What is today’s date? The card above reads your device’s clock and shows today’s date with the day of the week, the day of the year, how many days are left in the year, the ISO week number, the season and the phase of the moon. Beside it you can make and print a free calendar-time sheet for the classroom or home, so children can write or trace the date, the weather and the day of the week every morning.
Today’s date: what the card shows
The live card updates itself each day, so it answers the questions people type into a search box most often: what day is it today, what is the date today, what week of the year is it and how many days until the end of the year. Everything is worked out on your device from its clock and time zone, so nothing is sent anywhere.
| Question | What the card tells you |
|---|---|
| What day is it today? | The weekday, from Sunday to Saturday |
| What is today’s date? | The month, day and year in words |
| What is the day of the year? | A number from 1 to 365 (or 366 in a leap year) |
| How many days are left in the year? | The days remaining after today |
| What week number is it? | The ISO week number, from 1 to 52 or 53 |
| What season and moon phase is it? | The meteorological season and an estimate of the moon phase |
How to write today’s date in different countries
The same day is written differently around the world, which is why a date such as 09/10 can mean two different days. Here is one example date, Tuesday, September 14, 2027, in the common formats:
| Format | Example | Used in |
|---|---|---|
| Month / day / year | 09/14/2027 | United States |
| Day / month / year | 14/09/2027 | United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Australia, most of Europe |
| Year-month-day (ISO 8601) | 2027-09-14 | Computers, science, international standards |
| Long form | Tuesday, September 14, 2027 | Letters, invoices, formal writing |
| Compact | 20270914 | File names that sort by date |
If you write for people in more than one country, the long form or the ISO format is the safest because it cannot be misread. The calendar-time sheet below lets you choose month first or day first.
What day of the year is it? Day numbers by month
The day of the year, also called the ordinal date, counts from January 1 as day 1. Wikipedia’s ordinal date article shows how it is used in science and in computing. This table gives the day number of the first of each month, so you can work out any date in your head:
| Month | Day of the year on the 1st | In a leap year |
|---|---|---|
| January | 1 | 1 |
| February | 32 | 32 |
| March | 60 | 61 |
| April | 91 | 92 |
| May | 121 | 122 |
| June | 152 | 153 |
| July | 182 | 183 |
| August | 213 | 214 |
| September | 244 | 245 |
| October | 274 | 275 |
| November | 305 | 306 |
| December | 335 | 336 |
A normal year has 365 days and ends on day 365. A leap year has 366 days, and December 31 is day 366. The next leap year is 2028, when February 29 falls on a Tuesday.
Week number today: what week is it?
The week number today on the card is the ISO week number. Weeks start on Monday, and week 1 is the week that contains the first Thursday of the year, which is the same as the week containing January 4. The full rules are in Wikipedia’s ISO week date article. Because of this rule, the first days of January can belong to the last week of the year before, and the last days of December can belong to week 1 of the next year.
| Year | Week 1 starts on | Weeks in the year |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Monday, December 29, 2025 | 53 |
| 2027 | Monday, January 4, 2027 | 52 |
| 2028 | Monday, January 3, 2028 | 52 |
Week numbers are common in European workplaces, in school timetables and in shipping and manufacturing schedules. If you plan by the week, print a weekly planner printable and write the week number at the top of each page.
What is the moon phase today?
The card estimates the moon phase from the moon’s average cycle of 29.53 days between new moons, so it can be a day off the exact astronomical time. Wikipedia’s lunar phase article has the science. The eight names the card uses follow the cycle like this:
| Phase | Roughly day of the cycle | What you see |
|---|---|---|
| New moon | Day 0 | Nothing: the lit side faces away from us |
| Waxing crescent | Day 1 to 6 | A thin curve on the right in the Northern Hemisphere |
| First quarter | Day 7 to 8 | A half moon, lit on the right |
| Waxing gibbous | Day 9 to 13 | More than half lit and growing |
| Full moon | Day 14 to 16 | The whole face is lit |
| Waning gibbous | Day 17 to 21 | More than half lit and shrinking |
| Last quarter | Day 22 to 23 | A half moon, lit on the left |
| Waning crescent | Day 24 to 28 | A thin curve on the left, fading to new moon |
Which season is it?
The card uses meteorological seasons, the convention weather services use because the seasons then start on the first of a month. In the Northern Hemisphere winter is December to February, spring is March to May, summer is June to August and autumn is September to November. Switch to the Southern Hemisphere on the worksheet and the seasons are reversed. Astronomical seasons are different: they begin at the equinoxes and solstices, around March 20, June 21, September 22 or 23 and December 21 or 22.
Why does my date differ from someone else’s?
Dates change at midnight in each time zone, so it can already be tomorrow somewhere else. Time zones stretch from UTC-12 to UTC+14, a span of 26 hours, so for two hours of every day there are three different calendar dates on Earth at the same moment. Wikipedia’s time zone article lists the zones. The card always follows the clock on your own device.
Calendar time worksheets: 4 printable versions
Calendar time is the short morning routine many classrooms use to practice the date: say the day, circle it, write yesterday and tomorrow, write the date in words and numbers, check the weather and the season, and count the days in school. Download a blank sheet to write in, a version filled in gray to trace, a day-first A4 sheet for the Southern Hemisphere, or a black-and-white sheet that saves ink.
How to use the calendar-time sheet
- Choose “Blank to write in” for children who can write the date, or “Filled in gray to trace” for younger children.
- Pick the date to fill in, the order of the numbers and the hemisphere for the season.
- Choose the bottom box: a drawing box about today or a “Today I will…” plan.
- Print one sheet a day, or print a week at a time and staple them into a daily calendar book.
Pair the sheet with a monthly wall calendar from our calendar maker so children can see today’s date in its month, and add a days calculator activity to count the days to a birthday or a holiday.
What is today’s date: frequently asked questions
What is today’s date?
Today’s date is shown on the card at the top of this page, taken from your device’s clock and time zone. It also gives the weekday, so it answers “what day is it today” at the same time.
What day of the year is it today?
The card shows the day of the year as a number from 1 to 365, or 1 to 366 in a leap year, along with the days left in the year.
What week number is it?
The card shows the ISO week number, used in much of Europe and in business planning. US calendars often number weeks differently, starting week 1 on the week that contains January 1.
Why does my date differ from someone else’s?
Dates change at midnight in each time zone, so it can already be tomorrow somewhere else.
Is the moon phase exact?
It is an estimate from the average 29.53-day cycle, good to about a day. Use an astronomy almanac if you need exact times.
Is the calendar-time sheet free?
Yes. It is free for home and classroom use, with no sign-up.
More calendar tools
- Countdown calendar maker for any date
- Summer vacation countdown for the last day of school
- Days calculator: days between dates, age in days, add days
- Coloring calendar for any month
- Calendar maker with holidays and festivals for 2025 to 2030