How Many Days Are in Each Month?

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How many days are in each month?  It’s sometimes hard to remember if a month has 30 or 31 days, (or even 28) but I’ve got some tips to help you learn it and teach it to your kids or students.

When I was a kid I learned a little poem about the months of the year that has stayed with my my whole life.  I’ve also now taught this months of the year poem to my kids.

This months poem is a mnemonic, or a memory device to help your remember something.

Months of the Year

Thirty days has (or hath) September,
April, June, and November.
All the rest have 31,
Excepting February alone,
And that has twenty-eight days clear
And twenty-nine in each leap year.

This poem has a few different versions and endings, but this is the one I remember.

Here’s a graphic of it you are welcome to save, print, or share:

There is another months of the year poem that is based on the month’s number. It goes like this:

Fourth, eleventh, ninth, and sixth,
Thirty days to each affix;
Every other thirty-one,
Except the second month alone.

Knuckle Trick to Remember the Number of Days in Each Month:

Hold out both of your hands in front of you in fists. Starting from the pinkie knuckle on your right hand, recite the months as you touch the knuckles and the dips between the knuckles. Each of the knuckles represents a month with 31 days and each of the dips represents a month with only 30 days, except February which is either 28 or 29 days.

Download these Months in the Year teaching aids now:

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History of the Months of the Year Poem:

The months of the year poem possibly dates back to the 1400’s!  A version of it was published in a 1562 English manuscript about saints’ days. There are variations through out history, but it is the most remembered and repeated verses in the English language.

How Many Days are In Each Month?

In case that poem isn’t clear enough, here are the number of days in each month for you:

January- 31
February- 28 or 29 (28 normally, or 29 in leap year)
March- 31
April- 30
May- 31
June- 30
July- 31
August- 31
September- 30
October- 31
November- 30
December- 31

Why Months Are Different Lengths:

In the calendar we use, created by the Romans, the months were created based on the cycles of the moon.  They began with just 10 months instead of the 12 we have now. This left about 60 days unaccounted for at the end of the year. Julius Caesar changed that calendar to add 2 more months. February was at the end and it came up short with just 28 days, and 29 every fourth year. The Moon cycles are 29.5 days and the full cycle is 365.25. This is why we have the extra day every 4 years on leap year, to balance it. out.

Learn more about the phases of the moon with this Moon Phases Activity for Kids.