Teaching young kids how days, weeks and months fit together can be surprisingly difficult. We understand what “next week” or “in two months” means, but to a toddler or preschooler, anything that isn’t happening right now can feel very far away—or like it should be happening tomorrow.
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I originally created this printable kids calendar when my son was little and started asking about his birthday. Every day, he would ask me, “Is it my birthday?”
At first, it was funny. But after months of the same question, I realized he really didn’t understand how much time had to pass before his birthday came around again.
We started using a simple daily calendar routine to help him understand days, dates and the passage of time. Eventually, I turned the calendar I’d drawn for him into this reusable printable version.
You can download the free printable calendar below. It includes all 12 months and reusable number pieces, so it isn’t tied to a particular year.
Why I Made This Calendar for My Kids
When my son first started asking about his birthday, my husband and I tried explaining the concept of time in ways that made sense for his age.
We talked about the difference between day and night and explained that another day had passed each time he went to bed and woke up again. Eventually, I drew a calendar directly on his chalkboard wall, and every night we had him cross off another day.
That simple visual helped.
After a few months, I decided to make something a little cleaner that we could hang on the wall next to his bed. I created a calendar with individual number pieces so that instead of only crossing off the days, he could physically place each new date onto the calendar.
It gave us an easy, hands-on way to talk about numbers, days of the week, months and upcoming events as part of our regular routine.
How We Used Our Daily Kids Calendar
Our calendar routine was very simple.
Each day, we would find the correct number and add it to the calendar. We could say the day of the week, look at which days had already passed and talk about what was coming next.
Because the calendar was right there on the wall, the kids could see and touch the words and numbers instead of only hearing us talk about them.
As my son became more interested in letters and numbers, the calendar gave us another natural opportunity to practice them without turning it into a formal lesson.
His younger sister was learning along with us, too. Even when she wasn’t actively participating, she was listening—and every once in a while she would surprise us by answering before he did.
What Young Kids Can Learn From a Calendar
A simple calendar can introduce quite a few early learning concepts at once, especially during the toddler, preschool and Pre-K years.
We used ours to practice:
- Number recognition
- Two-digit numbers
- Days of the week
- Months of the year
- The order of days and dates
- Recognizing that days have passed
- Looking ahead to upcoming events
- Understanding ideas like yesterday, today and tomorrow
- Beginning to understand longer periods of time
It also gave us a concrete way to answer questions like When is my birthday? or When are we going to ___?
Instead of only saying “next week,” we could look at the calendar together and actually see how many days were left.
And because we are a multilingual family, the calendar became another easy way to introduce the same vocabulary in different languages. We could practice numbers, days and months in English, Spanish and Portuguese as those languages naturally came up at home.
Free Printable Kids Calendar
I created this calendar for our own family, but it was so useful during those early years that I wanted to make it available for other families too.
The printable includes 12 blank monthly calendars plus a set of numbers to cut out.
Because the dates aren’t permanently printed onto each month, the calendar isn’t tied to a specific year. You can arrange the numbers to match the current month and reuse the printable again later.
→ DOWNLOAD THE FREE PRINTABLE KIDS CALENDAR
No email signup or password is needed. Just open the file, download it and print the pages you need.
How to Set Up the Printable Calendar
You can print the calendar on regular printer paper, but I prefer cardstock for the number pieces because it’s sturdier and holds up better to little hands.
Cut out the individual numbers and arrange them on the correct dates for the month you’re working on.
We originally used small pieces of double-sided tape to attach the numbers. This made it easy for my son to physically place each day’s number onto the calendar as part of our routine.
You could also adapt the setup depending on how you plan to use it. If you want the pieces to last longer, laminating them is another option.
Keep the extra number pieces in a small envelope, container or organizer near the calendar so they’re easy to find each day.
You don’t need an elaborate setup. The point is simply to make the calendar visible and easy enough for your child to interact with regularly.
Learning Through Everyday Routines
One of the things I like about activities like this is that they don’t have to feel like formal school.
For a young child, putting a number on a calendar, counting how many days are left until a birthday, recognizing the word Monday, building something with magnetic tiles or helping with an everyday task can all become opportunities to learn.
The calendar worked for us because it answered a question my son was already asking. He wanted to know when something was going to happen, and the calendar gave us a visual way to start explaining it.
If you’re looking for more of the toys, games, books, art supplies and other resources we’ve used over the years, I share more in What We Actually Use for Learning at Home.
You may also like 50+ Best Gift Ideas for Curious Kids Ages 8–12 if you’re shopping for older kids who enjoy building, experimenting, creating and figuring things out.
Sometimes the simplest tools end up being the ones that stick. For us, this little calendar started with a toddler asking, “Is it my birthday?” over and over again—and turned into an easy daily routine for learning about numbers, days, months and time.
Hi, I’m Paula — mom of two growing kids, lifelong overthinker, and the person behind Thanks Mommy. I share thoughtful parenting, raising curious and independent kids, creativity, learning at home, simple recipes, and the everyday things we learn along the way.
I used something like this in my preschool and it proved extremely valuable!
I love this calendar idea…anything to keep my family on track works great for me
Since the quarantine we have been singing the days of the week and drawing what the weather looks like on the calendar everyday. So much learning takes place via a calendar.
Great idea! The concept of time is a tough one to teach I’m sure. We’re not there yet but getting closer! Thanks for sharing!
Great idea !!! We also did it for our son..