I'm always looking for ways to countdown to Christmas with my girls. Because they are so young, we are still trying out new traditions for the holidays. After creating our Catholic Advent Calendar, I decided to create a more generic Christmas version that wasn't religious. I plan to mix some of these ideas with our Catholic version to help get my girls excited about counting down to Christmas.
In making this Advent calendar, I wanted it to be useful for as many people as possible and something you use year after year. Because of that, there is a lot of choice involved in this activity. You can choose what activities you want to do and what day you want to do them. The number card and activity cards are separate so you can look at your month of December and decide what activity you want your child to flip over each day depending on your schedule.
What is included:
-36 activity cards designed with kids and families in mind-number cards 1-25
-directions with pictures for ideas on how to display your calendar
Getting Started:
Print and cut apart the activity cards and the number cards. If this is an activity you want to use or let your children touch, I would suggest printing on cardstock and even laminating for durability. Decide which activity you would like for each day of December. Look at your family calendar and pick out activities that will be fun and not a ton of work based on the activities you already have going on. Match up the number and the activity card.
Decide How You Want to Display Your Calendar:
I've included some ideas for how to display your advent calendar but feel free to make this work for you. If you already have an advent calendar that has boxes or slots, use that and print the activities on regular paper so they can be folded down to the size you need.Attach to a Christmas Tree
I put the number card in front of the activity card and used mini clothespins to clip them to the tree. This is a small Christmas tree that we have specifically for the girls and it could even serve as your Advent Calendar Tree. You could also incorporate these onto your regular tree if you want. Each day, find the correct number and move the activity card to the front so you can see which ones are complete.
Use envelopes to hide the activities
Put the number cards on the front of the envelope and hide the activity card on the inside of the envelope. Hang the envelopes on a ribbon, banner, or Christmas tree. Or don't display them and just have a basket of the envelopes that your child opens each day.
Use ribbon and hang on the wall
I used ribbon and tiny clothespins to attach the number card and the activity card to the ribbon. I put them in 2 vertical lines. You could make horizontal lines if you prefer and hang them on a door, wall, mantle, etc. Again, the two cards are NOT attached. I just put the number card in front and clipped the two together. After each day, you can keep the activity card on the top so you remember what number you are on.
Make this calendar your own! Have fun with it and display it in the way that makes the most sense for your family. Just spend time together as a family enjoying the Christmas season.
To download your free copy of the Advent Calendar, click the link below.