Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Advent calendar filled with kid activities



Christmas time is here and it's not leaving anytime soon. And I'm glad it's not because I love Christmas. The cozy little lights and candles, the stylish and festive decorations, hot cocoa and whipped cream, a mountain of blankets to crawl under and most importantly; family time.

For me Christmas time is all about family time and to not loose track of that I made an Advent calendar with family and kid oriented activities. Every day we will be reminded of the fact to do something fun together and to create memories of this special time of year.

My husband went to the local hardware store for some items and brought me back 30 matchboxes on my request. In the meantime I had gathered Christmas themed color coordinated papers, a pencil, scissors, a ruler and double sided sticky tape. That's all it takes. Oh, and a lot of time.

Here's how you can make it too:

1: Trace the matchbox onto your paper, pretty side down. Trace all 4 sides of the matchbox onto the paper. Use your pencil to mark down a dot and use the ruler to get straight lines to get a rectangle shape. Once you have the first measurements you can outline more rectangles.
If you want to be very precise you can measure all sides of the matchbox and then measure this onto the paper. It's not how I work :)
2: Cut out all your rectangle shapes.
3: Cut double sided sticky tape into pieces and stick to a matchbox. Cover all four sides.
4: Stick your paper onto the matchbox.
5: Snip off any excess paper.
6: Start with the next one.
7: Decorate your little advent box any way you like. Use stickers, torn paper, let the kids put stickers on it, whatever you fancy. Don't forget your numbers 1 through 25! Use stickers and or stamps for this. Mix it up.

It will get an extra "pop of special" if you put the numbering on an extra layer of paper (I didn't do this because I wanted to be done with it) and then glue this on the box. Or use double sided sticky tape.

                             

The fun part will be to come up with activities to do with your children. If you need a little hand along the way, here is a link to some of the best ideas:
http://adrielbooker.com/family-advent-activities-christmas-countdown-fun/

                                      

One last tip:
Plan your activities wisely using your monthly planner. Make sure to do elaborate activities or crafts that need some prep on days you know you have the time.
Of course you can alternate between activities and a little chocolate treat too.

Time to open up the first box!!




Christmas is all about making time for family and don't forget to make it easy on yourself in the meantime!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Bethany. I've got so many things I want to post now it's a matter of finding the time :)

    ReplyDelete