Today, I want to share with you a free printable calendar for preschoolers and kindergarteners. I came up with the idea for this calendar about a year ago, and like most of my projects, it was created for my kids first. The purpose of this traceable calendar was to have something where I could mark important dates that weren’t part of our weekly routine. I felt my kids needed something they could look at to answer questions like “How many days until my birthday? How many days until vacation? When will we go to the zoo? How many days until the weekend?”. The moment we started making it, I realized it was a good idea. Not only could they now keep track of days until something they were waiting for, but they could also cross off days that were in the past and understand what day we have now. They connected days, weeks, and months to the big idea of a year. It didn’t happen suddenly; it took time.
It has always been important for me to help my kids understand what will happen, when something is scheduled, and what is planned. I created a weekly calendar for both of them when they attended preschool. This is how they began to learn about weeks and days.
The first step was a weekly calendar that we used to keep track of our routine.
My daughter was about 3 years old when we began working on her calendar, and my son was a little younger (he just wanted to make his own calendar like his sister). I started with a weekly calendar for my daughter, drawing it on a large piece of paper, with each day having a different color to help us discuss the days by color rather than just by name. It was important for me to let her know that it was her calendar, so I glued some pictures of her onto it and signed it with her name. I laminated the calendar, so it became our dry-erase weekly planner, and we used it to mark all the important events happening that week. We used a simple foam sticker to mark the day, and every morning we would move the sticker to the new day. I would point to the day’s name and say what day it was, then we would check what was happening that day. We still have this calendar, and even though I don’t point at it anymore, she knows perfectly well which day of the week it is and what will happen that day. She still likes to use it for planning.
Step by step from weekly planner to monthly calendar for preschoolers
It was important for me to show my kids the concept of how days move from one to another, that there are seven days in a week, and that a month has more than four weeks.
Over time, my daughter’s weekly calendar became a place where we marked all repeating activities, such as swimming, ballet, mommy going out, and cleaning the house. In the monthly calendar, she marked all the important events coming up that month. We also started making a monthly calendar, which was hung close to the weekly calendar.
After some time, I saw my preschooler start to understand the concept of a calendar, and I was very proud of her. In the monthly calendar, she gained a bigger perspective and started to see that a month is made up of several weeks. If an event she was waiting for was more than a week away, she could count the days on the big calendar.
How can a preschooler use his calendar?
We are flying to Poland this year for the summer. The flight is on June 20th. For a long time, I’ve been hearing questions like “Mom, how many days until…”. And because it was too soon to create a calendar for June, I was patiently answering “Let’s count, we have 20 days left in May and 20 more in June, so how many will that be?”. But now June is here and we can make a calendar. Kids will mark the date June 20th in it and each day they will cross out one day to actually see when the flight is.
The calendar for a preschooler can be used to mark special days.
- Birthdays.
- Holidays, Christmas, and other days you celebrate.
- If you have more than one child, and children do something in turn, e.g., vacuuming, then in the calendar, the first letter of the name can indicate who on which day is obliged to do it.
- Special days in school, e.g., in my son’s preschool on Wednesday there is a special letter day, kids should bring an item starting with that letter this day, we mark letters in the calendar so he can prepare.
As you see, you can put in the calendar everything that is important, and you want your child to remember.
You might think my child is too small. It is possible. You are the mother, and no one knows your child better. But one thing you should know, your child does not have to know how to write and read to start creating his own calendar. A preschooler can learn the calendar if you let him draw important events and let him learn word recognition.
Free traceable monthly calendar for preschoolers
You can now download the free calendar by clicking on the button below. I consistently release the calendar for the upcoming month every last Monday of the current month. For instance, since today is the last Monday of November, clicking the button will get you the calendar for December. While I may not be the most consistent in regular Instagram and Facebook posts, I’ll always share a post about the new calendar for download. If you appreciate this monthly freebie and want to stay informed, consider following me on Instagram or Facebook.
These calendars are also available for purchase on my Etsy Etsy store or on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
If you enjoy my work, please share it with others. By saving it to your board on Pinterest, you are giving me the opportunity to reach more people who, like you, are looking for free worksheets. There are many ways to support small businesses for free, and pinning the picture is one of them 🙂
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