diff --git a/pydantic_extra_types/pendulum_dt.py b/pydantic_extra_types/pendulum_dt.py
index f507779d..933c310d 100644
--- a/pydantic_extra_types/pendulum_dt.py
+++ b/pydantic_extra_types/pendulum_dt.py
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@
 
 try:
     from pendulum import DateTime as _DateTime
-    from pendulum import parse
+    from pendulum import parse, instance
 except ModuleNotFoundError:  # pragma: no cover
     raise RuntimeError(
         'The `pendulum_dt` module requires "pendulum" to be installed. You can install it with "pip install pendulum".'
     )
+import datetime as dt
 from typing import Any, List, Type
 
 from pydantic import GetCoreSchemaHandler
@@ -65,6 +66,8 @@ def _validate(cls, value: Any, handler: core_schema.ValidatorFunctionWrapHandler
         # if we are passed an existing instance, pass it straight through.
         if isinstance(value, _DateTime):
             return handler(value)
+        elif isinstance(value, dt.datetime):
+            return instance(value)
 
         # otherwise, parse it.
         try: