DIY Calendar Morning Board- Free Printables!
Start the day with a DIY Calendar Morning Board! Kids can check the weather, mark their calendar, and prepare for their day! Free calendar and weather printables are available in five languages.
Today I’m excited to share with you a fun tutorial for making a DIY Calendar Morning Board! For the next few days I’ll be sharing different calendar set-ups and ways you can use my calendar printables. A morning board is the great way to start the day with young ones! It is the perfect time to talk about the day, check the weather and learn new vocabulary. A morning board is colorful and fun for kids, plus it helps parents, caregivers and teachers stay organized.
I have shared tutorials for creating my DIY Children’s Calendar, usually on a dry-erase board or chalkboard that is about 17″ x 23″. This is a good size that fits a lot of the basics, but sometimes you need more room and using a foam board or tri-fold display board is perfect. This morning board is made with a white foam board that measures 20″ x 28″. You can find them at your local craft store as well as Target or Office stores. Leave the board all white or use colored paper to decorate it. The colored paper can also also help separate the board into sections. My morning board in English has five sections:
- Customized Header
- The Calendar
- The Weather
- Daily Learning Cards
- Daily Activities and Holidays
Depending on the age of your learner you can create sections for whatever you are studying such as a clock, a math problem, a map and so on. I used my free calendar printables for the calendar and weather sections. For the Daily Learning Cards I used cards from my Preschool Learning card pack, Color Flashcards and Animal Flashcards, all available in my Etsy shop. For the Daily Activities and Holidays section I used cards from my Daily Activity and Holiday card sets, also available in my Etsy shop.
My free calendar printables come in multiple languages including English, Spanish, French, Italian, Hawaiian, Korean and Portuguese. You can download the free files at the bottom of my DIY Children’s Calendar post. Below are morning boards I have made with my dual language English and Spanish cards and also my French calendar cards.
Supplies Needed
- Calendar Printables
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- Free DIY Children’s Calendar printables are located at the bottom of my DIY Children’s Calendar Post.
- Calendar extras are located in my Etsy Shop
- Foam board – I used an Elmer 20″ x 28″ Foam Board
- 110 lb white paper
- Laminator and Thermal Laminating Pouches
- Paper Trimmer
- Scissors – small sharp paper scissors work best for cutting bunny clothing
- Stikki Clips
- Velcro 3/8″ Thin Clear Fasteners
- Double-Sided Tape – I used 1/2″ Scor-Tape
Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step One: Print and laminate the printables you plan on using. You do not need to laminate the cards, but they will last a lot longer if you do. I used a laminator which is really fun to use but in the past I’ve used Avery self laminating sheets that also work great!
Step Two: Trim and cut out all of the pieces. I used a paper trimmer for all of the straight lines and I used a sharp scissors to cut out the bunnies and their weather clothing.
The Calendar Section
Step Three: Create the Calendar section using the free printable calendar cards. Tape down the pieces that do not need to change using double-sided tape. Use Stikki-Clips for everything that will need to be changed daily. Print off the calendar pages for each month and tape them to the board. Kids can mark off each day with a sticker or by crossing them off with a crayon or marker.
To create a perpetual calendar, print the blank calendar page, included at the end of each main calendar packet. Laminate it and use the printable numbers with Velcro Thin Clear Fasteners. Kids can add the number each day and the same calendar page can be used over and over again!
The Weather Section
Step Four: Create the Weather section! Assemble the cards the same way as the calendar pieces by taping down the ones that do not need to change each day and using Stikki-Clips for the ones that do.
To create the bunnies that can be dressed for the weather each day, I have found that Velcro Thin Clear Fasteners work best. Start by placing the Velcro “dots” (the rough side) on the bunnies – one on the head, one on the feet, and three in the shirt area.
Cover those dots with the matching dots (the soft side), then place a piece of clothing on top of the bunny and press down. Lift the piece of clothing off and the soft dots will be stuck to it. Repeat for all the pieces of clothing you want to use.
Repeat for the second bunny if using two.
The bunny clothes can be stored with the other calendar printables or add them to the board using more fasteners as I did for my Spanish morning board.
The thermometer can be used with a little arrow to mark the temperature for the day. Place clear dots along each temperature and then a coordinating dot on the back of an arrow.
The weather section is complete and ready to be used!
Daily Learning Cards Section
Step Five: The next section I included on my morning board is a place for daily learning cards! For my English morning board I used cards from my Preschool Learning Card Set, Color Card Set and Animal Flashcard Card Set. The labels like “Color of the Day” are all included in the English free calendar packet.
Daily Activity Cards
Step Six: Daily Activity Cards! The final section on my morning board is the Daily Activity Cards. These are available in my Etsy shop in English, Spanish and French and measure 3″ x 3.25″. I love including these cards with my morning boards and calendars because they teach young learners new vocabulary and can be used to help plan the day. When there is a holiday, I use this section to display the cards from my Holiday Card Set.
I also have a set of Visual Schedule Cards in my shop, which measure 2″ x 8″, and are editable. They include a font that supports accents, so you can edit them for any language.
Step Seven: Finally, add a header label to the top of the morning board. This is a great place to personalize the calendar. The file is available for free in my Resource Library and works with Adobe Reader, which is a free software you can download online.
The morning board is finished and ready to be used daily! You can truly make your board customized to your learner(s).
I hope you found this tutorial helpful! It is another fun way you can use my calendar printables! :)