Magic Marker Monday: Calendars

Our home budget is constantly shrinking these days. We've let go of "live" TV, shop thrift stores, and have garage & lemonade sales. So when I went to look for the current year for our big kitchen calendar, the $15 price tag was too much. Time to get creative!

I bought a big pad of newsprint at the Dollar Store and used a ruler and pencil to evenly mark columns and rows for each month. Then I used the $1 set of 10 Crayola markers from the back-to-school Target sales to outline the grid and create custom monthly pages.

 
I checked the correct days of the month (and holidays) against an online calendar and the kids' school calendars. I used whatever ideas came into my head and asked the kids for theirs when I got stuck. I took a few half-hour sessions all spread out on the kitchen floor to make the whole year. The kids were fascinated. We ended up with a nice big calendar for the kitchen that cost $2 in materials.

Even better, both the kids now make monthly calendars in school. It's a great way for my 6 year-old to practice his numbers and my almost 9 year-old to practice her writing. I hang theirs up near the Homework Desk:

 

Best of all:

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