Hello all,
My wife owns her own in-home childcare and we are wondering if there is an app out there that could help her with her making up her daily reports -
i.e - arrival/departure times..nap times, feeding times, etc. What she wants to do is use her ipad to enter all of this info and then be able to print it. I understand there is an app called "Daycare Tracker Pro" already out there, but I haven't heard really good reviews about it...does anyone know of anything else? OR other Apps where she can put together her own reports?
We are VERY new to ipad and have no idea what is out there.
Thanks for your time,

It's probably not what you're looking for because it's more of a task manager but it might be worth a look...


I looked at several apps for this and, in the end, chose Pocket Informant HD.

I read that Pocket Informant was buggy but, in my (admittedly) limited experience, I’ve found no problems at all. It has a very nice user interface that's almost infinitely configurable - a complaint that many Forum members make about the iPad’s native ‘Calendar’ app. So you can choose how tasks, events, projects, appointments are colour coded and there is a wide choice of notifications and alarms - so, for example, you can have different alarm sounds for different categories of notifications.

Pocket Informant ‘sits on top’ of the iPad's native ‘Calendar’ app and (optionally) imports all entries that it finds there. They can be colour coded so they can be distinguished from entries made in Pocket Informant itself.

This is important because many other iPad apps use the native ‘Calendar’ app as the default place to put events, invitations etc. So, for example, if you are invited to a meeting by email and you receive that invitation in the iPad’s native ‘Mail’ app, that app can automatically (and quite cleverly) insert that invitation into the default calendar app. Without that integration between the native app and Pocket Informant, you'd have to enter those invitations all over again.

Pocket Informant has lots of ‘hidden’ features too. One of the reviewers remarked that part of the ‘fun’ of using Pocket Informant was discovering them!! The display is infinitely configurable - day, week, month, year at a time. Tasks, events, overdue tasks, projects, projects in progress etc etc all can be optionally displayed on the main calendar. Projects and tasks can have infinitely nested sub-tasks and projects - these can cleverly be integrated with GPS - so, say you needed to purchase some goods from the hardware store. Put that in a To-Do list and link it to the location of the hardware store using the iPad’s native ‘Maps’ app. Next time you’re driving past the hardware store, up pops the notification (‘Remember to purchase some 2”x4” timber’).

Repeating events are very flexible too, with the ‘custom’ mode being infinitely (I keep using that word!) configurable. So, meetings that occur on the last Thursday and first Monday of every other month - no problem.

It can sync with external calendars - Google for example - and back-up is cool, it creates a backup file that you can email to yourself for safe keeping. If you lose your iPad or all your data is corrupted, that backup can be imported back into Pocket Informant with a single click.

You can create multiple diaries within Pocket Informant - say ‘Work’, ‘Family’, ‘Golf Club’ etc and have their entries optionally displayed on the main screen or restricted to the display of the individual diary. So it’s easy to check if there’s a clash between the golf tournament and your wife's birthday - and hide it if there is......

If you surf to the developer’s web-site, you can download for free a very comprehensive User Manual that will show you in detail what Pocket Informant can do.

The developers are constantly updating the program - always a good sign in my view.

As I said at the beginning, perhaps I'm not a particularly demanding user, but I’ve had no stability problems at all. I should add the usual disclaimer that I have no contact or other relationship with the developers of Pocket Informant other than being a very satisfied customer.

Tim
Scotland

Hello,
You can use Tadpoles Pro for managing your daycare or childcare facility. It's free for providers to do daily reports, attendance as well as capture photos and videos to share with parents using your iPhone or iPad.
Thanks,
Andy

check out a very cool product / app for child care centers called mykidzday look them up on the web at myKidzDay.com . It might be very good fit for your wife's center.

There is an iPhone/iPad app available on the apps store called KinderCenter (for childcare centers, daycares and preschools) from Kinderlime. It provides, attendance, sign in and Out, text blasts, parent communication and photo memories of children all in one app.
cheers,
Akash

Please visit daycare2me on line. We have an iPhone, iPad, iPod based app that lets you create beautiful daily activity reports that have picture, lesson plan, diapering, naps, meals, teacher's message and much more. Parents receive these reports on the app and as an email. We also have attendance management right in the website for daycare and pre-school administrators. It's free for parents and only $1 per student per month for daycare and pre-schools if you sign up before June 2013! Please contact us at 980-272-1866 or logon to our website for instant chat. Thanks!