Months of the Year
Here's What To Do
Divide a piece of drawing paper into 4 squares, one for each season. Label each square with a season and the months in each season (Winter: December, January, February, Spring: March, April, May, Summer: June, July, August, Fall: September, October, November).
Ask your child to brainstorm things that happen in each season.
Have your child draw one (or more) items to represent each season.
Talk about the months in each season. Discuss how there are 12 months in a year, and how all the seasons and months repeat year after year.
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- Shake your wiggles out before sitting down to the table.
Engage:
- For each season, ask your child: What is the weather like? What clothes do we wear? What do the trees look like? What special activities do we do?
- "Let's use your poster to talk about the year. First comes Winter. It's cold, and we like to build a snowman. Winter happens in December, January, and February. The next part of the year is Spring..."
Encourage:
- It's not expected that children know the names of the months yet. Instead, try to help them understand that they can measure time using seasons and months.
- "What would be a good picture to draw for spring? We said spring has lots of flowers, lots of rain, and that we plant a garden in the spring."
Reflect:
- Do you think your child understands that months are a way to measure time?
Not quite ready?
Check out a nonfiction children’s book about the seasons from your local library and read it together.
Ready for more?
Ask your child to include drawings that explain how the change of seasons impacts animals (hibernation, metamorphosis, migration, etc.)
As your child masters this skill...
Ask your child to explain how minutes, hours, days, and months relate to one another.