In my house, counting down the days until Christmas begins much before December but this year, I decided to add some fun to the December countdown. We made an activity advent calendar. Each envelope contains a different Christmas themed activity for the day. As a bonus, I won't have to answer the question "How many days until Christmas Mom?".
Time: 2 hours (make this a quick activity by using pre-made envelopes)
Age: Any Age
Level: Easy
Materials:
Art canvas or poster board (we used a 16 X 20 inch canvas)
24 envelopes - make your own from scrapbook paper, old cards, wrapping paper, or your own Christmas print paper OR save time and use pre-made envelopes.
Christmas stickers or other decorations.
We choose to make our envelopes so we got busy with paint and printing things and created our paper.
Cut out various sized squares. Ours range in size from 6 X 6 cm to 20 X 20 cm.
To make a square envelope, fold two sides in until the points are touching. Run a glue bead along the bottoms edges.
Fold up the bottom and trim if you like. Fold down the top.
To make a rectangle, fold in the sides only part way and continue as in making the square envelope.
When you near the end of making your envelopes, it helps to lay the envelopes on your canvas to see what sizes you might need.
Decide on your activities. Check out
this activities site for a whole range of craft, outings, serving others, winter and summer Christmas activities.
Fill your envelopes and paste on the numbers. Make your own numbers or print them off.
Glue the envelopes to your canvas and decorate with ribbon, small decorations, stickers ect.
December 1st, let the fun begin!
