Time will tell us what truly matters.
As an adult, we use a calendar every day. Whether it is hanging on the wall, lying on a desk, shoved into your purse, or found on an app in your phone, we could all agree the calendar is an extremely important and useful tool. Since the calendar is such an important tool, and arguably a necessity in our lives, we should be using it to teach our children important skills.
Ever since my daughter turned two years old, we have dedicated a specific time in our day (usually the morning) to doing specific calendar activities. This is a time where we discuss basic calendar concepts as well as incorporate other academic skills from a variety of subjects.
Click the video below for a peek into what our calendar time looks like.
Ideas For Calendar Time
I always start with the traditional calendar skills first. We discuss the current month, the day of the week, and the date. At the beginning of each month, I always write in upcoming special dates and holidays. After we discuss the date, we make sure to countdown to those special days. Not only does that teach math skills but it also helps build the excitement for what’s to come!
Music: We have so much fun incorporating music into our calendar time. Music plays such a vital role in education and helping children learn various skills. There are specific songs I tend to use each day during our calendar time. I have listed and linked a few of my favorites for you below:
Macarena Months of the Year with Dr. Jean
Learning Station 7 Days in a Week
Learning Station Months of Year
Weather & Seasons: Each day we discuss the current season and the type of weather that is occurring outside. I also like to ask questions to further their thinking. For instance, “How can we tell it is fall right now by looking outside?” or “What type of clothing should we wear outside today?” If your child is older, you could have them look up the weather and discuss the probability of rain, humidity levels, extreme weather forecasts, etc. You could even chart the weather each day and discuss the patterns you see! A farmer’s almanac would also be a fun tool to incorporate during your calendar time.
Social Studies & History: This subject is easily incorporated into your calendar time by elaborating on holidays and current events. For example, in the month of February, you can discuss Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and Black History Month. You could read fun facts, watch videos about the history of each of these holidays, do a small craft, or plan to get involved with an event in your community to celebrate.
Reading: On the surface level, we do learn how to read the months of the year, days of the week, and how to recognize numbers from the calendar. However, there are also important reading skills to teach that you might not think about. For instance, teaching a child that we read from left to right. We fill in the calendar from the left to the right. We read from the top to the bottom. We must fill in the calendar in consecutive order. We can also add important skills we are trying to reiterate. I love to hang letters, shapes, or colors next to our calendar. That way, I can point to the letter, discuss the letter name as well as say its sound. Once your child begins reading, you could also post sight words or vocabulary words to discuss too!
Toddlers: Young learners can also learn during calendar time. It is surprising how quickly they will catch on! Like I mentioned above, I started using a calendar with my daughter at age two. I would discuss and model everything for her, then have her place the number for the date on the calendar and count the numbers with me. I would sing the songs provided above to teach the important elements of the calendar. Then, I added other concepts like teaching colors and animal sounds, showing pictures for learning new words, singing additional songs, etc.
Bible/Scripture Memory Verse: I like to create, or find, a small poster with a Bible verse to hang on the wall next to our calendar. I match it to the story we are reading or the theme we are discussing at the time. We read it every morning as we finish our calendar time as a great way to start our day. A great place to find scripture poster printables is Christian Preschool Printables.
Calendar Time Tools
Technically, you could teach calendar skills by using a traditional wall calendar or even the calendar on your phone. HOWEVER, I really like having a large kid-friendly calendar on the wall so they are able to manipulate the pieces on their own. Hands-on learning is the best!
I originally purchased my classroom calendar from JoAnn’s but I don’t think they have as nice of a “teacher section” as they used to. I found other nice calendars for you on Amazon. I linked them below for your convenience.
Free Printable Calendar Numbers
The calendars I linked above come with standard numbers but if you are trying to focus on a specific theme or want to teach additional concepts like patterns then having other numbers to print for free can come in handy. I have compiled some links to FREE printable calendar numbers for quick access.
Free Downloads for the School Year
Homeschool Creations has Free and Paid versions. This is where I printed the numbers shown in the video above.
Free Bible Themed Calendar Cards
Free Create Your Own Calendar Printable
Other FREE Printables to add to your calendar time
FREE Real World Image 2-D & 3-D Shape Posters
FREE 10-Frame Posters Great for counting and adding skills!
*TIP: When I print numbers and posters for our calendar time I always print them on cardstock paper and then laminate it using my personal laminator. This will make these items durable and last a long time for you. I highly suggest you purchase your own laminator if you plan to print lots of activities for your children at home. This is my favorite laminator below. I believe I have been using it for about 7 years now and it is still going strong! I purchase either the Scotch brand laminating pouches OR when I make a trip to Sam’s Club I purchase their large pack of 200 laminating sheets.
I hope this article encourages you to incorporate a calendar time into your day and sparks ideas on how to best utilize this tool to teach your children at home.
*Disclosure: Links provided in this article are of products I have personally used in my home or early childhood classroom. I believe they are beneficial items that will assist you in educating your children. These links are special Amazon affiliate links. If/when someone purchases an item using the links provided it will send a small commission to help us further produce quality content for our readers.
