Daycare communication app — every channel parents need, in one inbox.
Real-time chat, email blasts, app push notifications, weekly newsletters, and SMS — all from one screen. Plus an Activity Feed — 14 starter post types and unlimited custom types you can build yourself. Stop juggling Mailchimp, WhatsApp, and a paper notebook.
- ★★★★★ 5-star rated by directors
- ● Chat · Email · Push · Newsletter · SMS · Activity Feed
One inbox. Every channel.
Whether you’re sending a daily photo, a snow-day SMS, or this week’s newsletter — it all flows from the same screen.
Pick the moment
A photo from today, a kudos for the toddlers, a snow-day alert, or this week’s digest. There’s a pre-built post type, or you can create your own.
Pick the channel
Chat for back-and-forth. Push for instant. Email for long. Newsletter for weekly. SMS when it absolutely has to land.
Parents get it — everywhere
Same audience, same message, the right channel. Read receipts, replies, and reactions land back in your dashboard.
Five channels. An Activity Feed without limits.
Built for the real shape of daycare parent communication — not a generic email tool, not a generic chat app.
Real-time chat
One-on-one and group chats with parents and staff. Read receipts, attachments, links to forms, links to events. Real-time, in-app.
Email blasts
Send to a class, your whole center, or a custom audience you build. Track opens, clicks, and replies. Templates for first-day, snow-day, weekly recap.
App push notifications
Post an activity, share an event, send an urgent note — parents get a tap on their phone the second it happens.
Newsletter templates
Pick a designed template — Field Trip, Holiday, End-of-Year, Community — or build your own from scratch. Brand it with your school’s logo and ship it.
SMS for urgent moments
Snow day, early closure, missing pickup — SMS reaches every family even if they don’t open the app or have notifications off.
Unlimited activity types
14 pre-built types ship in — food, potty, kudos, incidents, and more. Build your own with whatever fields fit your center. No cap.
A real chat — not just a notification feed.
Parents can ask, “Did Maya eat?” You answer in seconds — with a photo, an attachment, or a link to a permission slip. One-on-one with any family, group chats by classroom or custom audience, and the same inbox shows you what was unread.
- 1:1 chats with any parent or staff member
- Group chats by classroom or custom audience
- Share forms, events, and files inline
- Read receipts so you know what’s landed
Newsletters with your branding.
The newsletter feature is the one directors keep telling us they love. Pick a beautifully designed template — Field Trip Recap, End-of-Year Showcase, Holiday Celebration, or Community Newsletter — or build from scratch with a blank canvas. Drop in your photos and content, brand it with your school’s logo, colors, and signature, and ship it.
- Pre-built templates for the moments that matter
- Build from scratch with a flexible editor
- Drop your photos, kudos, and announcements into the layout
- Your school’s logo, colors, and signature on every send
Activity Feed — every moment, your rules.
The feature parents won’t stop refreshing. Your staff posts a moment from the room — a kudos, a meal, a milestone, a photo. Parents see it on their phone instantly. At the end of the day, every activity for their child compiles into one beautiful daily digest, sent automatically. Pick from 14 pre-built activity types — or build your own. There’s no limit on the activity types you can define.
Built for daycares. Not stitched together.
Most centers use Mailchimp + WhatsApp + a Google Form + a paper notebook. Communications replaces all of it.
Looking for a daycare app to communicate with parents?
Here is the short answer, with no form to fill in first.
A daycare communication app replaces the five things most centres juggle today — a group chat, a mailing list, a paper daily sheet, a photo folder and a phone. Parents get one feed with the day’s photos, meals, naps and notes. Staff send once, to one child, one room or the whole centre. Directors see what went out and who has read it.
Can parents reply?
Yes. It is a real two-way chat, not a one-way notification feed. A parent answers a teacher the way they would answer a text message.
Do I need a separate app for photos?
No. Photos and videos go in the same message and land in the child’s Activity Feed, so nothing ends up in a shared drive nobody opens.
What does it cost to try?
Nothing. MyKidReports is free for up to 5 children, then $0.99 per child a month — see the childcare software pricing.
Is it only for big centres?
No. A home daycare with four children and a multi-site group both run on the same app — see home daycare software.
Communication is one part. You get the whole centre with it.
Most daycare apps sell messaging on its own and charge again for billing, attendance and enrolment. On MyKidReports they are the same app, on the same plan, at the same price.
