One of the most important life skills we can teach kids is how to plan ahead and manage time well. Introducing them to academic planners at an early age can help them stay focused throughout their school years. This mix of paper planners and online apps offers lots of great options for kids, teens, and even college students.
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Paper Academic Planners for Students
Paper student planners are easy to use and offer kids a chance to add stickers, doodle, and otherwise personalize this important tool. Try these picks for elementary school through high school.
Global Datebooks Elementary Student Planner
This is the perfect pick for elementary kids, with space for planning each day subject-by-subject. The big perk is the section on how to use a planner effectively, which teaches kids to set goals and manage their time. They’ll also appreciate the helpful resource pages at the end.
Buy it: Global Datebooks Elementary Student Planner at Amazon
Bright Day Dino Train Daily To-Dos Planner
Student planners can help kids stay on track in all parts of their lives, including chores and daily tasks. This cute design includes some standard daily to-dos on every page, like brushing your teeth and making your bed. There’s also room for kids to add their own to-do items, plus make notes about what they’re grateful for and what they achieved that day. We love this one for encouraging a growth mindset in little ones.
Buy it: Bright Day Dino Train Daily To-Dos Planner at Amazon
National Geographic Weird-But-True Daily Planner
Academic planners only work if kids use them. The cool thing about this one is the chance to learn new and unique facts every single day. This will keep students coming back so they don’t miss the important reminders and other notes. One caveat: This planner has months and days, but not specific yearly dates. That means you can use it for any year but will need to make sure kids are marking the correct days of the week as they go.
Buy it: National Geographic Weird-But-True Daily Planner at Amazon
School Mate Middle School Planner
Middle school is a unique time, and this planner is a nice fit for this interesting age. It helps kids plan for each subject on a daily basis, along with monthly calendar pages in bright, engaging colors. There’s a nice selection of reference pages at the end, with fascinating STEAM-related facts scattered throughout the whole thing.
Buy it: School Mate Middle School Planner at Amazon
Five Star Student Planner + Study App
If you want the best of both worlds, check out this planner/app combo. The paper planner is perfect for middle or high school students, with room to plan out each day by class period. Then, students scan items into the Study App using the handwriting recognition feature, so they’ll have reminders on-the-go even if they leave their paper planner at home.
Buy it: Five Star Student Planner + Study App at Amazon
8-Period Student Planner
Cute and colorful academic student planners are a lot of fun, but sometimes it’s better to minimize distractions. This simple setup includes useful features like an assignment tracker, long-term study planner, at-a-glance pages, and more.
Buy it: 8-Period Student Planner at Amazon
Day Designer
Super-busy students will appreciate the ability to plan out each day down to the hour, so they’ll never miss a practice, club meeting, or family game night. Day Designer offers a huge array of cover designs, including the ability to customize your own. This would make a great personalized back-to-school gift for a high schooler or college freshman.
Buy it: Day Designer at Amazon
Youthamazing Student Planner
This well-designed planner includes weekly and monthly layouts, space for goal-setting, and even room for parents and teachers to add notes. Reference pages include the periodic table, parts of speech, measurement tables, and more. Plus, kids will love the stickers they can add throughout the year to mark special achievements.
Buy it: Youthamazing Student Planner at Amazon
Living My Best Life Academic Planner
Sports-loving kids will like this planner, which includes all the standard calendar and organizer pages inside. It’s got room for goals, projects, activities, important dates, and even grade records.
Buy it: Living My Best Life Academic Planner at Amazon
Academic Weekly & Monthly Planner
When you just need something basic to keep students organized, this bargain choice fits the bill. It’s got pages for just about everything, with nothing extra to distract or waste space in an already-full backpack.
Buy it: Academic Weekly & Monthly Planner at Amazon
Online Planners for Students
Middle and high schoolers do just about everything online today, so using a digital planner tool just makes sense. Here are some of the best free and paid online planners for students to try.
MyStudyLife
This popular online planner is available on any device, via apps or a website. Customize your calendar to match your own schedule, add items to a to-do list, and get reminders when you need them. This free planner has a lot to offer students, without distracting bells and whistles they don’t really need. (iOS, Android, web; free)
Learn more: MyStudyLife
myHomework
This app’s free (ad-supported) version is pretty robust, with all the basic planning tools most students need. For a very minimal yearly fee, you can remove ads and receive access to premium features like the ability to share your schedule with others. (iOS, Android, Kindle, web; free, premium $4.99/year)
Learn more: myHomework
Today/Studyo
Parents and kids looking for a free online planner will find the Today app very useful. It interfaces with Google Classroom and Google Calendar to automatically add assignments and activities. Parents and teachers can also access the planner to help kids stay on track. Schools who want to offer these benefits to all of their students, along with tools like analytics and insights, should explore Studyo, which works with all major LMS programs. (Web, iOS, or Android; Today app is free, Studyo is priced per student)
Learn more: Today/Studyo
ClickUp
ClickUp makes planning tools for a variety of audiences, and the free version of their app is ideal for students. The robust suite of features includes collaboration options so kids can coordinate group projects and other joint activities. You can upgrade to paid options (education discounts are available), but most students will find everything they need in the free version. (iOS, Android, web; free, with paid options available)
Learn more: ClickUp
Todoist
This is the kind of planning app that works as well for adults as it does for teens. That makes it a nice fit for high school and college students, who can keep using it as they transition to adult working life. The free version will suit most students just fine, but if you need to upgrade, you can do it for a small monthly fee. (iOS, Android, web; free, with paid upgrades)
Learn more: Todoist
Calendly
While it’s not a full-fledged planner, Calendly is a good solution for situations where students and teachers need to schedule meeting times on a regular basis. It’s great for college students, or high schoolers working on group projects or coordinating clubs and activities. Try the free Basic version to see what you think, and consider upgrading if it works well for you. (iOS, Android, web; free, with paid options)
Learn more: Calendly for Education
Now that you’ve got your students squared away, check out the Best Teacher Planners, as Recommended by Educators.
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