A Back to School Calendar

The school year's about to begin and this back to school calendar craft is designed to be both fun and educational.

If your school is organized, then you'll find yourself receiving all sorts of information, including activities and events that will take place throughout the school year. What better way to keep this information organized and within reach than to place it on a homemade calendar?

Here are a couple of ideas for creating your very own back to school calendar. Choose the one that suits your needs (and the needs of your child) best.

Monthly Calendar

This calendar is made up of 11 coloring pages (one cover sheet and 10 pages for the months of the school calendar)

Materials:

• A template for the months of the year - Download your template.
• pictures of your child
• Crayons, colored pencils or colored markers
• Glue
• A hole punch
• A stapler plus colored tape to make a homemade binding (or you can choose a spiral binding available at your nearest office supply store).

Instructions:

• Print out the template for the months of the year.
• Color the headings and pictures printed on the individual monthly template.
• Glue the pictures of your child on the cover page.
• Bind the calendar using either the stapler, the colored tape or the spiral binding.
• Make a hole at the top of the calendar so that you can hang it on the wall or bulletin board.

To make the homemade binding simply staple or tape together the top of the calendar pages.

For a spiral binding, check your local office supply store. I use Office Depot for my spiral bindings!

One Page Calendars

Sometimes you may need to see the entire year at one glance. In that case, make a one page back to school calendar. We'll show you how!

Materials:

• A template for a one page calendar - Download your template.
• Crayons, colored pencils or colored markers
• Scissors
• Glue
• Cardstock
• Magnets

Instructions:

• Print out your template.
• Glue on your decorations or color your own design.
• Glue your calendar onto the cardstock.
• Glue the magnets to the back of the cardstock.
• Hang the calendar onto your refrigerator door.

Erasable Calendars

Sometimes you might need a calendar that you can write on and then erase information. That's easy to make, too! Just follow the instructions provided above and then "laminate" your back to school calendar. How? That's easy. Either use laminating film and a laminator, or buy some clear contact paper (adhesive backed) and put over your already made calendar. Or you can have the calendar professionally laminated at an office supply store like Office Depot.

Just keep in mind that you'll need to use an erasable marker and not a permanent ink marker!

Tip: Use a "Wet Ones" as an eraser to wipe away any unwanted marks on your back to school calendar.

And there you have it--three great ideas for making homemade back to school calendar crafts.

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