Days-of-the-Week Kindergarten Activities

Use interactive projects and activities to teach your kindergarten class the days of the week. By giving the students hands-on experience with a calendar, they will soon learn to say the names of the days and place them in order by themselves. Incorporate a day-of-the-week activity into your morning routine to give the children practice and repetition.

The calendar game will teach children the days of the week and how to read and use a calendar. Hang up a calendar with large spaces for the days on your bulletin board. The calendar should be hung at the children's height so they can reach it. Write the names of the days of the week in large letters on colored construction paper squares and hang them in order above the correct spots on the calendar. Each day should have a different color. Create smaller tags with the days of the week written on them. Make a tag for each day on the calendar. The tags should mimic the colors of the days already on the calendar. Have the children take turns picking a tag. They should say the name of the day out loud and then stick it to the calendar on the correct space. For example, a Monday tag should be placed on a Monday space on the calendar.

The caterpillar activity will help children learn the order of the days of the week. Cut out eight circles for each child from different colors of construction paper. On seven of the circles, print the name of the days of the week. Have the children draw a face on the eighth circle. Let the children practice building their caterpillar by starting with the face and lining up the circles of the body in order of the day of the week. Help the children glue their caterpillar together on a piece of paper. Allow them to draw legs on the caterpillar and decorate the paper. Write their names on the paper and hang them up on a bulletin board. Create a larger caterpillar that can be pinned up next to the children's art work. Each morning, ask a child to help select the circle with the right day of the week on it to pin onto the caterpillar. Take the circles down at the end of each week and begin building the caterpillar again the next week.

Weekday hopscotch will familiarize children with the names of the days of the week and help them learn to pronounce them. Create hopscotch squares on the floor using masking tape. Write the days of the week on separate pieces of colored construction paper. Tape a paper in each square of the hopscotch grid. Form the children into a line with their shoes off. Let each child take turns jumping through the hopscotch grid. As they land on each day of the week, have the children say it out loud. After the child finishes, she will return to the back of the line.

This activity works well if your kindergarten class has assigned seating. Label each table with a day of the week from Monday to Friday. Each day, allow the children sitting at the table labeled with the corresponding day to be at the head of the line for a certain activity. For example, the children at the Monday table get to wash their hands first for snack time or be the first to try an activity on Monday. The children will learn to recognize what day of the week it is and look forward to their turns.

Give each child seven cards with a day of the week printed on it and a picture. Allow them to color each page. Help them punch two holes in the top of each card. Place the cards in order and have them tie a piece of yarn through the holes on the cards to keep them together. Each day when the children come to school, have them flip their cards to the correct day.