Children who attend preschool learn to use calendars at the age of 3 or 4. Your preschooler can learn to use a calendar at home, particularly if you introduce this Easy to Make Children’s Calendar in your home. In kindergarten, all children will be expected to learn to use a calendar in most public schools, if they haven’t already learned calendar skills at home or in preschool.
For an Easy to Make Children’s Calendar, you can either start with a ready made calendar, use calendar templates (one for each month), or create the whole calendar from scratch. If you use a ready made calendar or use calendar templates for your Easy to Make Children’s Calendar, be sure to choose ones with large boxes for each day. If you choose to make the basic calendar from scratch, cardstock is a good choice. You will have to measure it horizontally into sevenths for the seven days of the week and vertically into sevenths- the first section at the top should then be divided in half vertically, with the top half naming the month and the bottom half naming the days of the week in their appropriate sections. Then, using your household calendar as a guide, write in the dates for each day of each month in the appropriate spaces.
If you begin with calendar templates, you will need one for each month of the year. If these are not preprinted for the current year, you will need to check your own calendar and write in the dates for each day of each month in the appropriate spaces.
Once you have your basic calendar format, you will transform it into the Easy to Make Children’s Calendar. This calendar will be comprehensible to a child who does not yet read. For all of the major holidays, draw a simple picture in the square that symbolizes the holiday: for example, you might choose a heart for Valentine’s Day, a shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day, a bunny for Easter, a star of David for Passover, a flag for Flag Day, fireworks for Independence Day, a school bus for the first day of school, a sailing ship for Columbus Day, a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, a Turkey for Thanksgiving, a dreidel for Hanukkah, and a Christmas tree for Christmas. To depict family birthdays on the Easy to Make Children’s Calendar, cut the appropriate family member’s face from a photograph and affix to the calendar. Decorate any day on your Easy to Make Children’s Calendar that represents an important occasion in your child’s life. If you are planning a vacation, draw a suitcase on the day that you leave, and a picture of your home on the day you will return. If a relative is coming to visit, cut that relative’s face from a photo and paste it onto the arrival day along with a drawing of a suitcase.
Add to this Easy to Make Children’s Calendar as events get scheduled. Draw a tooth on the day your child has a dentist appointment. Draw a stethoscope for a planned doctor visit. Draw a book for that planned story time at the library. Draw a zoo animal for a planned outing to the zoo.
Using an Easy to Make Children’s Calendar will help a child learn counting skills or reinforce counting skills he already has. If your child knows how to count, he will already be able to count the days until an event happens himself by looking at the pictures on the calendar. If he has not learned to count yet, you can count with him as you look at the Easy to Make Children’s Calendar together.
Using the Easy to Make Children’s Calendar will not only teach your child calendar skills, it will introduce him to the rhythm of the year and the identity of the major holidays.
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Easy to Make Children’s Favorite Recipe Cookbook
How to Design and Sew a Children’s Doorway Puppet Theater
Easy and Elegant Easter Craft for Kids
Valentine Crafts: Ditch the Paper Hearts and Reclaim the Holiday History
Unique Valentines Day Crafts Invoking Basil’s Status as the Love Herb