Talking to families
- Messaging and the parent app
- Real-time push notifications
- Newsletters and email blasts
- SMS to one room or the whole centre
- Unlimited Activity Feed posts
Running the day
- Digital check-in and check-out
- Attendance tracking with automated reports
- Daily sheets: meals, naps, nappies, notes
- Forms and documents, signed digitally
- School calendar and custom events
Money and admin
- Billing and payments with automated invoicing
- Parents pay online, autopay included
- Enrolment and admissions flow
- Custom reports and analytics
- No setup fee, no contract
Staff and centre
- Unlimited staff members — never per seat
- Staff scheduling: plan, assign, track shifts
- Full parent and guardian profiles
- Dashboard you can customise
- 1 to 100 children on the Core plan
All of the above is included in the same $0.99 per child per month — and free up to 5 children. Communication is not a paid add-on. See everything in the childcare software.
What each daycare communication app actually costs.
Most companies make you book a call before they will tell you a price. Here is what is published, as of September 2026.
Prices read from each company’s own website in September 2026. Compare the full platforms in our childcare software comparison.
Everything directors ask about MyKidReports Communications.
What channels does Communications support?+
Five: real-time chat (in the parent app), email, app push notifications, weekly newsletters, and SMS. You can pick the right channel for the moment — chat for a quick back-and-forth, push for an activity update, email for a longer announcement, newsletter for the weekly recap, and SMS for urgent alerts that need to reach every family right now.
How does the chat work?+
Chat is real-time messaging with parents from your admin dashboard. You can have one-on-one conversations with a specific family, or group chats by classroom or any custom group you create. Messages can include photos, attachments, inline links to enrollment forms, and links to school calendar events.
What activity types are available?+
14 pre-built types ship out of the box: Food, Potty, Note, Kudos, Meds, Name-to-Face, Activity, End of Day Report, Boo-Boo Report, Incident Report, Please Bring, Announcement, Log Observation, and Health Check. Each is a structured post with the right fields for that moment. And there’s no limit — you can create your own custom activity types with whatever fields fit how you run your center.
Can I send one message to many parents at once?+
Yes. Email and SMS support sending to a whole classroom, an entire center, or a custom audience you build. Push notifications and announcements work the same way. Newsletters use ready-to-go templates with your school’s branding — you pick a template, fill it in, and send.
How do newsletters work?+
Two ways. Pick from a library of beautifully designed templates — Field Trip Recap, End-of-Year Showcase, Holiday Celebration, Community Newsletter — fill in the content, and ship it. Or build from scratch on a blank canvas. Either way, your school’s logo, colors, and signature go on every send.
When should I use SMS instead of a push notification?+
Use SMS when the message has to land for everyone, even families who don’t open the app or have notifications off. Snow day, early closure, building emergency, urgent pickup needed. Push is great for daily moments — a new photo, a kudos post, today’s lunch — because parents who use the app see them instantly.
Can parents reply to messages?+
Yes — chat is two-way by design. Email replies land back in your inbox. SMS replies route to your inbox too if your number supports it. Push notifications open the parent app, where they can read, react, or reply. Newsletters are typically one-way, but they include links back to the parent app for replies.
What is the best childcare communication app?+
The best childcare communication app combines real-time chat, push notifications, daily activity reports with photos, newsletters, and SMS for emergencies. MyKidReports does all five plus 14 pre-built activity types (Food, Potty, Naps, Kudos, etc.) and unlimited custom activities. It's part of an all-in-one platform, so messages link to billing, attendance, and the child record automatically. Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp all rate MyKidReports 5.0 stars.
What is the best daycare app for parents?+
The best daycare app for parents lets them see their child's day in real time — photos, daily reports (food, naps, mood, activities), and chat with teachers. MyKidReports' parent app is free for families to download (iOS and Android), tied to a single login per child, and updates in real time as teachers post activities. Parents stay informed without phone tag or paper sheets at pickup.
What is the best app for parents to get real-time updates from daycare?+
MyKidReports delivers real-time updates from daycare through push notifications and the parent app feed. Teachers post activities (meals, naps, photos, milestones) as they happen — parents see them within seconds on their phone. Push notifications are reliable and fast; centers can also send SMS for emergency alerts that bypass app notification settings.
Are there free childcare communication apps?+
Yes. MyKidReports is free forever for childcare centers with up to 5 children — full communication features included (chat, push notifications, daily reports, photos, newsletters). Parents always download the parent app for free. Beyond 5 children, pricing is $0.99 per child per month with no setup fees, no contracts, and no per-staff charges.
Stop juggling 5 apps. Talk to parents from one.
Open MyKidReports free, invite your families, and start chatting. Push, newsletters, email, SMS, and the Activity Feed are already wired up — from day one.
