Calendars Handmade By Kids
Steps to Follow for a Great Learning Experience
Children with an artistic bent will certainly enjoy designing and producing their own calendars with this educational calendar project for kids.
Students can make their own handmade calendars to learn how calendars work, how to read one, and how to use one. Creating a calendar is a wonderful project for classroom or for the homeschool student and can aid in learning the days and months. What better way to learn about calendars than through the experience of hand-crafting one? Kids also learn the days and months since they will print them repeatedly in this art project.
Most people today use the Georgian Calendar which was worked out by Pope Gregory XIII. It has 12 months. Each month has 30 or 31 days, except February which has 28. The years total to 365 days and there is an extra 5 hours, and 48 minutes per year. Leap Day adds those in every fourth year to make up the extra 24 hours. In the leap year February has 29 days.
What You Need to Begin:
To begin the process of creating his own calendar, the child should procure and measure heavy paper in the size he wishes his calendar to be. Remember that thin paper will hang over at the top corners and spoil the effect, so use a sturdy paper. Have a ruler, magazines or old calendars you can cut up, fine point markers like a black Sharpie, ruler, hole punch, stickers, and glue. You may also need a book of quotations or a Bible.
Decide on a theme for the calendar. The theme can be any subject of interest to the student, for example: horses, flowers, postage stamps, birds, trees, butterflies, dogs, kittens, family, holidays, etc. This will determine which pictures are chosen or drawn for each month and also what quotations or verses to add.
The First Step--Calendar Design:
To decide how he wants to go about designing a calendar the student should look at calendars in the home or classroom to get a feel for how the pages of his handmade calendar should be laid out. How are different types of calendars put together? How are they structured?
Marking the Grids:
The first step is to mark off a grid with one inch squares, seven across and five down. Try to get these as straight and neat as possible. Make the squares large enough to write notes in.
Label the Months:
Now fill in the names of the months in large letters above the grid. Be sure to spell them correctly. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. You will need to make a page for each month.
Label the Weekdays:
Next, fill in the names of the weekdays across each months grid: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The student should learn the spellings and abbreviations of months and days of week.
Fill in the Numbers:
Consult a current calendar to find what day of the week the month starts on. Find that square in the first horizontal column and put the numeral one in it. Write the year on every page.
Decorate the Months:
The next step is to choose a picture to fit the season of each month. Think Seasonal. Choose three spring, three summer, three autumn, and three winter pictures.
Drawing each picture or making collage style pictures to fit each month may be the design choice for some students.
Another option would be to print off family photos from digital film files on your home computer. These can each be made to act as calendar pictures. Try to pick photos that match the season or a holiday found in that month.
Add a Quotation or Bible verse:
After gluing the pictures in place above the day grids for each month, decorate further by adding a Bible verse or quotation across the bottom of the picture or grid.
Staple and Punch for Hanging:
The pages should be put together into a wall hanging with holes punched in the center of each grid page for hanging as the months pass. Staple the twelve sections together from the center fold of the pages.
Mark special Days and Holidays:
Don’t forget to label or use stickers to mark major holidays and special occasions. Hang your completed calendar in your classroom, your bedroom, kitchen or family room where the whole family can enjoy it. Kid-crafted calendars are a hit with grandparents and when decorated with family photos become precious keepsakes.
