2026 Special Days & Holidays Calendar with Classroom Activities
Looking for fun and meaningful ways to celebrate special days and holidays in your classroom or homeschool? I have personally developed this Holidays & Special Days to Celebrate in School 2026 Calendar to include hundreds of ready-to-use ideas and educational activities that bring learning to life all year long!
From World Kindness Day and Earth Day to International Dot Day and International Lego Day, you’ll find creative opportunities to connect curriculum goals with real-world events that matter to students.
Whether you’re planning ahead for classroom displays, theme weeks, or seasonal learning centers, this calendar makes it easy to stay organized, spark curiosity, and keep students engaged through every month of the school year.
2026 School Holidays & Celebrations Calendar with Activities
Designed especially for teachers and homeschoolers, this printable PDF calendar features beautifully designed monthly planning pages with direct links to related learning resources and classroom activity ideas for over 300 student-friendly holidays, awareness days, and celebrations. There’s plenty of space included for planning your activities.
Each special day has been thoughtfully chosen for its classroom appeal across kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high school, making it a time-saving tool you’ll turn to again and again when planning lessons, bulletin boards, and creative learning experiences.
Ways to Use the Special Days Calendar
I personally choose special days to celebrate that are most relevant to my students and their interests, and that tie in best with the curriculum for the grade I am teaching. For chosen celebrations I suggest;
- Planning a fun day of learning activities inspired by the celebration. I’ve included a planning page version of each month within the full calendar document with space to plan your activities.
- Use the links beside selected calendar items in the list below for activities and booklists related to the specific holiday or celebration. These are also linked within the PDF document.
- Invite older students to conduct research into the country, history, religion, culture or customs related to a given celebration.
- Consider cooking a recipe together that relates to the theme or history of the special day you’re acknowledging.
- Hang a printed copy of the full sized calendar pages (included in the PDF) in your classroom or service to create awareness among the children and their families.
- Each celebration is listed with the holiday date for 2026. For multi-day events, the date listed is the commencement date of festivities.
- Please be aware that for many events the date changes annually. Dates shown are for 2026. All efforts have been made to ensure the information shared is correct at the time of publication.
Special Days From Around the World 2026
Below you will find a list of the holidays included in our calendar with links to a range of supporting learning activity suggestions. These activities are also linked within our free printable PDF version of the calendar.
January Special Days
1 New Years Day: New Years Activities for Kids
2 Science Fiction Day
3 Mahayana New Year (Buddhist)
4 World Braille Day • World Spaghetti Day
6 Epiphany (Christian)
8 Bubble Bath Day: Bubble Activities for Kids
9 Word Nerd Day: Word Games for Kids | Spelling Activities
13 Lohri (India)
14 World Logic Day: Logic Puzzles for Kids • International Kite Festival (India)
15 Bagel Day
17 Kid Inventors Day: Mystery Bag Challenge | 5 Construction Challenges | Best STEM Sets
18 Winne the Pooh Day & AA Milne Day • World Religion Day
19 Popcorn Day • Martin Luther King Jr Day (USA)
20 Cheese Lover’s Day (UK): Cheese Puffs Recipe | Alphabet Cheese Matching Game
21 Hug Day
24 International Day of Education • Global Belly Laugh Day
25 Opposite Day: Secret Spy Antonyms Game | Printable Opposites Matching Game
26 Australia Day (Australia): 50 Best Australian Picture Books | 35 Books About Australian Animals
27 Holocaust Memorial Day : Chocolate Cake Day: Slow Cooker Choc Banana Cake Recipe
28 International Lego Day: 25 Lego Learning Ideas | Printable Lego Mosaics | Lego Ideas Books for Kids
29 Puzzle Day: Brain Games & Logic Puzzles for Kids
31 International Zebra Day
Get your 2026 Special Days Calendar now!
