Though research states that young children don’t truly understand time concepts until the first or second grade, the use of a calendar can teach of variety of developmental tasks.

One, is the memorization of the days of of the week and months of the year.

There are also several meaningful ways to introduce preschool-age children to counting, sequencing, one-to-one correspondence, and simple addition through the regular application of a calendar in the preschool classroom.

Using a large laminated calendar template, teachers can guide children in learning how to number the days of each month. We also sing a variety of songs to enforce days of the week and months of the year.

For this activity, we used plastic jewels and real calendars to practice counting from one to thirty and from thirty to one. As each number was called out, students were encouraged to place a jewel on the appropriate number.