Although it can be an enjoyable experience, running a daycare can also require lots of hard work and patience. Daycare providers have plenty on their plates, whether it is dealing with the day-to-day operations of the daycare center, meeting with parents, planning meals, generating reports, or any of the other tasks that require your attention. Whatever the case, there never seems to be enough time in the day for everything that needs to be done. Luckily, modern technology has found a way to make running a daycare much more efficient and simplified.

There are quite a few free applications that can make a daycare center director’s life much easier. The nine best applications for daycare providers that are free to use include:

HiMama
Famly
Educa
Kinderlime
OWNA
Smartcare

Table of Contents

HiMama

If you are looking for an application that does it all, look no further than this one. HiMama he’s capable of handling everything from scheduling to marketing for your daycare center. Perhaps the best feature of this application is that it encourages and fosters communication between daycare center providers, teachers, and parents through an instant messaging feature. Teachers are also able to easily keep track of their students’ activities through this application, as well as provide analytics recording operational metrics of the daycare center.

HiMama shines when it comes to its calendar features, allowing daycare center directors to sync their staffing calendar with the school’s online calendar. Another amazing feature of this application is that it allows you to keep track of meals, naps, and other daily tasks. Parents love using HiMama because it provides them with the opportunity to communicate with their children in real-time, which ensures that parents can keep track of their children’s well-being and happiness. Finally, this application also has an easy check-in and check-out feature, which makes dropping off and picking up children a breeze.

There is no charge for using this application.

Famly

Famly is considered to be one of the best daycare applications currently available. This application offers daycare center providers with cutting-edge technology and outstanding support from their developers. Famly’s signature feature is that it allows parents to have complete visibility into their child’s daycare center. This application also streamlines communication between the daycare center’s staff, director, and parents. Famly even has a feature that can help your daycare center with fundraising activities, which is something that most daycare applications cannot offer.

Like many other daycare applications, the calendar feature on Famly allows you to create and send invitations to your daycare center’s events, as well as keep parents informed on what is going on from day to day at your center. Your staff will also enjoy this application because it makes it quite easy to manage sick leave, vacations, and holidays. The occupancy controls on this application are top-notch, and it also allows you to share photos and videos with parents in real-time. This application has received rave reviews from staff members, daycare center directors, and parents.

Famly is a free-to-use application.

Educa

If you are looking to streamline the day-to-day operations of your daycare center, reduce your paperwork, and be more efficient, Educa is the perfect application for you. Your staff will love this application because it will give them the chance to keep track of their schedules easily. Parents will love this application because it encourages their children to learn by providing a self-learning platform. As a daycare center director, this application will also help you to track attendance, client details, and tuition. Educa also evaluates and improves your daycare center’s performance in an evidence-based manner.

Teacher development tracking and lesson plan management are also simplified through the use of this application. Parents are also able to track their children’s progress through Educa, which also makes assessment management much easier. When it comes to being adaptable, Educa also takes the crown because it is available on both iOS and Android platforms. Finally, this application gives you the ability to create invitations and reminders to events at your daycare center, keeping parents and your staff well-informed.

Although this application is not free to use, plans start as low as $1 per month.

Kinderlime

Running your daycare smoothly and efficiently is the name of the game when it comes to Kinderlime. This application affords you the chance to improve your business and gain valuable insight into your daycare center by making childcare management easy and accessible. If communication is a priority of your daycare center, this application is perfect for you. It allows you to communicate with parents through your online calendar, text messaging, or email, which helps to build better relationships between you, your staff, and the parents of your students.

Of all of the daycare provider applications on this list, Kinderlime is perhaps the best with account management by allowing parents to make online payments and through accounting automation. Because of its web-based administration, Kinderlime is practically worry-free, which is one less thing that you will have to worry about. You can also manage your students’ activities through this application, as well as provide their parents with a platform for communication and online reporting.

This is a low-cost application, with plans starting at $1.25 per month.

OWNA

OWNA allows daycare center providers to keep all of their data in one place, which makes managing your business much less complicated. If you want the ability to analyze how your daycare center is performing, OWNA has several options for generating just about any report you need. This application also makes keeping up-to-date with the number of students, parents, and families at your daycare quick and easy. You also have the option to keep track of your student’s attendance, which allows you to spot any potential problems which may arise with your students.

One of the features that daycare center directors find quite useful with this application is that it can integrate with Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or any other email provider. Meal and snack scheduling and planning are also available through OWNA. Parents and daycare center directors also find the interactive dashboard contained within this application to be useful, and most parents will love the ability to make online payments. Finally, OWNA also-ran allows you to schedule both in-person and online classes.

Like many of the other applications in this article, OWNA is free to use.

Check out these childcare management software systems!

Smartcare

One of the most important aspects of being a childcare provider is to keep an open line of communication between you, your staff, and your parents. Fortunately, this is Smartcare’s specialty. This cloud-based application allows parents to coordinate activities around their daycare’s schedule, as well as make online payments. In keeping with the importance of improving communications, Smartcare also keeps emergency contact information readily available in case it is needed. There is also an easy-to-use dashboard which most parents will find quite useful.

Another standout feature of this application is that it allows parents to monitor their children’s activities in real-time, like many other childcare provider applications. Daycare center directors love this application because it allows them to manage their employees’ schedules and their payroll from any device, and is easily integrated with other applications like Quickbooks. Smartcare also provides daycare providers with automated pickup notifications, which helps with attendance management. Billing and payment processing are also quick and easy with this application.

Smartcare is another low-cost application, with rates starting at $3 per month.

Conclusion

When it comes to running a daycare center, it seems like there is never enough time in the day to do everything you need to do. Thankfully, technology has made things a little easier with several free or low-cost applications that are readily available to help you run your daycare much more smoothly and efficiently. These applications make the day-to-day operations of your daycare center streamlined and simplified, with features ranging from attendance management to generating reports. Parents find that these applications are incredibly useful because they can communicate with the daycare center, make online payments, and get real-time updates on their children. Whichever application you choose, your daycare center cannot go wrong with any of these options.

The Six Best Free (Or Low Cost) Apps For Daycare Providers