Super Fast and Easy Advent Calendars
Why not give your kids a homemade Christmas alternative to store-bought Advent calendars?
If you love the idea of a homemade Christmas, why not a homemade Christmas countdown? Kids love to countdown the days to the big event, but commercial Advent calendars mean loads of sugary, artificial chocolate. And not the good homemade Christmas chocolate either. That stuff's full of preservatives, chemicals, and plain old sugar.
Materials
Green paper
A marker and pencil
A circle tracer (bottle caps work great)
Mac tac (clear, sticky plastic usually used to cover shelves)
Washable or dry erase markers
Make It!
Depending on the ages of your kids, this homemade Christmas might have to start with you. Even older kids will need a bit of guidance setting up their Christmas trees just right.
Use the pencil (or, if you're really brave, go straight to markers) to trace a circle near the bottom of your page. Label it 1. Trace another directly above it and label it 2. This is the trunk of your tree.
In a straight line above the two circles, trace six circles evenly across the page and label them 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Draw five circles above the six, four above the five, three above the four, two above the three, one above the two. Space them to get the shape of a Christmas tree as they narrow toward the top. Label them up to 23.
Trace around the circles in straight lines to draw a tree shape. On the back of the tree, draw a larger circle that says 24. Cut out around the outline, making your edges jagged to look like branches.
You can stop here and make these one-use advent calendars, but even a homemade Christmas benefits from a plastic touch. Cut a piece of mac tac twice as large as the tree. Remove the backing and lay it sticky side up on the table. Carefully smooth your tree onto the mac tac. Fold the mac tac over the back of the tree so that the entire thing is covered in plastic. Presto: instant laminating!
Cut the tree out and it's ready to use! Have the kids draw a Christmas picture in the appropriate circle every day as Christmas approaches. Not only will you dodge the chunks of artificial chocolate, but these homemade Christmas calendars look great displayed in the living room as they fill up with drawings. Better still, when Christmas comes, you can simply wipe them clean and put them away to use next year!
Another Idea
If you don't mind the extra work, save the mac tac laminating until AFTER Christmas. You can laminate each child's homemade Christmas tree and save it as a keepsake for years to come!