Long and Short Months: The Knuckle Trick
⏱ 0:30📘 Grade 3 · Years, months and days
Make a fist and count across your knuckles: knuckles are 31-day months, the dips between them are 30-day months. February is special: 28 or 29 days.
The videos are narrated in Mandarin Chinese with on-screen subtitles.
📚 What you will learn
- Make a fist: the knuckles are long months, the dips between them are short months.
- Count from the left: Jan (knuckle), Feb (dip), Mar (knuckle) … Jul (knuckle), then start again: Aug (knuckle) … Dec.
- Long months (31 days): January, March, May, July, August, October, December.
- Short months (30 days): April, June, September, November.
- February: 28 days in a common year, 29 days in a leap year.
🎙️ What the video says (in Chinese)
- 哪些月有 31 天，哪些月有 30 天？握个拳头就知道！
- 握紧拳头：凸起来的是大月，凹下去的是小月。
- 从左往右数：1 月、2 月、3 月……7 月。再从头数：8 月、9 月、10 月、11 月、12 月。
- 大月有 31 天，小月有 30 天。
- 2 月最特别：平年 28 天，闰年 29 天！
✏️ Try it yourself
How many days are there in October?
Show answer
31 days (a long month)
How many days are there in July and August together?
Show answer
Both are long months: 31 + 31 = 62 days
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