Teaching kindergarten students the days of the week is an essential foundational skill as students develop an understanding of the concept of time and establish daily routines. In this blogpost, we'll be sharing a whole lot of different activities which you can use with young students to help them name and order different days of the week. Keep reading for a variety of free printable worksheets and fun learning activities for learning the days of the week!
Understanding the Days of the Week
It's important to review the days of the week on a regular basis, as this is a super important skill for both maths AND life! Not only do we want children to be able to name each day of the week, but we also want them to grasp an understanding of the concept of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
This Rainbow Days of the Week and Months of the Year display is a free download from Mrs Learning Bee.
Knowing all of the names of the days of the week, and being able to name the number of days in a week and put the correct days in the correct order, are all relevant skills for kindergarten and first grade students to learn in order to successfully navigate daily routines and activities.
Days of the Week Activities and Printables
Here are some simple days of the week activities and days of the week worksheets for learning the days of the week, and other early time and duration skills.
Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Read 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and point to the day of the week each page corresponds with. Recall the sequence of the story by asking questions such as, what happened on Tuesday? Discuss how the caterpillar grew and changed each day. Re-read the story but this time, allow students to act it out at the same time. For example, as you read they will start as a little egg and eventually grow until they become a butterfly.
Complete The Very Hungry Caterpillar sequencing activity. Students cut out each of the food groups and paste next to the correct day. This activity has the added bonus of working in fine motor skills at the same time! This free days of the week worksheet is available at Mrs Learning Bee.
Days of the Week Flash Cards
Give students flashcards which have the names of days of the week on them. Ask students to put the days in the correct order with a partner. You may want to have a days of the week chart displayed for students to refer to while they are completing this activity. For extra practice, students recite the days of the week to their partner as they point to each word.
Alternatively, students could play Snap or Memory with the flash cards - games are a great way to make learning fun!
These rainbow days of the week flashcards can be found in The Hive. They come in all Australian state fonts, plus a generic font.
What's for lunch?
Discuss what food you may eat on school days in your lunch box compared to weekend days at home. Use this simple worksheet template to draw and label a school day lunch and a weekend day lunch. Students can then trace the days of the week. Discuss the use of capital letters for each day, as they are names.
Weekly Schedule
Draw or display a weekly class schedule table. Use your class visual timetable cards or brainstorm with students which activities happen each day and record with words or symbols. You may want to also record or sort activities that happen every day at school separately, such as 'writing' or 'lunch'.
Students think, pair, share their favourite day of the week and explain why. Students could also record this with a picture and sentence prompt: My favourite day is _________.
Class Graph
As a class, ask students to vote on their favourite day of the week. You could co-construct a tally display or a graph using your class data. This can be a cute activity to display somewhere around the classroom once you're done.
Some discussion questions that you might like to ask:
- What day is the most popular?
- Is it a weekend day or a school day?
Daily Timetable
Show your visual timetable for school today and discuss why it is helpful. Brainstorm events that happen daily. Sort them into before, during and after school. Discuss what happens at different times of the day during school, and see if students notice similarities e.g. Writing may always be in the morning or Fruit Break may always be during story time etc.
Use one of these free printables from The Hive, or create your own to match your school timetable. Students fill in the schedule template with words or pictures to match each part of the day.
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Brainstorm something that you did yesterday, something you're doing today, and something you'll do tomorrow. Draw a picture of an activity and write the day of the week to match the headings 'yesterday', 'today' and 'tomorrow'.
Read other picture books
Read or listen to a story involving days of the week such as:
Each time you read or hear a day of the week, put your hands on your head.
Looking for more?
You'll find loads of kindergarten worksheets and lesson plans (as well as videos, learning apps and much more) in The Hive. Each Kindergarten program comes with a set of worksheets and a range of interactive activities for little kids as they are building early foundational skills!
