make a Family Advent Calendar
Put your family into your an Advent calendar. This is a great way to create your own personal scene. The kids decided to make a snowy day with us admiring our freshly built snowman. Include your personal holiday memory- could you imagine peering in through a window, your family all around the Christmas tree, or by the fire, or making cookies!? We got this blank wooden calendar at Woodpeckers Crafts (https://woodpeckerscrafts.com/)- they have a whole selection for you to personalize and/or make into gifts (trees, houses, trains etc.). I like that it is wood so it will last for years to come, creating a keepsake!
you'll need Materials
- Blank Advent Calendar https://woodpeckerscrafts.com/search.php?search_query=advent%20§ion=product
- Peg Dolls (https://woodpeckerscrafts.com/peg-doll-people/)
- Paint Pens (we like the Posca brand)
- Detail pens (we like the Micron brand)
- Clear sheet (we used an overhead projector sheet from my teaching days)
- Pencil/ eraser
- Double sided tape
- Glue
- Snowflake Numbers Template Circles are 1 inch in case you want to use a punch
- Thick paper
- Paint
We always find these items useful too:
Directions
- Paint your background. For the square style Advent calendar the box portion is 22.5 cm by 22.5 cm. We just made a simple sky with a whispy cloud in it.
- Add some layers to your scene to create the appearance of depth. We made a snowy hill and added some beads behind it so it would “stick out” from the background.
- We made our snow person out of beads, a button and some chenille stems. Add details with a paint pen.
- Create your peg people. We used pencil and an eraser to sketch out some ideas, traced and coloured them in with paint pen and then went over the edges with a detail pen.
- We created the snow using an old overhead sheet (your mom or dad might have a few of these in their office from days gone by!) or you could cut out the window portion of toy packaging etc.., adding a little bit of snow at the bottom of the sheet.
- Print your numbered snowflake template and cut it out or punch it with a 1 inch punch. Glue each circle onto the boxes.
- Add some items to your boxes. Some ideas might include: Notes of kind acts to do together, 1 piece of a puzzle (to complete the whole thing over the month), pieces of a set of LEGO or Playmobil to assemble over December, notes for a book to read each night, or notes of different types of food to add to a box each day for the Food Bank.
Purpose
- Celebrating various traditions related to seasonal activities.
Safety Notes
- We suggest that you use a tray and a smock to protect your clothing and surfaces.
- Use scissors and a glue gun with care and direct, adult supervision.
- Beads can be a choking hazard, therefore be sure to keep them out of the reach of children ages 0-3 years of age or those that tend to put things into their mouths.
