January Special Days 2026: Perfect for Schools & Homeschooling
This list of January Special Days for 2026 is a great resource for finding a wide variety of holidays and celebrations in January.
The list includes festivals from countries and cultures from all over the world, days of awareness, and special days to celebrate learning, health, food, the environment, as well as some just-for-fun holidays, with a wide variety of celebrations to inspire learning with students in daycare or preschool all the way through elementary and middle school.
Great for teachers to use in their own classroom, my list of January holidays is also perfect for school wide planning, for preschools, homeschooling families, and youth and community groups.
And I’ve included links to a HEAP of relevant educational resources below to help educators get started with planning to acknowledge their choice of relevant special days with students.
RELATED: Looking for holidays to celebrate with students in other months of 2026? Check out our lists for January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
Download the complete 2026 Special Days calendar with all of these January special days and more! Fill in the form below to have it available delivered directly to your inbox.
2026 Special Days Calendar
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January Special Days – World Holidays & Celebrations 2026
January 1 – New Years Day: Spend the New Year period completing our family bucket list or guide pre-teens and teens in completing our printable Vision Board & Goal Setting exercise.
January 2 – Science Fiction Day: Check out our collection of 21 Dystopian Novels for Teens.
January 3 – Mahayana New Year (Buddhist)
January 4 – World Spaghetti Day • World Braille Day: Check out the video below for an introduction to World Braille Day;
January 6 – Epiphany (Christian)
January 8 – Bubble Bath Day: Check out this collection of 6 Bathtime Play Ideas and make some fun Soap Crayons.
January 9 – Word Nerd Day: Have fun with this collection of Word Games for Kids or fun Spelling Activities.
January 13 – Lohri (India): Check out the video below for an introduction to Lohri;
January 14 – International Kite Festival (India) • World Logic Day: Check out this collection of Logic Puzzles for Kids
January 15 – Bagel Day
January 17 – Kid Inventors Day: Become a kid inventor yourself with Mystery Bag Challenges, 5 Construction Challenges or the Best STEM Sets for kids.
January 18 – World Religion Day • Winnie the Pooh Day (A. A. Milne Birthday): Check out our favorite AA Milne Winnie the Pooh compilation- The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh.
January 19 – Popcorn Day: Click through for three fun popcorn flavors to try! • World Religion Day
January 20 – Cheese Lover’s Day (UK): Try this simple Cheese Puffs Recipe or have fun with our Alphabet Cheese Matching Game
January 21 – Hug Day
January 24 – Global Belly Laugh Day • International Day of Education
January 25 – Opposite Day: Have fun with our Secret Spy Antonyms Game or Printable Opposites Matching Game.
January 26 – Australia Day (Australia): Discover more about Australia with these collections of the Best Australian Picture Books and 35 Books About Australian Animals.
January 27 – Chocolate Cake Day: Make time to cook this Slow Cooker Choc Banana Cake Recipe • Holocaust Memorial Day: Learn more about the Holocaust from a survivor;
January 28 – International Lego Day: We have a heap of fun Lego activities, including 25 Lego Learning Ideas, Printable Lego Mosaics and a great collection of Lego Ideas Books for Kids.
January 29 – Puzzle Day: A fun day to explore Brain Games & Logic Puzzles for Kids.
January 31 – International Zebra Day
Seasonal Activities
Winter activities for those in the northern hemisphere:
Summer activities for those in the southern hemisphere:
RELATED: Looking for holidays to celebrate with students in other months of 2026? Check out our Special Days resources for January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December
Or enter your email details below to receive the 2026 Holidays & Celebrations Calendar PDF.
2026 Special Days Calendar
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