Back to the free diary sheet

What to put in a childminder daily diary

Parents skim the food and the naps. They read the sentence about their child twice, and repeat it to someone else that evening. Most daily diaries have that the wrong way round.

Start with the child, not the admin

The first thing on the page should be their name and how the day went. A parent arriving at the door is not looking for a nappy count, they are looking for whether their child had a good day. Give them that first and they will read the rest.

Something they said or did

This is the best line in any daily diary and almost nobody includes it. "I did a big jump and the floor wobbled." It takes ten seconds to write and it is the thing a parent tells their partner about at teatime. If you write one thing, write this.

What you got up to

Two lines. Park in the morning, painting after lunch. Specific beats complete. "Messy play" tells a parent nothing, "painting after lunch, mostly on the hands" tells them everything.

Food, honestly

What was offered and roughly what happened to it. "Pasta and peas, left the peas" is more useful than "ate well" and more believable too. Parents worry about food and a straight answer settles it.

Naps and nappies

Times and numbers. This is the part parents use to plan their evening, so it wants to be accurate rather than interesting.

A note for the parent

Anything you noticed that they would want to know. Something new they did. Something they need to bring tomorrow. Keep it to what is useful, not a report on behaviour.

What to leave out

You are not writing a development record. A daily diary is a note to a parent about a day, and the moment it starts trying to be an official document it stops being read and starts taking half an hour.

What to leave off

• Anything that reads as an assessment. This is a note home, not a learning journal.
• Filling every box for the sake of it. An empty line is fine.
• Anything you would not say to their face at the door.