Games to play using old Calendars
Do you have old calendars lying around from last year? Do you wonder if you should throw them away or look for ways to reuse them? We love to reuse and recycle around here! Yes, those old calendars too! One of the ways we used last year’s calendar is by playing games on them. Today we are going to show you a few games that we have played with our toddlers as well as our big kid. Some of these we have enjoyed together too!
We use old calendars in so many ways. We talked about making Heart Shaped Bookmarks with them a few days ago and today, we will show you another way to reuse them.
Games To Play With Old Calendars
A little imagination is all you need. There are so many things to learn from calendars. Those dates, months and pictures can be used in quite a few ways.
Calendar Bingo
This is a variation of Bingo. Each player calls out a number between 1and 30 and they both cancel it on their calendar. Each line as it finishes, a letter from the word BINGO is crossed out. The first to cross them all out is the winner. This is a fun travel game too. There can be as many players as there are the months!
What you need:
Two pages from a calendar (make sure both the sheets have either 30 or 31 days and not one of each!)
Pencil or Pen
Each person takes a sheet and writes a letter from the word BINGO at the end of each week.
Start the game by the first player calling out a number. Both players cross out the number on their sheets. The second takes his turn at calling out a number. Work at it till you get all the numbers done.
This is a fun game that teaches kids about the days of the month and weeks too. Be sure to point out to them what happens when one of them gets 31 days and the other gets 30 days. Ask them what months have 31 days and teach them to remember. Also, point out that not all months have the same number of weeks. The dates differ and days are all different. Get them to compare and see which month is similar.
Math Practice Games
There are a number of ways to play this game and you can teach children some math while at it.
Skip Count Game
One way we play, is to skip count on a calendar. Skip count in 2 with red sketch pen. Skip count in 5s with blue. Skip count in 10s with green. (There wont be many!) Skip count in 3s in brown. Shade the common numbers.
Skip Count Pattern Game:
Skip count in 2s and see what is the pattern.
Skip count in 3s and see what is the pattern.
skip count in 5s and see what is the pattern.
skip count in 10s and see what is the pattern.
Calendar Puzzles
Jigsaw Puzzles
For our toddler, we use the pictures from the calendar to make puzzles. We have tried quite a few variations to these and my children love them all.
These work best with the desk flip over calendars. You can cut out the pictures in squares and ask your child to assemble the pieces to form the pictures.
Mix and match Puzzles.
We use the flip over calendar as a whole too.
 |
| (This was my first try at it and my seven year old wanted to practice cutting them. I should have made lines for him to cut on!) |
Just cut picture part into long strips as shown in the picture. You can turn them one by one or a few together. Flip some of them over and leave some as it is. You can see that the picture is all mixed up and wrong. Just ask your child to get the pictures right. Sit back and watch. It will be some time till they get all of them correct! I had made this for my two year old but her brother wanted it all for himself!
Shape Puzzle
I made another more simpler puzzle for my two year old after her brother took the flip over one. This is more easy and can be included in a busy bag.
You can make all shapes in this. Just trace a shape and cut along such that the shape is protruding and it will fit like a ‘lock and key’.
These are just a few games that you can try making for your children that I can think of at the moment. What more games can you add to this list?
Join us on our Facebook Page and tell us what you think about these simple games to play using old Calendars. I’d love to hear your ideas!
Like this post? Here are a few more fun activities:
Thank you, Jeddah Mom, for sharing these! I love their simplicity and yet they are fun activities that will keep children occupied.