Free Activity Calendars Put Programming at Your Fingertips

Liz Bowie, Demco /

Check out this guest post from our colleagues at Demco who have free activity calendars available to help support your programming efforts!

Library users young and old benefit from the fun, exciting, and educational programming you offer in your schools and libraries. But little do they know how much hard work and planning goes into putting those activities together.

To make your jobs a little easier, Demco develops monthly activity calendars filled with special day and month celebrations, author birthdays, book releases, and links to interesting activities. No matter what age group you’re serving, there’s a programming calendar you can use as a planning resource.

Daily Fun with Your Little One Early Literacy Calendar

From our work with the early childhood experts who helped design the Very Ready Reading Program, we know how important it is to help children develop reading and math skills at an early age—even from infancy! And there’s no better first teacher than a child’s parent or caregiver.

That’s why we design our Early Literacy calendar as a tool you can easily print and hand out. It’s filled with simple tips and activities that caregivers can do every day that build their young child’s knowledge of reading, writing, sounds, rhymes, play, stories, science and math.

You can use the calendar in a variety of ways:

Early Literacy Calendar ideas
  • Hand out after storytime
  • Hand out to 1000 Books Before Kindergarten participants
  • Email to caregivers monthly
  • Have copies available in the children’s section
  • Have copies available at the checkout desk
  • Offer a prize for checking off at least 20 items on the calendar each month
  • Sticker or stamp with your library information and drop off at childcare centers, local WIC offices, and other community service points

Children’s Activity Calendar

Image of an Adult Activity calendar from Demco

Library Media Specialist Matthew Winner lends his expertise each month in creating our Children’s Activity Calendar. The creator of All the Wonders had this to say about creating the calendars:

“The variety of ideas, projects, books, and celebrations shared each month through the children's activity calendars provides teachers and librarians with a go-to resource for bringing new ideas into their teaching spaces. Readers will find lesser-known and sometimes bizarre holidays celebrated throughout the month, each with a prompt for incorporating the holiday into instruction in some unique way. But I think where the calendar really shines is in sparking ideas for future projects and exploration with students. Every day offers something to celebrate, something new to learn or explore.”

Teacher Librarian Shannon Miller of The Library Voice agrees: “I always love seeing [these] sweet little calendars. Thank you for giving us so much to celebrate each month.”

You can view the current calendar, as well as past calendars, on Demco’s Ideas and Inspiration site.

Teen Activity Calendar

Mover and Shaker Emily Ellis knows a bit about programming. In her first 3 years at Greenwood Public Library, she increased program attendance by 33%. We’re sure this was due to the amazing job that Emily does in finding ways to connect with teens and offer them programming they can’t resist. 

“In my experience,” says Ellis, “teens gravitate toward programs that offer opportunities for them to connect with one another and hopefully library staff. It's about building relationships, laughter, and, a lot of the time, food. They get energized when they are able to explore and create, and while some prefer structure and guidelines, others thrive on the freedom to express themselves however they choose. Teen programming is about finding that balance and meeting teens where they are while introducing them to new experiences.” 

Check out the latest Teen Activity Calendar for fun ways to connect with teens.

Adult Engagement Calendar

Image of an example of a Demco Adult Engagement calendar.

As those teens grow up and become adults, it can be even more difficult to meet the diverse needs of this population. Adult programming has so many facets, as it touches on such a wide range of ages, from those just entering adulthood, to parents, to middle age, and beyond. Emily Ellis again does an amazing job of creating a mix of program ideas that speak to all these age groups in the Adult Engagement Calendar.

We hope you’ll find these calendars helpful as you plan ways you can serve your community. You can follow Demco on Facebook and Twitter to get updates when new calendars come out and access current and past calendars on our Ideas and Inspiration site. Click on the links in the calendars to find additional activities and information to help you with your planning.