DIY Children’s Calendar

Create a handmade Children’s Calendar with the Crafting Cheerfully free calendar printables! Available in four languages with lots of fun ways to personalize the calendar to make it your own!

This DIY Children’s Calendar is a fun DIY and a great way to start each day with your little ones! I created this calendar when my son was just a toddler and I have enjoyed using it with both of my kids. It has been an excellent way for my kids to learn their days of the week, months, and the weather, and it has also given them a chance to be a part of planning our day. 

Since creating the calendar I have continued to add on to it and some of the pieces have evolved as I learned what worked best with my kids and what you have asked for! I use this post as a central hub for all of the parts of the calendar. Any updates I have made will still work with previous versions of this calendar! I am continuing to add new calendar pages for each year – the 2021 calendar pages are now available.

The best part of this DIY Children’s calendar is how much you can customize it to fit the needs of your kids and family! You can set your calendar up exactly as I have or grab bits and pieces of it and create your own. The main parts of the calendar are all available for FREE in four languages – English, Spanish, French and Italian. These include the days of the week, months, calendar pages, and the cute bunnies your kids can dress each day for the weather! Calendar extras like activity cards and holiday cards are available in my Etsy shop. Many of you have asked for activity cards in Spanish and French and those are now available in my shop as well! I hope you and your kids enjoy this calendar as much as we have! If you use the printables or create your own calendar, I’d love to see! Use the hashtag #craftingcheerfullycalendar or tag me @craftingcheerfully :) 

The Calendar

Assembling the Calendar

My DIY Children’s Calendar can be created so many different ways. You can make your calendar magnetic by adhering the printables to sheets of magnet. Another fun option is Stikki clips or Velcro Dots. Use a dry erase board, magnet board or foam board. I have seen lots of you also use trifold boards and create a calendar station with the printables which looks awesome! Laminating the printables will help them to last longer. 

How to make the Calendar Pieces into Magnets

*Links to supplies I used are at the end of the post :)

Step 1: Download and print the printables you want to use for your calendar.

I print on 110lb Neenah white paper but you can print on regular printer paper as well.

Step 2: Next laminate the printables for extra durability.

You can do this with a laminator or with self-laminating sheets. When I plan to adhere my printables to magnet sheets, I actually prefer the self-laminating sheets because I can just laminate the top side of the printables. This works especially well with the bunnies, since using a laminator does create a thicker lamination which can make the magnets less magnetic!

Step 3: Cut out the printables!

Use a paper trimmer or scissors. Lay the printables on the sticky side of a magnet sheet, then cut around each piece. I always cut my pieces out prior to laying them on the magnet sheets just so I can fit as many things on each sheet or roll as possible! It also makes them easier to cut since the magnet sheets are quite thick to begin with. I used Craftopia Magnetic Adhesive Sheets Pack off Amazon. It came with ten 8″x10″ sheets which was enough to make all of the magnets for one calendar including days of the week, months, years, days, weather plus four bunnies and their basic clothing. If you want to make all 8 bunnies available plus their extra clothing, you will need more magnet sheets.

The magnets will be all ready for the calendar!

How to Use the Calendar Pieces with Clips and Velcro Dots

Another fun option, which is usually quicker and cheaper than the making magnets, is to create the calendar with Stikki-clips and Velco Dots. The Stikki-clips are reusable and will work well on foam board. When I create my calendar this way, I like to use my lamintor to laminate both sides of the cards. Clear 3/8″ Velcro Dots work great for adding clothing to the bunnies.

The board pictured below is from the Target Dollar Spot and I taped a piece of orange construction paper on i to make a mini calendar board.

Weather Printables

The weather printables have helped my kids think about what is happening outside, the temperature, and how to dress appropriately for the weather. You can create a board just for the weather like the one below!

The Bunnies!

We dress our bunnies each day depending on what the weather is like outside. The bunnies are now available in four different fur colors as well as standing or sitting in a wheelchair. The packets includes a boy and girl bunny in each fur color.  The bunnies can be turned into magnets or used with Velcro Dots. Read more about how to make the bunnies by visiting this post, Calendar Bunnies.  These bunnies really are a fun part of this calendar and give kids a chance to apply what they are learning about the weather and temperature. 

The bunnies are also available in a Color-Your-Own version. Download this packet and you or your kids can color in their own bunnies and accessories to use with their calendar!

Storing the Calendar Pieces

This calendar comes with a lot of pieces! When I first created this calendar I decided to make a fabric magnet holder. We are still using the same holder years later and it works so well. It rolls up and keeps all of our magnets separated and in one place. You can follow my fabric magnet holder sewing tutorial to create one for your magnets.! Of course there are other ways to store the magnets that don’t involve sewing – plastic baggies, pencil cases or even a fun box the child could decorate will all work. 

Calendar Extras Available in my Shop

Over the years I have continued to add on to the calendar with extras you can purchase in my shop while keeping the base of the calendar free to download. Activity Cards and Holiday Cards are among my favorite add-ons! All of my extra cards feature hand drawn illustrations colored digitally with bright, vibrant colors that coordinate with all of the free printables. These are all available in my Etsy shop and include US Holidays, UK Holidays, Canadian Holidays, Fun National Days Cards, Christmas Cards, Halloween Cars, School Days Cards, Preschool Learning Cards, Activity Cards in English, Spanish and French and more. 

Creating a Calendar to Fit Your Child

Use the printables to create the perfect calendar for your child and be sure to update it as they grow! There are some small parts to this calendar (the daily numbers and some of the bunny’s clothing accessories), so I suggest only using the printable pieces that are appropriate for your child’s age. When my children were toddlers, I kept our calendar out of reach in our craft room so the kids only used the calendar when we were doing “calendar time”. When my youngest was born, we switched to using stickers to mark off days on our calendar rather than using the small magnet we were using before. The stickers were a lot of fun and we used themed one for each month. If you laminate the calendar page, kids can also practice crossing off each day with a dry-erase marker! 

And now the good stuff! FREEBIES! I hope you and your little ones enjoy using this calendar! If you create the calendar, I would love to see! Send me a picture at [email protected] or tag me on Instagram with @craftingcheerfully or the hashtag #craftingcheerfullycalendar

Here is a little disclaimer about some small parts included in the free printable packets. This is especially important if you plan to create magnets.

** CAUTION**: There are small pieces included in the printable pdf packet that may not be appropriate for children under 3 years old. I am sharing the calendar as we use it in our home. Always use your own discretion on what is safe and appropriate for your child. This calendar is intended to be used as a learning tool with adult supervision. Always follow the directions on the products you are purchasing for this calendar.

** NEW: FREE monthly calendar activity card!! Each month this year I’ll be posting a new, free daily activity card. Read more about it here:

This post includes affiliate links under the “Shop the supplies I used”. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.