Learning the days of the week can finally solve the mystery for kindergarten children as to why they come to school on some days and stay at home the other days. It can also help them recognize other patterns in their lives like how they might eat the same particular thing for dinner every Monday or how their parents don’t go to work on weekends.
The days of the week help put their entire weekly activities into context but learning all of them in one go can be overwhelming.
But, when combined with different activities and other topics they might have learned like shapes and colors, learning about different days can become quite fun. This blog highlights various classroom activities and games that little learners can engage in to learn the days of the week.
Let’s learn about the days of the week using activities
The days of the week can be difficult to remember, pronounce and spell. Even harder could be the task of understanding how they relate to dates, remembering their order, and what comes after and before. The list of games and activities below covers all of these topics and much more in an interesting way that will capture little learners’ attention.
1. Blocks pyramid
For this activity, the educator will have to arrange sets of blocks and write the names of different days on different blocks.
Each student will be given seven blocks with the names of seven days written on them. The task of the student would be to arrange the blocks in the order of the days of the week.
The students will have fun playing with the blocks and in the meantime also learn the order of the days of the week.
2. Days of the week Twister
This game will be a twist on regular twister. The educator will have to prepare a spinning wheel with different days of the week written along different colors. They will also have to make a mat with different spaces for different days.
The students will be divided into groups of 4 to 5 students in each. They will be given their individual twister set. They will have to spin the wheel, see what it lands on and accordingly move that body part to the mentioned day, for example, right hand to Monday.
With this game, the students will not only learn the different days of the week but they will also brush up on different parts of the body. Involving body movements in learning will increase their engagement and retention.
3. Run to the table
For this activity, the educator will have to label different desks with the name of different days. These desks will then have to be placed randomly in different corners and places in the room.
The students will play this game together. Their task will be to immediately run to the desk that their educator mentions. For example, if the educator says “after Monday I go to”, the students have to run and go touch the Tuesday desk.
This game will also involve exercising their motor skills, just like other motor skill activities, along with learning different days of the week. Students here will also learn how to solve questions related to what comes after and before.
4. Sing it out
For this activity, the educator will have to find a song, poem, or story about the different days of the week.
The educator can teach the poem to the students and everyone can recite it together first thing in the morning. The imaginative capacity of the story and the rhythmic music of the song or poem will help increase students’ engagement with the topic.
Different students absorb information from the environment in different ways. Using a poem, a song, or a story to teach about different days of the week can be helpful for children, increasing their understanding and retention of the topic.
5. Raise your hand
For this activity, the teacher will provide some instructions and the students just have to listen to those instructions and do the required action accordingly.
The educator can give instructions like “raise your left hand if today is Tuesday”, “touch your nose if yesterday was Monday”, or “clap your hands if Monday comes after Sunday”, etc.
This will actively engage students’ bodies with learning. They not only revise on various days of the week, their order, and what comes before and after but also the names of different body parts.
6. Color Full
For this activity, the educator will have to prepare a sheet of paper with the names of different days written in different shapes. This can easily be done on Microsoft Paint or any other free drawing tool. The educator will also have to give a set of colors to each student.
The educator can then give instructions like “color Monday red”, “color the shape with Tuesday in it yellow”, “what day is in the circle?”, etc. The students will fill the shape with different days full of different colors.
This activity will exercise multiple abilities of children. They will not only revise the names of different days of the week but the names of different colors and shapes. These pictorial representations of the days will engage their visual processing systems and help them remember it all better.
7. Dating the days
For this activity, the educator will have to prepare placards with days written on them. The educator will also need a board on which they will write or present sentences.
The educator will present questions “If it was Monday on the 1st of July, what day would it be on the 3rd of July?” “If New Year’s day fell on a Sunday, what day will it be on 2nd January?”, etc. The educator can ask any student at random to select the placard that they think represents the correct answer. To further help the students, the educator can color the blank where the answer or placard needs to be placed the same color as the placard that had the correct answer written on it.
This game will help students connect the dots between different concepts of dates, important events like New Year and Christmas, and days of the week. If the educator uses the same colored blank, the student will start associating the day with that color, further aiding their memory and recall.
8. My weekdays
For this activity, the educator will have to get a seven-page notepad or diary for their students.
The task of the students will be to write the name of the days of the week on top of each page. Then, at the end of every day that week, they can write something special they did that day like “Wednesday was Sushi day”, “Fridays was a fun day at the park”, etc. They can even get creative and draw little pictures, color the pages, or even paste photos from the day.
By next Monday, each student will have a completely filled diary of the week. Associating different days of the week with different events in students’ lives will help them connect with the topic. It will also help them remember it better.
9. Count the fruits
For this activity, the student will just need a board and chalk. The educator can also draw digitally on a smart board with a stylus pen.
The educator will draw several fruits like 3 oranges, 5 strawberries, 1 apple, etc. The educator will then randomly ask a student what fruit it is and how many of them are there. Then the real task of the student will begin as they will have to answer the name of the day of the week based on the number of fruits they count. So 5 strawberries would mean that they have to name the 5th day of the week or Friday.
This game will exercise multiple types of knowledge like names of fruits, counting as well as names of the days of the week and their order.
10. Jumbled Legos
For this activity, the educator will have to write different letters of the names of different days on lego blocks.
The educator can then randomly ask a student to come up, use the blocks and correctly spell the name of the day they ask. The educator can also give a set to groups of 4 to 5 students and ask them to spell out the names of all the days of the week.
This activity will have the students working together to learn about the days of the week and how to spell them all while having fun playing with legos.
Conclusion
Just like learning the months of the year which can also be learned through various tools like books and worksheets is crucial, learning about the name of the days is important for contextualizing various weekly events and activities in one’s life. Although this concept of seven days with different names can seem a little overwhelming to little learners.
Activities and games that bring an element of fun and excitement to the classroom and combine the knowledge children have already covered like names of colors, different body parts, different shapes, etc. with this new knowledge about the names of the days can help kindergarteners understand this quicker and remember it for longer.
I am Shweta Sharma. I am a final year Masters student of Clinical Psychology and have been working closely in the field of psycho-education and child development. I have served in various organisations and NGOs with the purpose of helping children with disabilities learn and adapt better to both, academic and social challenges. I am keen on writing about learning difficulties, the science behind them and potential strategies to deal with them. My areas of expertise include putting forward the cognitive and behavioural aspects of disabilities for better awareness, as well as efficient intervention. Follow me on LinkedIn