Calendars help us place events — History, 4–6 years
A calendar gives names and numbers to days, months and years, so we can say when something happened.
A map of days
A calendar is like a map made for time. It groups days into weeks, months and years, and gives them names or numbers so people can talk about the same day.
Why people made calendars
People needed to know when to plant, travel, meet or celebrate, even when nobody was carrying a clock. They watched repeating patterns in the Moon, the Sun and the seasons, then made calendars to share this plan.
Finding a day
A card says that a library opened on 14 May 2020. First, find the month called May. Next, count across to the number 14. Now we know the opening happened in that year and on that day, not just sometime in the past.
A date is not the whole story
It is easy to think that a date tells us everything about an event, because the number feels exact. It only tells us when; we may still need to ask where it happened, who was there and what changed.
Calendars today
We use calendars to mark birthdays, school days, holidays and appointments. A museum also uses one to label an old photograph or tell visitors when an event took place, linking an object to a particular time.
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