February Holidays
1 Black History Month Starts (USA): Research a Black Inventor Writing Activity
2 World Wetlands Day
4 World Read Aloud Day: 50 Fun Ways to Read Aloud | Best Read Aloud Chapter Books | Best Read Aloud Picture Books
5 World Nutella Day
6 Winter Olympics Games start • Waitangi Day (New Zealand)
9 World Pizza Day
10 Safer Internet Day: Picture Books About Digital Citizenship | Chapter Books for Kids Who Love to Code
14 Valentines Day: Valentines Day Activities for Kids • Global Movie Day: 75 Kids Book to Movie Adaptations | 65 Teen Books That Are Movies
15 Galileo Day • World Hippopotamus Day • World Whale Day
16 National Tim Tam Day
17 Shrove Tuesday (Christian) • Pancake Day • Random Acts of Kindness Day: Random Acts of Kindness for Kids | Loving Kindness Yoga for Kids | Kindness Books • Lunar New Year (Asia): Lunar New Year Resources
18 Ash Wednesday (Christian)
20 World Social Justice Day: Books About Diversity • Love Your Pet Day
21 International Mother Language Day
26 Tell a Fairy Tale Day: Fairy Tale Activities
27 International Polar Bear Day
March Special Days
1 World Compliment Day • International Ideas Month Starts
3 Chinese Lantern Day (Asia) • World Wildlife Day: 21 Kids Nature Movies • Wangari Maathai Day (Africa)
4 Holi (Hindi)
7 National Cereal Day
8 International Women’s Day: Inspiring Women Quotes Coloring Pages | Strong Girls Graphic Novels
9 Barbie’s Birthday
11 World Plumbing Day
12 Plant a Flower Day: DIY Seed Tape | Plants That Are Perfect for Play Spaces
14 International Day of Mathematics: Math Activities
15 Fastelavn (North Europe) • World Speech Day: 10 TED Talks for Kids • Mother’s Day (UK & others): Mother’s Day Activities
16 National Panda Day (USA)
17 St Patrick’s Day: St Patrick’s Day Activities
18 Global Recycling Day: DIY Worm Farm
19 International Digital Learning Day: Coding & Digital Learning Resources • Edi al-Fitr starts (Muslim)
20 World Oral Health Day • World Storytelling Day: Story Telling with Story Stones
21 World Poetry Day • International Day of Forests
22 World Water Day: 10 Fun Water Play Ideas
23 World Bear Day
25 Waffle Day (Sweden)
27 Wear a Hat Day (UK): braintumourresearch.org • World Theatre Day: world-theatre-day.org
28 Earth Hour 8:30pm local time: Earth Hour Books for Kids
30 International Zero Waste Day
31 Crayon Day: Crayon Resist Leaf Art | DIY Rainbow Crayons
April Celebrations
1 April Fool’s Day • Passover starts (Jewish)
2 International Children’s Book Day: Book Activities
3 Good Friday (Christian) • Find a Rainbow Day: Rainbow Learning Activities • World Aquatic Animal Day: Ocean Books for Kids
4 World Stray Animal Day
5 Easter Sunday (Christian): Easter Printables & Activities
6 International Day of Sport for Development & Peace: PE Group Games for Kids
7 World Health Day: Ideas for Teaching Kids About Germs
10 International Siblings Day (USA/Canada): Books About Siblings
13 Scrabble Day: Printable Scrabble Spelling Activity
15 World Art Day: Kids Art Ideas
16 World Voice Day: worldvoiceday.org
17 International Haiku Poetry Day: thehaikufoundation.org
18 World Circus Day: circusfederation.org
21 Creativity & Innovation Day: Mystery Bag Challenge
22 Earth Day: Earth Day Activities • Jelly Bean Day: Jelly Bean Science
23 St George’s Day (Europe) • World Book & Copyright Day: Library Scavenger Hunt
25 Anzac Day (Australia/New Zealand): Printable Anzac Day Learning Pack • World Veterinary Day • International Sculpture Day
28 Global Pay It Forward Day: Books About Kindness | Acts of Kindness for Kids
29 International Dance Day: Dance Ideas for Toddlers & Preschoolers | Dance Charades • International Guide Dog Day
30 International Jazz Day
May World Holidays
1 Vappu (Finland) • Vesak (Buddhist) • Mother Goose Day: Themed Nursery Rhymes
2 Harry Potter Day • Free Comic Book Day (USA): 30 Comic Books for Kids
3 Wild Koala Day (Australia): Books About Australian Animals • World Laughter Day: Funny Books for Kids
4 Star Wars Day: Star Wars Matching Game | Star Wars Lego Mosaics | Star Wars Books
5 Cinco De Mayo (Mexico) • Kodomo No Hi (Japan) • World Asthma Day
6 World Kids Coloring Day: Mindful Coloring Pages
8 VE Day (Europe)
9 Peter Pan Day
10 Mother’s Day (USA/Australia & others): Mother’s Day Activities
12 International Nurses’ Day: International Council of Nurses
14 Dance Like A Chicken Day
