Monday Makings: DIY Children's Calendar (with downloadable graphics!)

I recently decided to make a calendar for Pumpkin, especially as she’s developing an interest in numbers, and with our busy schedule, I thought it would be helpful for both of us to have a visual representation of what the days and weeks hold for us. I wanted to make one rather than buy one so that I could tailor it to our specific needs. Not surprisingly, most children’s calendars don’t come with options for court hearings and visitation. I’m really pleased with how it turned out, so I thought I’d make all of the calendar graphics available for download for you, with a little tutorial on how to put everything together.

You will need:

• The downloadable calendar graphics found here
• Lamination supplies (you can use self-sealing laminating sheets, or get this laminator at Target for $17 - this is what I have)
• Magnets or a roll of magnet tape
• A magnetic whiteboard calendar

Before we begin, here are a few thoughts on the whiteboard calendar. I got mine at Target and the graphics I made are designed specifically to fit on this whiteboard. Unfortunately, I cannot find a link to that specific white board, but here is the exact same one in chalkboard form. If chalkboard is not your thing, this calendar looks pretty similar to the one I got. However, you could probably make anything work as long as it’s a similar size. You could even get a plain white board or other magnetic surface and draw your own lines. Let’s take it a step further and say it doesn’t have to be a magnetic surface; you could use Velcro.

Anyway, to begin, download and print out all of the files I’ve included. If you find that some of the activities or holidays don’t work for your family, omit them. I’ve included a blank square that you can use to customize your own. All of these graphics were made using Canva, a free online graphic design tool, which I highly recommend if you want to get creative without too much work. Once you have all your pieces printed, cut them out, laminate them, and cut them again. Attach magnets to the back of all the pieces except the following: the small days of the week headers, and the “weather” and “activities” headers. I attached these to my calendar with Command strips so they wouldn’t move around, but so I could easily remove them in the future if I wanted to. Attach those to your calendar as shown below, or wherever works best for your calendar.

And that’s all there is to it! All that’s left is to hope your kid doesn’t destroy it like mine is! =)