I Can Calendar- From Plywood (Educational Calendar for Kids)

by Splintercnc

4.5K726

Intro: I Can Calendar- From Plywood (Educational Calendar for Kids)

I wanted to teach my 6 year old daughter about the days of the week in a fun way. So I came up with the Idea of a calendar the she can set to the right date every morning and that where the I can Calender comes from.

STEP 1: Drawings of the Frame

The drawing was done in Inkscape and was designed for 3mm ply wood.

STEP 2: Drawing for the Weeks,months and the Numbers

The weeks and months was fairly easy how ever getting to the number I had to sit down and think about it for a but. What I came up with is that you going to need...

2 x ones

2 x two's

2 x three's

and a six that can be used as a nine

4

5

7

8

STEP 3: Cutting the Ply Blocks

I used 19mm ply to cut 5 blocks for the months and the days of the week 19mm x 19mm x 77mm.

to make the 38mm x 38mm x 38mm I just glued two 19mm ply boards together and cut them in to square bloxs

STEP 4: Laser Cutter Time

First I cut out the box to hold all the blocks, then engrave all the numbers,days of the week and the months.

For the days of the week I added an extra day "Playday" this can be like a reward for the kids a day of no chores or something along those lines. I wanted to make it a birthday but that's only once a year no fun in that.

STEP 5: ​ Assembly

I start by laying all the pieces on a flat surface.

1. insert the bottom and the small back piece in to one of the sides

2. Slot the main "I can calendar board" in to place

3. Place the other side piece on top.

4. Optional A little super glue to hold it all together

STEP 6: Final Step

Load all the blocks in and have fun with your kids. OH.... Don't forget to download all the files you need

6 Comments

PatrickD157 6 years ago

if one could now correct the typo in "Tueseday" in "I can calendar bloxs.pdf"....

RowanCant 6 years ago

Awesome! But comic sans? Really?

TheOriginalNerd 7 years ago

Great project!

You can use a "6" as a "9" because there will never be a date 69 or 96, of course. There would never be a need for both numbers at the same time. Which is the key to figuring out what numbers you need, how often and on which blocks.

There are 12 sides on two blocks. The only numbers you have to repeat are "0", "1" and "2" for the dates 11th and 22nd. These are the only double digit dates that exist. Two "0" are needed, not for 00, but for the digits under 10; as in 01, 02, 03,...,09. Since you can't fit all the digits between 1 and 9 on a single block, you'll need one "0" to go with numbers on one block and a "0" to go with the rest of numbers on the other block.

To make every combination of dates from 01 to 31 with the 12 sides of both blocks; you need one block with 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the sides and the other block has 0, 1, 2, 7, 8, 6/9 (that's "6" or "9") on the sides. I hope this helps.

EoinM17 8 years ago

Nice project! I made something similar to this when I was starting to learn woodworking but in the space where you have put "I Can Calendar" I put in a clock, which would also be a handy way to teach kids how to tell the time. I really like the look of the end grain on the plywood, I often forgot how nice it looks when finished!

tomatoskins 8 years ago

Really cool project! Thanks for sharing and welcome to the community!