MBC: Calendar Awareness
It’s almost a new year!
And that is a very abstract concept for your child.
When you say, ‘happy new year!,’ it will not feel concrete and accessible for a two to five-year-old.
What young children do understand is lived experience. They may remember fireworks last New Year’s eve, or a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration that took place at school last February. They may remember when you had friends over for a special dinner last New Year or going over to a friend’s house for chili on New Year’s Day. Or they may just smile and nod, not really having accessible memories to attach - yet.
These books can help your child orient to the concept of the calendar year and recognize their own experiences within the changing seasons.
These titles support your child in developing awareness of the rhythms of the year, and becoming more conscious of the world around them.
Find them here.
When Green Becomes Tomatoes, by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Julie Morstad, is my favorite book of children’s poems, with several written for the days of each month that seem to perfectly capture the sentiment of a late April day or the pumpkin-picking of October.
The Year at Maple Hill Farm, by Alice and Martin Provensen, details some of the fascinating realities of life on a farm, from the sunflowers of September to the hunts of November.
Firefly July, collected by Paul Janeszco and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is another book of poems that take you through the passage of the year.
When’s My Birthday, by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Christian Robinson, is my favorite book to have on hand in relation to that inevitable question - “how many days until my birthday?” This book is playful and incredibly appealing to young children, and also features a calendar to look at together.
A Year Around the Great Oak, by Gerda Muller, details the different iterations of an oak in a family’s back yard over the course of a year, including the life the tree shelters, the environment and creatures that surround it, and the experiences of extended family members - ranging from joy to trepidation - that relate to this towering oak.
The Reasons for Seasons, by Gail Gibbons, is best suited for older children - 5 years and up - and offers a scientific approach to the calendar year, based in an explanation of the Earth’s rotation around the sun.
A Year with the Wind, by Hanna Konola, is a charming, graphic book about the play of the wind across the months of the year.
A Child’s Calendar, by John Updike and Trina Schart Hyman, is another collection of poems to process the experience of changing seasons.
Remember, your child needs your help with interpreting the world and their experiences within it.
Calendar time is a human invention based on physical phenomena. Any time we can help a child to better understand their world, we support them in their work of adaptation and growth.
These books can provide a meaningful context for understanding.
You will also want to have intentional conversation and discussion about the seasons - and about the concept of a calendar.
That is the other side of this coin.
Stay tuned for more to come about how to guide this type of conversation.
In the meanwhile, seek out these books!