15 International Day of Families: 35 Books About Families • Endangered Species Day
16 International Day of Light: Light Themed Learning Activities | All About Light Writing Prompts
17 World Baking Day: Easy Baking Ideas for Kids
18 International Museum Day
20 World Bee Day: Kids Bee Activities • World Metrology Day
21 World Day of Cultural Diversity
22 Sherlock Holmes Day
23 World Turtle Day
24 Scavenger Hunt Day: Fun Scavenger Hunt Ideas
25 Tap Dance Day (USA) • Africa Day (Africa)
26 Edi al-Adha starts (Muslim) • World Dracula Day • Paper Airplane Day (USA)
28 International Burger Day
31 World Parrot Day
June World Celebrations
1 World Milk Day: Magic Milk Experiment | DIY Milk Jug Catcher
3 World Bicycle Day • Global Running Day: globalrunningday.org
5 World Environment Day: Environment Day Books • National Donut Day (USA/Others)
8 World Oceans Day: Ocean Books for Kids | Ocean Sensory Bottle | Ocean Slime Recipe
9 Donald Duck Day
11 International Day of Play: Screen Free Play Ideas | 31 Days of Sensory Play
12 Superman Day
14 World Blood Donor Day
15 Global Wind Day: Make Paper Pinwheels | Windblown Book & Activity
16 Vegemite Day (Australia) • World Sea Turtle Day
17 World Crocodile Day • Eat Your Vegetables Day: Eat the Alphabet: Recipes from A to Z
18 International Picnic Day: Yard Games to Play on Your Next Picnic • International Sushi Day
19 Juneteenth (USA) • Dragon Boat Festival (Asia)
20 World Refugee Day • World Juggling Day
21 Father’s Day (USA/UK/Others): Father’s Day Activities • International Day of Yoga: Kids Yoga Resources for School & Home • World Music Day: Music Games for Kids | The Plate Dance Percussion
22 World Rain Forest Day
24 St John’s Day (Christian)
25 Eric Carle’s Birthday: Eric Carle Picture Book Study
26 Eid al-Adha (Muslim)
27 International Pineapple Day
28 International Pride Day
29 International Mud Day: Mud Play Ideas
30 International Asteroid Day: asteroidday.org
July World Celebrations
1 Canada Day (Canada) • International Joke Day: Sight Word Chatterboxes with Jokes
2 Disco Day: Printable Dance Charades Game
4 Independence Day (USA) • Lewis Carroll Day
5 NAIDOC Week starts (Australia)
7 World Chocolate Day: Make Chocolate Crackles
10 Matariki (New Zealand) • Teddy Bear’s Picnic Day: Bear Hunt Sensory Bin
12 Malala Day
14 Bastille Day (France) • Cow Appreciation Day • Shark Awareness Day: Kids Books About Sharks
15 World Youth Skills Day • Hot Dog Day (USA)
16 World Snake Day: Rainbow Snake Pots Craft
17 World Emoji Day: Emoji Matching Game | DIY Emoji Rock Painting
18 Nelson Mandela Day
19 International Karaoke Day • National Ice Cream Day (USA)
20 International Moon Day: 50 Space Books for Kids • World Chess Day
21 Lamington Day (Australia): Bake Mini Lamington Cupcakes
22 World Brain Day
23 Commonwealth Games start
24 International Self-Care Day • Schools Tree Day (Australia)
25 Christmas in July: Kids Christmas Activities
26 National Tree Day (Australia): treeday.planetark.org
27 Sleepy Head Day (Finland)
28 Beatrix Potter Day
29 International Tiger Day
30 Friendship Day: Books about Friendships
31 World Ranger Day
August World Celebrations
1 Sandcastle Day: Ideas for Sand Play | 35 Fun Things to Do at the Beach | Beach Scavenger Hunt
2 Ice Cream Sandwich Day (USA)
3 Watermelon Day: Watermelon & Strawberry Sorbet Recipe
4 Owl Awareness Day
8 International Cat Day
9 International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
10 World Lion Day • Bullying No Way Week starts (Australia): Bullying Videos for Kids – Preschool through Middle Grades
12 World Elephant Day • International Youth Day
13 Obon starts (Buddhist) • Left Hander’s Day
14 World Lizard Day
15 National Relaxation Day: Classroom Mindfulness Activities | Social Emotional Learning Printables • International Geocaching Day: Try Geocaching
16 Tell a Joke Day: Sight Word Chatterboxes with Jokes
18 Never Give Up Day
19 World Photography Day • World Orangutan Day
20 Day of Medical Transporters • Bacon Lover’s Day: Bacon, Cheese & Spaghetti Pie Recipe
22 Be an Angel Day
25 Banana Split Day
26 International Dog Day • La Tomatina (Spain)
27 Hungry Ghost Festival (Asia) • Rock Paper Scissors Day
29 Lemon Juice Day: Lemon & Rosemary Scented Playdough | Lemon & Mango Yoghurt Cake Recipe
30 Toasted Marshmallow Day
31 Eat Outside Day
Get your 2026 Special Days Calendar now!
