• Calendar crafts can help kids learn about dates and expanses of time.old calendar image by Allyson Ricketts from Fotolia.com
  
  Calendars not only help us keep track of the days of the week, but are cultural indicators, allowing us to become acquainted with the special holidays and events of our society. Calendar crafts can teach children how to read calendars while emphasizing the importance of times and dates. Instead of buying a calendar at the mall, children can make their own calendars at home and customize them with personal touches.
  
  

Holiday Advent Calendar

• Create a holiday advent calendar to count down to a special event. Help the kids gather small treats, such as wrapped candies or small toys.. Tape together six feet of construction paper or grocery bags. Place the treats--evenly spaced--against the construction paper, then press an individual piece of tape against each treat to hold it in place against the paper. Cut out colored construction paper in the shape of holiday symbols, such as trees or stars, then paint or draw numbers on each, counting down to a particular holiday or special event. Tape one numbered shaped on top of each treat. The calendar can be decorated by drawing or painting it with holiday shapes and words. Hang the holiday advent calendar against a wall to finish. The treats can be removed, once per day, by peeling away the number and tape for that particular day.
  
  

Themed Calendar

• Kids can complete a themed calendar either by themselves or in groups. In preparation for the new year, have kids pick a particular theme, such as seasons, animals, or a favorite movie or book series. After picking a theme, let the kids draw or paint 12 different pictures, one for each month of the year. For literary-minded kids, poems or short stories can accompany the pictures. Print out a basic calendar (see resources) from a free calendar website, then staple the pictures and poems to their corresponding months. Hang the themed calendar in the kids' rooms or on the refrigerator.
  
  

Astronomy Calendar

• Teach kids about the stars and planets by having them create a custom astronomy calendar. Give the kids a schedule of celestial events (see resources) for the next year to guide them while making the calendar. Print out a basic calendar and have the kids choose a picture of a celestial body, such as a star, moon, or planet, to accompany each month of the year. Have the kids draw miniature moons or place stickers on the calendar for the different phases of the moon during each month. Then write the dates of other important celestial events, such as the movement of the planets, solar eclipses and meteor showers, on the calendar. When finished, staple the pictures and calendar together and hang on the wall.
  
  

Geneaological Calendar

• Get kids interested in exploring family history with a genealogical calendar. Print out a blank calendar. Let kids sort through old family pictures to come up with pictures for every day of the month. Scan the pictures and print out copies for the kids to use in the calendar. Then have the children interview other relatives to get important information about family history, such as birth dates, marriage deaths and death dates. Help the kids record these dates on the calendar, along with their original year, so that they have a reminder of important family events.