Activity Advent Calendar Ideas

I really wanted to do an "activity" Advent calendar for my squirts this year and never got around to it.  We've ended up doing much of the stuff I might have put in it for activities, (make cookies, drink cocoa, go see Christmas lights, wrap presents, sing Christmas carols, etc.) but I think as crazy as my elves are about Christmas, they'd have liked the additional decoration AND the tradition and "event" of opening up a new activity each day.  So like any good mama who procrastinates something one year, I'm already doing some research for the awesome-o calendar I'm going to craft next year.  Here are some ideas I found around the interwebs that I really like:

Both of these ideas come from Budget Wise Home and link to other places, but I'm just going to link you to Budget Wise Home, because she has done an entire series of posts with Advent calendar ideas that are all pretty cute.

Aren't those great?  For me, I'd still use the hanging flashcards with a new activity for each day, but maybe in addition I'd keep the idea of a new cute ornament each day, too.  And then with the books, I'd just wrap up the GAZILLION Christmas books we already have and then write a new activity on the outside of each package.  So maybe each morning the boys could get up and unwrap a "new" book AND learn our activity for the day.  (This year I noticed when I pulled out our box of Christmas books that it was overwhelming and we haven't read them all because it's a touch unorganized...wrapping them up and opening one at a time might make it more special.)

And then I also like to sew and many of these fabric craft ideas catch my eye.  These all came from a series The Crafty Crow did, and so again, rather than linking you to each of these projects individually, I'm going to link you to the series at The Crafty Crow so you can check out ALL the goodies.  (Including a cute toilet-paper-roll craft that might be fun specifically for the play room or kids' rooms!)

Sort of doesn't surprise me to find an idea I like from the Family Fun magazine.  They always have super cute and quite simple ideas.  This one would be simple to put together and you could write your activity right inside the paper tree or have it hanging on a separate piece of paper in there or many other ideas...

I'm also fond of these cute little boxes in a frame from Buzzings of a Queen Bee.  The body part of the box is fixed (permanently with glue or temporarily with magnets to a backing of sheet metal) and the child removes the lid each day to find their activity.  I guess now that I'm checking into all these ideas I do like the ones that allow for some kind of treat AND activity each day, like the trees above and these boxes below. 

 

Well, now that I've posted all my ideas, I see that I'm drawn most to the adorable linen/felt stocking garland or the wrapped Christmas books.  We'll see what strikes me next November when it's time to pull all of this together!

Merry Christmas, everyone!