September Special Days
1 World Letter Writing Day • International Primate Day
2 Health & Physical Ed Day (Australia): Group Games for PE
5 International Day of Charity
6 Father’s Day (Aus/NZ): Father’s Day Resources
7 Threatened Species Day (Australia)
8 International Literacy Day: 30 Kids Writing Prompts | Verbal Literacy Games
9 National Teddy Bear Day
10 R U Okay Day (Australia): Play The Game of Feelings
11 Rosh Hashanah (Jewish)
12 World First Aid Day
13 Roald Dahl’s Birthday
15 International Day of Democracy • International Dot Day: Dot Sticker Drawings
16 Play-doh Day: Playdough Ideas
17 International Microorganism Day
19 Talk Like A Pirate Day: Pirate Books & Activities • International Eat An Apple Day: Simple Apple Slice Recipe
20 Yom Kippur (Jewish) • World Clean Up Day
21 International Day of Peace
22 World Rhino Day • Dear Diary Day: 25 Best Journals for 8-15 Year Olds
23 International Day of Sign Languages
24 World Gorilla Day • Punctuation Day • World Maritime Day
25 World Dream Day • Save the Koala Day (Australia)
26 International Rabbit Day
30 World Stroopwafel Day
October World Holidays
1 International Day of Older Persons
2 World Farm Animals Day: The Three Little Pigs Puppets • World Smile Day: DIY Emoji Rocks | How to Draw Emotions
3 International Astronomy Day
4 World Space Week Starts • World Animal Day
5 World Teacher Day • World Habitat Day
6 Mad Hatter Day
8 World Octopus Day • World Sight Day
10 World Porridge Day • World Mental Health Day
12 Indigenous Peoples Day (USA) • Thanksgiving (Canada)
13 Ada Lovelace Day
14 National Fossil Day (USA)
15 Global Hand Washing Day: Books about Good Handwashing | Teaching Kids About Handwashing Activities
16 World Food Day: 50 Best Pretend Play Food Sets | Eating the Alphabet: 26 Recipes from A to Z
20 International Sloth Day
21 Back to the Future Day
22 Internationall Wombat Day: Books about Wombats
24 United Nations Day
25 World Pasta Day: Slow Cooker Mini Meatballs with Spaghetti
27 International Panda Day (WWF China)
28 International Animation Day
31 Halloween: Halloween Fun for Kids
November Special Days
1 Prime Meridian Day • Dia De Los Muertos Starts (Mexico)
3 World Jellyfish Day
5 Guy Fawkes Night (UK) • International Day Against Violence & Bullying at School: 15 Anti-Bullying Videos for 4-13 Year Olds
8 Diwali (Hindi): Learn more about Diwali • International Tongue Twister Day
9 World Adoption Day
10 World Science Day: Science Experiments & Activities • Sesame Street Day (UK)
11 Remembrance Day • Origami Day (Japan): Origami Heart Bookmarks
13 World Kindness Day: Picture Books About Kindness | Loving Kindness Yoga
15 Shichi-Go-San (Japan) • I Love to Write Day
16 International Day for Tolerance
17 Take a Hike Day
18 Mickey Mouse Day
19 World Philosophy Day
20 World Children’s Day
21 World Hello Day • World Television Day
24 Fairy Bread Day: fairybreadday.com
25 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women
26 Thanksgiving (USA)
28 French Toast Day • Red Planet Day
30 St Andrew’s Day (Scotland)
December Celebrations
2 Special Education Day
3 International Day of Persons with Disabilities
4 Hanukkah begins (Jewish): Hanukkah Worksheet • National Cookie Day (USA): Sugar Cookie Recipe
5 World Soil Day • International Volunteer Day: Ways to Involve Children in Volunteering
6 St Nicholas Day (Western Christian)
7 Dia De Las Velitas (Columbia) • International Civil Aviation Day
8 Bodhi Day (Buddhist)
10 International Human Rights Day
11 International Mountain Day
13 St Lucia Day (Europe): Learn more about St Lucia Day
16 Las Posadas begins (Christian): Learn more about Las Posadas
17 Wright Brothers Day
18 International Migrants Day • Ugly Christmas Sweater Day
19 St Nicholas Day (Eastern Christian)
21 Crossword Puzzle Day
24 JÓLABÓKAFLÓÐIÐ (Iceland)
25 Christmas Day: Christmas Around the World Worksheets | Christmas Around the World Books | Christmas Activities Collection
26 Kwanzaa Starts (USA): Learn more about Kwanzaa | Kwanzaa Interactive Notebooks
27 Cut Out Snowflakes Day (USA): Name Snowflakes | Snowflakes Memory Matching Game
31 New Years Eve: New Years Eve Activities for Kids
Bring more joy, meaning, and connection to your school year—without the endless search for ideas! Download your 2026 School Holidays & Special Days Calendar today and discover how easy it can be to plan engaging, curriculum-linked celebrations for every month.
Perfect for teachers, homeschoolers, and children’s community groups alike, this printable calendar will quickly become your go-to planning companion for creating memorable learning moments all year long.
Get your 2026 Special Days Calendar now!
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