Calendar and Dates Explorer
Explore a real monthly calendar. Click dates, answer questions about days of the week, count Sundays, and figure out what day falls a few days away. Three levels take you from guided practice all the way to mental calendar math.
Calendar Basics
Days of the Week
Every week has seven days in this order: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. After Saturday, the next day is Sunday again and a brand new week begins.
Most school weeks run Monday through Friday. Saturday and Sunday are the weekend.
Months of the Year
A year has 12 months. January starts the year and December ends it. Some months have 31 days, some have 30, and February has 28 days (or 29 in a leap year).
- 31 days: Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Aug, Oct, Dec
- 30 days: Apr, Jun, Sep, Nov
- 28 or 29 days: Feb
Reading a Calendar
A calendar grid shows all the days of a month arranged in rows of seven. Each column is a day of the week, always in the same order starting with Sunday.
To find what day a date falls on, look straight up from the date number to the column header. That header names the day of the week.
Counting Days Forward
To find a date a few days ahead, start on the known date and count forward one box at a time on the calendar. Each box is one day.
You can also just add the number of days to the date number. If today is the 8th and you add 5 days, you land on the 13th.
When counting days of the week forward, every 7 days lands on the same day. So 7 days after Monday is also Monday.