One of the regular activities at preschool or nursery school is talking about calendar. I know that there is controversy surrounding the calendar time, but I think there are many useful concepts that we can use to help children learn. It’s all about understanding our children well and making each activity and play appropriate for them.

I share teaching ideas for toddlers and preschoolers here at Everyday Funday, so I will show you how you can make a calendar time meaningful for toddlers and preschoolers.

Don’t try to teach the concept of time

The concept of time is too hard for toddlers and preschoolers. Even this, “yesterday was Sunday, today is Monday and tomorrow will be Tuesday” can be hard to understand. But don’t be frustrated about your child not getting it because that is natural. Toddler’s brain and preschooler’s brain are not developed yet to understand the concept of time .

Then why do we talk about calendar?

Well, calendar, days, dates and months are something that we always talk about in our everyday lives. We want children to understand what the calendar is, how it looks like, what it does in our lives. I’m all about exposing children first to something that we want to teach in a natural way. I believe when they are familiar with something, they are more likely to develop interest in that and more likely to be interested in hearing about that.

Sing songs

Singing is fun.😄 Teach these simple songs and sing them together.

🎶

January, February, March and April

May, June, July and August

September, October, November, December

12 months in a year

Look at the real calendar

Bring your desk calendar and look at it as you sing the calendar songs. If you don’t have an actual calendar, you can print out this kind of monthly calendar.

“Look, there is Sunday …… Saturday and there are seven of them all together. Like seven days in a week!”

Also try counting numbers from 1 to 31. Or you can post this on the wall and let your child look and try counting whenever they want.

Make it a routine

Look at it and talk about it everyday. Show them that the day changes everyday and the date (number) changes everyday.

You can make this kind of “Today” board.

You can put it in a sheet protector to reuse it everyday or just write it on a whiteboard.

We are not asking children to write on this 😉. This is for you to fill out. We just want to show children that there are month, day and date that represent “today”. Something is changed from yesterday and something is not. 🙃

When you have the calendar time at the beginning of the day everyday, it can work as a signal of the start of the day and you can add any other routines – that you want to have – following the calendar time.

Providing a routine and structure helps children feel secured and confident.

I have many more ideas about the calendar time and having a daily routine, so I will talk about this subject for the entire month of January 🙂

I hope this post helps you get some ideas about a meaningful calendar time and try it in your house with your children.

Happy learning and quality time!

Missangela👩🏻‍🦰🎀