Are you struggling to teach your preschooler how to use a calendar? I’ve been amazed at how many lesson plans include learning to use a calendar when my kids learn the skill at an early age. I have never included calendar lessons in our math lessons or morning times. Yet all six kids easily and painlessly learned to use a calendar.

And my secret?

I keep a calendar in the kitchen.

That’s it!

Every month I hang this month and next month’s calendar on the fridge. It includes all outings, birthdays, and holidays. The kids are inspired to use it!

At the beginning of the month, the preschoolers and I draw pictures on important events. This means that Christmas gets a Christmas tree drawn on the day, Easter an egg, and birthdays a cake. We’ve put hearts on Valentine’s day, shamrocks on St. Patrick’s day, and turkey’s on Thanksgiving.

The kids love it when I allow them to draw the pictures. Some months my calendar is very colorful!

Together we count the days until Easter or the next birthday. The little ones enthusiastically cross yesterday off the calendar as they watch their next anticipated holiday creep closer and closer.

Or as a young daughter once said, “I know my birthday is coming because it finally showed up on the calendar!”

Instead of struggling to teach your children how to use a calendar, try hanging a calendar in the kitchen. With your child, add all the holidays your family celebrates. Add play dates with friends as well as birthday parties, field trips, and picnics.

Your child will quickly learn to check the calendar for their next eagerly anticipated event instead of regaling you with the constant refrain, “When is Christmas ever going to get here?”

And should they ask, the answer is simple.

Let’s check the calendar!

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