Our DIY Advent Calendar for Kids

It’s this time of the year again, hurray! I just love December and all it promises. Especially with the kids around, December and Christmas take on a whole new meaning.

Every year we try to make our very own DIY Advent Calendar for our two kids. Last year, we actually made two! One only with books and the other filled with treats and notes with fun activities that we would do together as a family. This year, we decided to make one advent calendar that would combine both concepts.

How to make an easy DIY Advent Calendar for kids out of toilet paper rolls

Using toilet paper rolls, printer, hot glue gun, and cardboard, we were able to make an adorable Advent Calendar. You can see from our pictures how our DIY Advent Calendar for kids was made. First, you have to make the back out of cardboard and cut your paper rolls in half. You will need about 30 half paper rolls (25 for the notes and some to use to make your advent calendar).

Next few steps to make our DIY Advent calendar

Time to make the background out of cardboard in any shape you want. We did something that resembles Santa’s sleigh bag, but you can easily choose something else. To make it, we printed out Santa and his bag and sleigh (we found ours by googling “Santa Coloring Pages”). Next, we cut out Santa and his bag and sleigh and used this as a template to cut out the same shape out of cardboard. Then, we cut away Santa’ s bag and cut out another piece of cardboard, but this time only Santa and his sleigh.

Glue the Santa and his sleigh onto the same shape cardboard. Set aside.

Next, glue the 24 paper rolls onto the cardboard where Santa’s bag is supposed to be. Use some of the leftover toilet rolls and glue them where the sleigh and Santa are supposed to be.

The final step is to print out and cut out notes with activities and covers with numbers from 1 to 24 for your toilet rolls. Place the notes inside the toilet rolls and glue the covers into place. Make sure to think about the right timing of your activities! Put the last and most important note into the toilet paper roll that will be covered by Santa. Now you just need to glue your Santa (add the number 25 to Santa) and his sleigh cardboard onto the leftover toilet rolls. And there it is!!!

Ideas for family Christmas activities

Some ideas for activities are:

• read a book,
• watch a Christmas movie,
• play a board game,
• go for a winter walk,
• make some Christmas cookies
• organize a treasure hunt
• paint a Christmas scene
• make some DIY Christmas tree ornaments

The only thing that matters is to make it a family activity!

The first task for our kids on December, 1st, was to decorate their new Advent Calendar with markers and some stickers we printed out on self-adhesive paper sheets.

If you think our concept is a little too complicated or you simply don’t have the time, take a look at these easy but sweet DIY Advent Calendars made out of toilet paper rolls as well.

Source: oh-write.blogspot.com

Source: thecountrychiccottage.net

I hope that it will bring them joy and memories to keep and cherish for all the years to come!