Teach Days and Months with Calendar Wheels in Chinese and English (Free Printable)

To teach my children about the past, present, and future and learn about the relationship of important calendar terms, I made interactive calendar wheels!

Since my children speak Chinese and English, these printable wheels come in both languages and is highly effective for teaching calendar concepts.

As always, I am happy to share our printables with friends and teachers!

Fun way to teach days of the week and months of the year!

In this article, we are sharing following free printable interactive activity wheels:

• Days of the Week Wheel
• Months of the Year Wheel

These calendar wheels are available in:

• Simplified Chinese
• Traditional Chinese
• English

Teach Kids clock and calendar skills

This resource is part of a series on how to teach kids clock and calendar skills:

1. Interactive Perpetual Calendar 
2. Calendar Wheels: Days of the week and Months of the Year (This article)
3. Months and Seasons Paper Plate Puzzle
4. Chinese Zodiac Wheel
5. Teach Kids Time with Simple, Hands-On Clock Activities

Important Calendar vocabulary in Chinese, Pinyin, and English:

Since many of you have told me that you’re learning Chinese with your children like me, I wanted to share common calendar translations here.

Taking these notes also helps me remember the Chinese words.

Below, I have included important calendar terms in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Hanyu Pinyin, and English.

NOTE: Pinyin from Google translate is often inaccurate. I recommend checking Pleco app or a Chinese dictionary website like Yabla Dictionary for accuracy.

• 日历 / 日曆 (rìlì /calendar)
• 星期 (xīngqī / week)
• 月 (yuè / month)
• 年 (nián / year)
• 季节 / 季節 (jìjié / season)
• 天 (tiān / day)

I’ve also learned that standard Chinese words for days of the week varies depending on location.

Here are 3 of the the most common ways to name the days of the week:

• Sunday
  1. 星期天 (xīngqītiān) or 星期日 (xīngqīrì)
  2. 周日 (zhōu rì)
  3. 礼拜天 (lǐbàitiān)
• Monday
  1. 星期一 (xīngqīyī)
  2. 周一 (zhōu yī)
  3. 礼拜一 (lǐbài yī)
• Tuesday
  1. 星期二 (xīngqī èr)
  2. 周二 (zhōu èr)
  3. 礼拜二 (lǐbài èr)
• Wednesday
  1. 星期三 (xīngqī sān)
  2. 周三 (zhōu sān)
  3. 礼拜三 (lǐbài sān)
• Thursday
  1. 星期四 (xīngqī sì)
  2. 周四 (zhōu sì)
  3. 礼拜四 (lǐbài sì)
• Friday
  1. 星期五 (xīngqī wǔ)
  2. 周五 (zhōu wǔ)
  3. 礼拜五 (lǐbài wǔ)
• Saturday
  1. 星期六 (xīngqī liù)
  2. 周六 (zhōu liù)
  3. 礼拜六 (lǐbài liù)

星期, 周, and 礼拜: Which is the most common way to describe days of the week in Chinese?

After speaking to dozens of parents around the world, my understanding is that 星期 (xīngqī) is the most common general term to describe the day of the week in most parts of Asia.

周 (zhōu) seems to be common for Beijing natives.

礼拜一, 二, 三… (lǐbài yī, èr, sān…) is another way to describe days of the week and is used often in certain regions, such as Hong Kong and Singapore.

My Shanghainese relatives also typically say this.  Although, I have not made a 礼拜 wheel yet, leave a comment if want me to make this version for your family!

Since we are a Christian family, a few years ago, I made a personalized wheel that says 主日 (zhǔ rì / Lord’s Day) for Sunday which you’ll see in these photos.

At that time, I was teaching my daughter about 主日学 / 主日學 (zhǔ rì xué / Sunday school).

However, 主日 is not typically used to describe Sunday compared to the aformentioned terms.

How to teach calendar concepts

Every morning, we try to start the daily routine by identifying the date on the calendar.  Habit and practice encourages pattern recognition and comprehension over time.

Here are basic questions that we discuss when reviewing the calendar wheels

• Months of the year:
  • 我们在哪个月？/ 我們在哪個月？(Wǒmen zài nǎge yuè? / What month are we in?)
• Days of the week:
  • 今天星期几？/ 今天星期幾？ (Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ? / What day is it today?)
    昨天是星期几？/ 昨天是星期幾？ (Zuótiān shì xīngqī jǐ? / What day was it yesterday?)
    明天是星期几？/ 明天是星期幾 ？(Míngtiān shì xīngqī jǐ / What day is it tomorrow?)

Spinning calendar wheels: what you need

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1. Calendar wheel templates: Our Printables Library for subscribers has several versions of free calendar wheels in Chinese and English
   • Click here to subscribe!
   • Click here for the Printables Library (password from the Welcome letter)
2. Printer
3. Laminator
4. Laminating pouches
5. Scissors
6. Corkboard
7. Pushpins
8. If you prefer not to pin to corkboard, you can use paper fasteners

Note: These printables have all been updated to Kaiti Font and the layout has been improved. They are currently not pictured, but your downloadable version is better than what you see here!

Calendar wheels: How to set up them up

1. Print pdf file on different colors of paper.  My daughter likes choosing the colors!
2. Laminate each page
3. Cut out circles
4. Trim empty cells – I recommend this so that the important characters stand out more (shown in below image)
5. Pin to corkboard so that your child can visualize all wheels

My daughter has so much fun spinning the wheels!   It’s so helpful being able to compare the months of the year and days of the week side by side.

More FREE interactive calendar printables

Free interactive Chinese calendar

I highly recommend using the calendar wheels in conjunction with our free Interactive Chinese Calendar!

Chinese Zodiac Wheel

For Chinese New Year, your family can also enjoy our interactive Chinese Zodiac Wheel in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, and English!

Does your family use 周, 星期, or 礼拜?  Should I make a 礼拜 Days of the Week Wheel?  Feel free to leave a comment with your suggestions!

Have you tried any of our bilingual calendar printables with your kids?

If you try this activity, please let us know in the comments below!

On Instagram and Facebook, tag a photo @chalkacademy and use the hashtag #ChalkAcademy so our family can check out the action!

We’d love to hear about your learning experience!

Tips on creating a Chinese learning environment at home

• Teach Your Child a Second Language at Home with 5 Key Steps
• Raising Multilingual Children as a Non-Fluent Parent: 7 Lessons
• How To Get Your Child To Speak the Minority Language
• Encourage A Child to Love and Speak the Minority Language with 5 Strategies
• How to Find a Foreign Language Teacher for Your Child
• 5 Reasons Books are the Best Gifts for Multilingual Kids

Happy learning, friends!