Ten Different Advent Calendar Ideas

Whether your kids are young or old, they probably love the idea of doing an advent calendar as a way to count down the days to Christmas. The list below includes a range of ideas from super simple to more elaborate and creative.   Click through the links to see which advent calendar could work for you and your family.I love this three dimensional advent calendar from Powerful Mothering made with paper boxes. Just download her free printable and start cutting and gluing. Then fill the boxes with all kinds of goodies!This muffin tin advent calendar from Teaching Mama is just genius! You can put it together rather quickly and it looks adorable. This advent calendar from Tinkerlab is so simple to make you can get the kids in on the action. After a little folding and gluing, you've got a festive advent calendar ready to go! And if you really want to get the kids in on the advent calendar creation, check out these Lego Advent Calendar ideas from Frugal Fun for Boys.This felt tree advent calendar was a fun project I made for my daughter a couple of years ago. I love that it can be reused year after year.  The felt pocket ornaments can be filled with small goodies. This post from Kitchen Counter Chronicle shows another type of advent calendar that can be used from year to year.You can really help your kids get into the spirit of Christmas using this great printable calendar shared by Coffee Cups and Crayons. It is filled with ideas for doing random acts of kindness as a way to count down the days to Christmas.If you want to put an educational twist on your advent activities, check out this STEAM advent tree from Left Brain Craft Brain. The post provides a list of science, technology, engineering, art, and math activities your kids can do as they count down the days to Christmas. One Perfect Day shares an advent calendar that comes together very quickly, but still looks very festive. I love the simplicity and elegance of it. And finally I share this advent idea from Mess for Less that is so quick to put together you really have no excuse not to do advent with your kids.And there you have an eclectic mix of ideas for fun ways to count down the days to Christmas. But, perhaps the simplest way to celebrate advent with your kids is by reading books together. Last year I combined winter and Christmas themed picture books from our own bookshelves as well as our local library and put them together into an Advent Picture Book Tree.  (See the links below for book suggestions.)