Christmas is my most favourite time of the year! It was my favourite as a child but I think it’s even more magical seeing Christmas in the eyes of your children! This week I’d like to share one of my favourite Christmas traditions – our Christmas Advent Calendar!
As a child, I have fond memories of our advent calendars. We didn’t have a lot of money so we’d often share one chocolate advent calendar between my siblings and I. We’d take turns each day being able to open the doors and eat the little chocolate hiding inside.
But what I remember most was the advent calendar my mum lovingly put together for us! It had pockets for each day of December and my mum would put a special activity prompt in each pocket. Sometimes there would be a little treat in the pocket too. One day it might have been something simple like getting ice-blocks after school or even a bike ride around the lake on the weekend. I looooved this tradition and it was one of my favourite parts about Christmas as a child.
Now that I’m a parent myself, getting our own pocket advent calendar was a really special milestone. We found ours at Kmart a few years ago and hang it in our kitchen where our normal calendar normally hangs.
This year, Kurtis and I sat down and wrote out 48 different Christmas activities and ideas for our Advent calendar and then put them on some cute little cards which we then laminated. We printed them all and then went through them together to decide what would work best with our commitments throughout December. You can grab a copy of the Advent Christmas Cards in my store right here.
I’ve included sensory play activities like Christmas Sensory Rice, play dough and Oobleck. There’s crafty activities like creating your own wrapping paper and baking. I’ve also included kindness acts like making cookies for the local retirement home or donating books to silk children in hospital. There’s even simple Christmas traditions like visiting Santa for your annual photo or going out at night to look at Christmas lights!
In previous years, we got too fancy and struggled to keep up with it. So this year we’ve scaled it back and added some pockets that just have a little candy cane or lollipop treat to spread out the activities.
We decided to package these printable advent activities up as a gift to our Little Play Club members. In our club, we talk a lot about making memories with our little learners through playtime. It’s absolutely heartwarming seeing their photos throughout the month and how they’re connecting with their little learners while they play.
Today I wanted to share a few of their photos in this blog post because I have absolutely loved seeing them sharing some beautiful Christmas traditions with their little learners throughout the month.
Kelly is one of our amazing Little Play Club members. Her cheeky elf has been getting involved in some of her Advent Calendar activities and it always makes me smile seeing what her little learners are getting up to. Here she made some sensory rice for her elf to enjoy with her little ones!
Casey made the most amazing Advent Calendar featuring an activity from the Advent Cards packet for each day of the month in a little envelope. She has a 3 year old who loved this colour hunt activity from the Advent Calendar Cards!
I love how Cass added her cards to the Christmas tree with a number for each day of the month written on the back of each card. The excitement on her little learner’s face says it all!
Last but not least, Catherine printed off her cards to add to her advent calendar pockets just like ours! How amazing does her Christmas themed jelly look?!
It’s not too late to set up your own advent calendar activities either! Simply print off the cards and use one each day to prompt your Christmas playtime and memory making – you can grab a set by clicking the button below.
