Daycare and Kindergarten signs: The best essential signage designs

Signage plays a critical role in childcare centres, communicating key information and creating a welcoming environment.

Signs are important for various purposes, including safety, navigation, and identifying key locations. These signs are also intended for multiple audiences, including visitors, parents, and staff.

In this article, we outline the various types of childcare signs and why you need them. We also explore why signage is so important in childcare environments, showcasing examples from real case studies around Australia. 

Types of Childcare Signs

There are many different types of kindergarten signs and daycare signs, including both informative and creative designs. When implementing signage, it can be difficult to know where to start. To guide you, we’ve outlined the key types you need.

Identity signs

Identity signage is generally installed on the building’s exterior or near the property boundary. It is used to distinguish your centre from others in the area and can assist in showing visitors where to go. It should be clear and prominent, allowing visitors to identify your daycare quickly. 
We love to use illumination on some of our signs along the roadside or in front of the building. This maximises your visibility and adds depth and interest to your signs, elevating your brand image.

Reception signs

The main office is one of the first key touch points for your visitors, forming a large portion of their first impression. With effective reception signs you can create a memorable experience and promote trust in your services. 

Internal signs and door signs

Directional signage and door signs ensure everyone can find their way around. This minimises confusion for your visitors as well as disruptions to children and staff in various rooms. 

Room signs

If your childcare comprises more than one room, we recommend installing clear signs to identify what each room is for. This may include bathroom facilities, staff-only areas, staff parking areas, classrooms, and offices.

Murals and illustrations

Murals enhance daycare centres with welcoming and engaging designs. Murals are an effective tool for visual storytelling, creating clear and engaging displays of the alphabet, numbers, maps, or other educational designs. Murals can also be a great way to promote calmness, imagination, and creativity.

Murals also help define different areas, such as play areas or reading nooks. This transforms a blank wall into a vibrant and inspiring space that supports children’s well-being. 

How to design childcare signage for different audiences

There are three key target audiences for signage in childcare environments — the children, the parents and caregivers, and the staff. Each group has unique needs and expectations, requiring strategic design to convey messages and enhance engagement. 

Children

When the intended audience is children, we recommend using playful colours and plain language on the signage. This encourages engagement and can help kids navigate their environment. Since many young children cannot yet read fluently, incorporating visual cues makes signage more intuitive. It is also important to consider a child’s height when positioning signage to maximise visibility.

Key signs for this group include: 

• Illustrations for rooms and bathrooms. 
• Directional footprints or arrows.
• Behavioural reminders and rules. 
• Values signs.
• Educational signs.
• Routine and activity signs.
• Murals or playful graphics.

Parents and caregivers

Signage is an effective tool for communicating with parents and caregivers. To build trust with them, your signage should reinforce a sense of security and reassurance. This not only improves the parent’s experience but also increases the likelihood of new parents enrolling their children.

Key signs for this group include: 

• Wayfinding signage for parking and buildings.
• Reception signage and welcome signs.
• Identity Signage.

Staff

For educators and staff, signage maintains smooth operations and ensures safety. It might not seem important, however, to new staff members, signage is needed to ensure effective navigation to reception areas and around the centre. Staff-focused signs should be clear, functional, and strategically placed to be most effective. 

Key signs for this group include: 

• Staff-only area signage for private spaces.
• Classroom and schedule signage.

Other visitors

There is also another group of people who may visit your centre, including tradespeople, or other visitors. In most cases, these people are unfamiliar with the premises but need to complete a job somewhere on-site. With clear signs and directions, the disruption caused can be minimised. 

Key signs for this group include:

• Reception signage. 
• Clear wayfinding signage. 

Signage design for multi-location brands

If you manage a multi-location childcare organisation, every sign must be aligned with the overarching brand. The challenge is achieving consistency across all sites, while also optimising the functionality at individual centres. 

At Corporate Sign Industries, we achieve this with our unique site-auditing approach. By assessing each location individually and as a collective, we can create a comprehensive signage family design for your facilities. This signage family design details materials, finishes, and design specifications to ensure all signs reflect your brand.

Your guide to daycare signs and kindergarten signs

At Corporate Sign Industries, we specialise in a range of signage for childcare centres, kindergartens, and daycares. Download our free Childcare Signage Brochure for more information, including inspiring projects and design advice from our team.