Daycare Check-In Kiosk

Setup guide. One-time setup takes about 20 minutes.

The kiosk is a web page that lives on a tablet by your front door. A parent scans their child's card, the screen turns green or orange, a chime plays, and the check-in or check-out is recorded. Everything is stored on the tablet itself. Nothing goes anywhere else unless you connect your own Google Sheet in step 6.

1. Open the kiosk page

1. On the tablet, open Safari (iPad) or Chrome (Android).
2. Type the kiosk's web address into the address bar and open it.
3. Bookmark it so it is easy to find again.

2. Set your PIN

1. Tap the small gear in the bottom right corner of the kiosk screen.
2. Tap the PIN tab.
3. Type a PIN of 4 to 8 digits, type it again, tap Save PIN.

The PIN keeps parents and kids out of the settings. Only you need it.

3. Add your families and children

One card covers a whole family. Brothers and sisters scan once, together, and you remove anyone who is not there afterwards.

1. In settings, tap the Children tab, then + Add family.
2. Family name is optional and only for your own lists. Pick the animal for their card. Tap Save.
3. It asks for the first child straight away. Display name is what shows on the kiosk screen. Full name goes only in your records. If you would rather waiting parents not read your roster off the screen, use a nickname as the display name.
4. To add a brother or sister to the same card, tap + Add child here under that family.

4. Print the cards

1. In settings, tap Print cards.
2. Cards are QR codes with a friendly animal on them, so a toddler can find their own card before they can read their own name. Each child gets a different animal, and you can change it on the child's entry.
3. Tap Print cards and print the page. Print two copies so each pickup adult has a card.
4. Cut along the dashed lines. Cards last much longer laminated or slipped into a badge holder on a keychain.

Or send the card to the parent's phone: in the same tab, under Phone cards, tap Send next to a child's name and text or email the card image to the parent. They save it to their photos and show their screen at the door.

5. No scanner? Let the camera watch

The kiosk can keep the camera on and check a child in the moment their code comes into view, so nobody has to tap anything. Good for testing, and good if you never want to buy a scanner.

1. Tap the gear, enter your PIN, then tap the Camera tab.
2. Pick On, front camera if the tablet faces the parent, so they hold their card or phone up toward the screen. Pick On, back camera if the tablet faces a spot on the counter where cards get laid down.
3. Tap Back to kiosk. Safari asks for camera permission the first time: tap Allow.
4. A small camera window appears on the kiosk screen. Hold a card in front of it. It should chime and turn green within a second.

A card left lying in front of the camera will not check the child in over and over. The kiosk ignores a code that stays in view, and only accepts it again once it has been out of sight for a few seconds.

6. Connect your Google Sheet (optional but recommended)

This gives you a live attendance record in your own Google account, safe even if the tablet is lost. You set it up once, in your own Google account, and only you can see it.

1. On a computer, go to sheets.google.com, sign in, and make a new blank spreadsheet. Name it something like "Attendance".
2. In the spreadsheet menu, click Extensions, then Apps Script. A new tab opens with a code editor.
3. Back on the kiosk: gear, PIN, Google Sheet tab, tap Show the script to copy, then Copy script. (Doing this part on the computer is easier: open the kiosk page on the computer too and copy it there.)
4. In the Apps Script editor, delete the few lines already there, paste the script, and click the little disk icon to save.
5. Click the blue Deploy button, then New deployment.
6. Click the gear next to "Select type" and choose Web app.
7. Set Execute as: Me and Who has access: Anyone. Then click Deploy.
8. Google asks for permission. Click Authorize access, pick your account. You will see a warning that the app is not verified. That is normal: it is your own private script, so Google has never reviewed it. Click Advanced, then Go to ... (unsafe), then Allow.
9. Copy the long Web app URL it shows you.
10. On the kiosk: settings, Google Sheet tab, paste the URL into the box, tap Save, then Test connection. You should see "Connected!".

7. Lock the tablet to the kiosk

iPad:

1. Keep the screen on: Settings, Display & Brightness, Auto-Lock, choose Never.
2. Turn on Guided Access: Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access, switch it on, tap Passcode Settings and set a passcode.
3. Open the kiosk page in Safari, then press the top (or side) button three times fast. Tap Start. The iPad is now locked to the kiosk.
4. To leave later: triple-press the same button and enter your passcode.

Android tablet:

1. Keep the screen on: Settings, Display, Screen timeout, pick the longest option.
2. Turn on pinning: Settings, Security (or Security & privacy), App pinning (sometimes under "More security settings"), switch it on.
3. Open the kiosk page in Chrome, open Recents (square button or swipe up and hold), tap the Chrome icon at the top of its card, tap Pin.

Brothers and sisters, and days that do not go to plan

One scan covers everyone on the card. The screen then lists each child with an × beside them.

• Everyone came together: scan once and walk away. Nothing else to do.
• One child is home sick: scan, then tap × next to the one who is not here. The screen shows them greyed out, and you can tap Undo if you hit the wrong one.
• One child leaves early for a doctor: scan to check out, then × the sibling who is staying. The sibling stays checked in and can be checked out normally later.
• That child comes back: scan again. The kiosk works each child out separately, so it will show one checking in and the other checking out. Tap × on whoever should not change.
• Card left at home: tap No card? Tap here on the kiosk screen and pick the family from the list.

Each day starts fresh. The first scan of the day checks a child in, the next one checks them out. A late pick-up just after midnight still counts as a check-out, not a new arrival.

Every day

• Green screen + rising chime: checked in. Orange screen + falling chime: checked out. Red screen + buzz: card not recognized, try again or fix it in settings.
• Scanning twice by accident does not double-record. Within a minute, a second scan just shows the same confirmation again.
• If the wifi drops, keep scanning. Everything is saved on the tablet and syncs to your sheet by itself when the internet comes back.
• Forgot a check-out, or a parent forgot their card? Gear, PIN, Attendance tab: add or fix any entry by hand.
• Once a month, go to Export and download a CSV as a backup copy of your records.