Free Toddler Calendar Printable to Teach Concept of Time

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My 2 1/2 year old daughter is still learning the concept of time. She will ask me if things are “this day” (today) or “next day” (tomorrow). For a long time every thing was Tuesday, so she is learning. To help her understand when things are, I created this two week toddler calendar for her. It is super simple and has large enough boxes that I can draw her pictures that she can understand.

How to Make a Toddler Calendar:

Materials:

• White Cardstock
• Laminator (or packing tape or page sleeve)
• Dry Erase Marker

Creating a Toddler Calendar:

First, print out your free toddler calendar printable. I printed mine on cardstock to make it extra durable. Then, I quickly laminated it to make it work with dry erase markers. If you don’t have a laminator, you can cover it with packing tape or place it in a page sleeve instead. But, I would highly recommend getting a laminator, it is one of my favorite craft tools. I have made lots of other crafts with it like laminated paper dolls and a portable mailbox.

Lastly, I put my toddler calendar on my fridge so my daughter can see it, but can’t reach it. I can easily take it down to draw on it and talk to my toddler about what is coming up. I just held it up using a fridge magnet, but you can add magnetic tape to the back instead.

Using Our Calendar:

Since, my daughter is only 2 1/2 writing on this calendar wouldn’t do any good. Instead, I draw her pictures on it with a dry erase marker and talk her through what they mean. I try to use a lot of time based words like tomorrow, yesterday, today, next, and the days of the week. This has started to help her understand that not every day is Tuesday and develop a slight understanding of the future. Here are some other ways to teach a toddler about time from Empowered Parents.

At the start of a week, I update my calendar to show the next two weeks. Then, as things pop up throughout the week, I will add them and talk to my daughter about them. I can also do the same thing when things get cancelled, so she doesn’t keep asking about them. Deciding what to draw for each activity is a fun challenge. I am glad she is only a toddler and can’t be too critical of my crude pictures.

Enjoy trying this calendar with your own toddler. What fun ways have you started teaching your child about time?