Advent Calendars

Tomorrow is December 1st and you know what that means - time to start your advent calendars!  We do a couple of different advent calendars and the kids really look forward to them.  Not only are they fun, but they help us count down the days until the big day.

Today, I wanted to share the advent calendars that our family uses.

One of our favorite ways to count down the days until Christmas is with our Christmas activity chain link.  Each chain link helps us count down, but also has a small but fun activity written inside.  You can see all the details on this recent post HERE.

Another advent calendar that my children enjoy using is the Christmas Tree calendar.  Each day, the kids take turns adding an ornament to the tree.  They know how many days are left by how many spaces are left on the tree, or by how many ornaments are left.  I found this panel at my local fabric store a few years ago and found it pretty easy to put together.

My kids really like this printable Santa advent calendar.  Each day you add a cotton ball to Santa's beard to help count down the days.

And, who wouldn't like a chocolate advent calendar?  I found these at Target for about $1.  Each kid has their own so there is no fighting over that little piece of chocolate.

And last but not least, is our newest addition - advent journals.  My son really enjoys writing and is very excited about this one!  I had some old pages from a Mailbox magazine from my teaching days that were meant to be used to create small journals for students.  To be sure we had enough topics for the entire month of December, I put three journal idea pages together.  Each day they can pick any starter and write or draw about it.  When they finish, they will color in that spot on the journal idea page. 

If you are interested in the journaling idea, here are a few of the starters listed on these pages:
* My favorite decorations are...
* When Santa comes...
* Inside My Package...
* When we make cookies...
* S is for ____
* The gingerbread family went...
* My best warm pj's are...
* Giving gifts makes me feel...
* When family comes to visit...
* I saw footprints in the snow and...
* A big snow fell and...

I love the little traditions like advent calendars to make this season memorable and special for my kids.  I hope that these small magical moments that we share stick with them and are something they do with their own children one day.