A Sticker for Every Kid at Daycare (Yes, All of Them)

The Idea That Hits You at Pick-Up

My son had a sticker of himself as a dinosaur rider on his drink bottle. He'd been showing it to every kid in the Possum Room for a week. One afternoon at pick-up, one of the other mums said, "Okay, where do I get one of those? Liam won't stop talking about it."

And I thought: what if I just did the whole room?

Twenty kids, each with their own character sticker. Their face, their name, whatever scene they're into. Space explorers and unicorn riders and pirates, all personalised. The kids would absolutely lose it.

Then the obvious problem. To make a personalised sticker you need a photo of the child's face. And these aren't my kids. I need permission from every parent in the room.

Talk to the Daycare First

Don't just rock up with consent forms. Talk to the room leader or centre director. Explain what you're thinking. Most of them love this kind of thing — it's a fun activity that costs them nothing and makes parents happy.

They'll want to know where the photos go. The short version: you upload a photo to stickerme.club, the AI uses it as a reference to create a cartoon illustration, and the original photo isn't printed on anything. The sticker is an illustrated character version of the kid, not a photo. Most educators get it immediately. A few will want to check with their director, which is fair.

Your centre probably already has a photo consent process for newsletters and learning journals. This is similar, but it's cleaner to do a separate consent specifically for the sticker project. One less thing to argue about later.

The Consent Form

Writing a consent form sounds like something you need a lawyer for. You don't. You need one page that's honest about what you're doing with the photos and gives parents a clear yes or no.

I've put one together that you can copy and adjust. Change the centre name, print it, done.

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Photo Consent — Sticker Project

[Centre Name] — [Room Name]

Hi families!

We're making personalised sticker sheets for the kids in the room. Each child gets an illustrated cartoon version of themselves as a character (think astronauts, dinosaurs, superheroes) with their name on it.

To create the illustration, we need a clear photo of your child's face. The photo gets uploaded to StickerMe (stickerme.club) where AI turns it into a cartoon character. The original photo isn't printed — just the illustrated version.

The privacy stuff:

• The photo is only used to generate the sticker design
• It won't be shared with other families or posted anywhere
• You can ask for it to be deleted anytime

Child's name: ___________________________

☐ Yes — happy for a photo to be used to make my child's sticker

☐ No thanks — my child will still get a sticker sheet with a fun character and their name, just not based on their photo

Signed: ______________________ Date: ____________

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The important bit is that "no" option. Kids who opt out still get a sticker. Same scene, same format, their name on it — just a generic character instead of one based on their photo. Nobody gets left out. Nobody knows the difference. Three-year-olds will absolutely notice if everyone else has a sticker and they don't, so this matters.

Getting the Forms Back

You know how forms work at daycare. You put them in the bag. They come home crumpled under a banana skin. Half of them never come back.

Put a deadline on it. "Back by Friday" works better than "whenever you can." Ask the educators to mention it at pick-up. If your centre uses an app like Storypark or Xplor, get the coordinator to send a digital version too — some parents are just faster with a screen than a piece of paper.

If a form doesn't come back, that's a no. Don't chase. Move on.

The Photos

Easiest approach: ask the educators to snap a quick photo of each child during free play. Near a window, natural light, front-on. Takes ten minutes for the whole room. The photos don't need to be good. They need to be clear enough to see the kid's face.

You can ask parents to send their own photos instead, but you'll get a mixed bag. Some will be perfect. Some will be dark, blurry, or taken mid-tantrum. (I got one that was clearly a screenshot from a video call. It worked, but only just.)

Picking the Scenes

You can go two ways. One scene for the whole room — everyone's a Space Explorer, the Koala Room are all astronauts, easy to order. Or let each kid have their own scene, which is more work but the kids care more. The educators usually know exactly what each child would pick. The one who won't take off the cape? Superhero. The one who's obsessed with cats? Cat Cafe. They know.

Add the child's first name as a label and you've got something that works as a daycare name label and a keepsake at the same time.

The Day You Hand Them Out

Do it during group time. Hand each kid their sticker sheet. That's it. That's the activity.

The reactions are the whole point. Eyes go wide. "IS THAT ME?!" gets yelled at a volume that suggests these children have never encountered indoor voice guidelines. They show each other. They compare. "You're a pirate!" "Well I'm a DRAGON." It goes on for a while.

Have your phone ready. Send a message to parents that afternoon. "Stickers were handed out — ask your child about their character." It'll be the first pick-up conversation in weeks that isn't "What did you do today?" "Nothing."

(The educators will probably want photos for the learning journals. Let them. This is the good content.)

Who Pays

Sort this out before you start. If it's your idea and you want to do something nice, just cover it. With WELCOME50 on your first order the cost per kid is pretty minimal. Some centres have a small activity budget that covers exactly this kind of thing. Or the parent committee funds it — this is the kind of low-cost, feel-good project they exist for.

Don't overthink it. Pick one approach, move on.

It's Not as Hard as It Sounds

Talk to the daycare. Hand out the form. Collect photos. Order stickers. Hand them out. That's it. Couple of weeks, start to finish.

The consent form is the bit that puts people off, which is why I wrote the template. Copy it, change the name, print it. The rest is just picking scenes and watching twenty small children have the best group time of the term.

Worth it. Every time.