covers four children. Each slip asks what families want to know at pickup, meals or bottles, naps, diapers or the potty, mood, and what to bring, and is ticked by hand as the day happens. There is no medicine line; every slip says "Medication: see our log." Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no sign-in and no ads.

Here is what is on each version, how to fill it in fast, and what the slip leaves to your own forms.

What's on every slip

The top of each slip has your room's name and which version it is, then a line for the child's name and the date. At the bottom is a note line and the medication line. In between are six rows, different for each age.

The slips print blank. You don't type anything about a child into the page, so nothing about a child is saved or sent. The device keeps only which slip you chose and the room's name.

The infant slip

The toddler slip

"Tried potty" is there so a family hears about the trying, not only the successes.

The preschool slip

The preschool slip also prints the week's theme and its first book under the name line, such as "This week: Apples. Our book: Meg and the Seed." It picks up this week's plan from the theme planner if you have one, or you choose the theme on the page. Families can read the book again at home in Peabody's free library, no sign-in.

"Ask me about" gives families one question for the car ride home. "We made a paper-plate apple" is a good start; "ask me how many seeds were in our apple" is better.

Why there's no medicine line

A medication record is your program's own form, under your licensing rules. Writing a dose on a slip that can get lost in a backpack isn't where that record belongs. So every slip ends with "Medication: see our log", and a family knows where to look. Keep your log the way your program and your state require.

The same goes for incident and injury reports: those are your program's own forms. The slip is the friendly note home, not the record.

How to fill it in fast

Ticking as the day happens takes a couple of seconds. Remembering twelve children's lunches at 5:25 pm takes twenty minutes, and the answers are worse.

• Clip the slips to a board where the thing happens: by the changing table, at the lunch table, by the cots.
• Tick meals at the table, while the plates are still there.
• Write nap times as each child wakes.
• Fill in mood after lunch, when you've seen most of the day.
• Write "Today we" and "Ask me about" once for the room, then add one word for each child if you have it.

Keep the words short and kind. A slip is read in the parking lot with a child pulling on a sleeve. "Ate some, napped 12:40 to 2:10, happy" says the day. If something needs a real talk, write "Please see me" on the note line and have the talk in person, not on paper.

A family who gets the same slip, in the same place, every day learns where to look. Keep the cubby or the hook the same all year.

Try this tomorrow

1. Open the daily report page and pick your room's version.
2. Type the room's name. For preschool, check the theme.
3. Print enough pages for your roster (four slips a page) and cut on the dashed lines.
4. Write each child's name on a slip before the first drop-off and put the stack on a clipboard by the lunch table.
5. At pickup, hand each slip over with one sentence out loud. The slip says the rest.

If a room has infants and toddlers together, print a page of each and keep them on separate clipboards so nobody ticks "formula" on a toddler's slip.

The other sheets that pair with it

• The sign-in sheet for the door: name, time in, signature, time out, signature. The post on the daycare sign-in sheet covers it.
• The newsletter maker for the weekly family letter: what we did, what's coming, reminders, dates and the song's words, on one page.
• The daily slip guide has the same advice in short.

Three things providers ask

Can I change the fields on the slip?

Not yet. The rows are the ones most rooms tick every day. Write anything else on the note line at the bottom.

Is anything about a child saved?

No. The slips print blank and are filled in by hand. The page keeps only which version you picked and the room's name, in your browser.

What should I write for medicine?

Nothing on the slip. Use your program's own medication log, under your licensing rules. The slip points families to it.