DIY Advent Calendar: Ideas and Templates

Which you can do with your own hands, to all dreamer parents who love to create an atmosphere of magic and celebration for their children. Of all the holiday preparations new year calendar waiting for children is in a special place - the cutest decoration of the holiday home.

30 DIY Advent Calendar Ideas

Since the waiting calendar came to us from Catholic countries, the traditional advent calendar for children consists of 24 postcards or cardboard houses with gifts, according to the number of days left until the Catholic Christmas of December 1.

But since we are counting down to the New Year, your Advent calendar can consist of 31 cards (bags, bags, bundles, bags, pockets, mittens and whatever your imagination allows) or 24, as in the traditional calendar expectations, just give it to the child not on the first of December, but a few days later.

Another reason to make your own waiting calendar this year is to teach your child how to use the calendar and count.

Paper bag advent calendar

All you need to make this advent calendar is paper bags, stencils, beautiful ribbon and small gifts for children. Gifts can be various sweets (gingerbread, candies, marshmallows or marshmallows), postcards or stickers, small toys or figurines (children love to do something with their own hands, and not just receive ready-made gifts).

Advent calendar for kids from boxes

For this advent calendar, all the cardboard boxes that are in the house will come in handy, even cardboard tubes from paper towels. After all, gifts for children in the New Year's waiting calendar do not have to be large. It can be an eraser or a funny pen with a New Year's print, new colored pencils with your favorite cartoon characters on the package, which, by the way, can also be made by hand.

Jewelry box advent calendar

If you don’t have jewelry boxes, then you can make do-it-yourself cardboard boxes for the advent calendar here, for example.

Envelope advent calendar

This is a great solution for a New Year's waiting calendar if you decide to give your child postcards, certificates for purchases and master classes, tickets for New Year's shows or photos of the brightest events of the past year.

Advent calendar with riddles

On each sheet of the New Year's waiting calendar, write the place where the gift is hidden or which you need to guess in order to receive a prize. Kids love quests and puzzles.

Advent calendar - Christmas town

Simple triangular advent calendar

This advent calendar can be without gifts and surprises. Its essence is that it will help children navigate how many days are left until the New Year. Just delete one card every day.

Advent calendar from different boxes

The boxed advent calendar is very easy to make. And also any gifts will fit in it: crafts, and coloring, and sweets, and tickets for the New Year's show, and toys.

New Year's waiting calendar "Santa Claus"

This New Year's Eve calendar is very easy to make with your own hands. Print both parts of the picture, glue. Santa Claus needs to be decorated and attached, for example, to the wall so that the beard is free. Every day the child will cut off with scissors from the advent calendar one division - "one day". This will help him keep track of how many days are left before the holiday.

Puree jar advent calendar

Advent calendar-garland

This advent calendar made of paper is perfect if you are sure that children should not be given gifts every day, but at the same time you want to create a festive atmosphere of waiting for the New Year.

Cute advent calendar for kids with animals

We will be happy to tell you how to make a winter forest for the advent calendar with your own hands. For example, here is the instruction, or here. Paper Christmas trees can be made

Clothes hanger advent calendar

This is, perhaps, one of the easiest advent calendars that you can make with your own hands - just cling everything that you have planned to give to a child on a clothes hanger.

New Year's calendar in a frame

To make such a waiting calendar with your own hands, you will have to work hard: at least 31 linen bags will need to be sewn. But such a complex frame can be replaced with a cork board.

Vintage advent calendar in a suitcase

Another version of the advent calendar, which you can do with your own hands for one or two. We put gifts in a suitcase. Or a nice bag.

Advent calendar made of Christmas balls

If you were planning to upgrade your arsenal Christmas balls, then this advent calendar is just for you.

Hanging New Year's calendar with a garland

Advent calendar in pots

Rag advent calendar

Cones made of multi-colored felt or cotton will not only beautiful garland but also a great advent calendar for kids.

Advent calendar for children from tin cans

Summary: Advent calendar, what is it? What are advent calendars. How to use the advent calendar. How to make a DIY advent calendar for kids. New year calendar.

Many will agree with us that the anticipation of the holiday is even more pleasant and exciting time, often much more magical and bewitching than the holiday itself. Main holiday for all children and adults - this is, of course, New Year. Many begin to prepare for it in the fall, especially those who have children. Recently, the so-called. calendars for waiting for the New Year or, as they are also called in a foreign manner, advent calendars. The essence of the advent calendar is that the days are counted down to the New Year. Moreover, every day the child finds in the advent calendar some small and a pleasant surprise, as well as a task or leisure idea for the current day. For example, an offer to watch some New Year's cartoon or read some New Year's and winter fairy tale, sing a song about the New Year or solve riddles. Lots of advent calendar ideas! Waiting for the New Year becomes very interesting and fun! Depending on the age of the child, the waiting calendar can be calculated for a different number of days: younger child the fewer days.

If you do not have free time to make your own New Year's waiting calendar, then you can buy a ready-made advent calendar. For example, you can buy a ready-made advent calendar in IKEA stores. Publishing house "MIF" has released a printed version of the calendar waiting for the New Year. You are waiting for fun tasks and ideas on how to prepare for the New Year.

In the event that you have free time and desire, you can easily make an advent calendar with your own hands. You can make a calendar for waiting for the New Year from anything! You will be convinced of this by reading our article and carefully viewing the photo. We will start our review with the simplest options for advent calendars. Such waiting calendars can be made even by completely non-handmade mothers, and at the same time they will bring a lot of joy to their children.

For example, an advent calendar made of socks looks very cozy and warm at home. It is better to choose plump socks for this do-it-yourself waiting calendar. Woolen or terry colored socks work well.

Socks can be replaced with mittens. This advent calendar looks great too!

great idea- make an advent calendar from ordinary cardboard boxes. Boxes can be selected in different sizes, it is not necessary that they be the same.

You can also make a New Year's waiting calendar out of paper bags very simply and quickly.

If your dad or grandfather knows at least a little tools, then ask them to make such a Christmas tree from wooden boards. On it you can hang both socks and paper bags, or even just bundles with gifts and notes.

Oh, by the way, about bundles... A rather wise decision is to arrange the Advent calendar in the form of all kinds of bundles. Making them is very simple, all you need is New Year's wrapping paper and beautiful ribbons / laces / ropes.

In fact, even without beautiful wrapping paper And New Year's packaging can be dispensed with. For example, you can wrap gifts with notes in plain craft paper. And if you hang such bundles with clothespins, then it will turn out great! Stylish and fashionable advent calendar with your own hands is ready!

Lack of time in the New Year's Eve turmoil is not a hindrance for creative mothers. How do you like this homemade calendar for waiting for the New Year from plastic cups? Cheap and cheerful, and most importantly... fast!

The cardboard cups in the photo below are decorated in the form of Santa Claus reindeer. original idea!

Another advent calendar can be made from small gift bags. Tie colored cords or ribbons to the bags and hang them on a hanger, for example.

It is better to disguise the hanger by drawing a winter-New Year landscape on cardboard and sticking it on it.

Moms who know how to sew can sew many, many small bags and make a very cute and pretty New Year's waiting calendar out of them. Such bags will be associated in children with Santa Claus's bag.

It is appropriate to fix the bags on clothespins or on ribbons (strings).

Another advent calendar can be made from paper bags.

And even matchboxes! Of course, it is unlikely that it will be possible to add any gifts and sweets to such a miniature waiting calendar, but notes with indications of the places where these pleasant presents are hidden will fit in matchboxes.

You can simply put matchboxes in a beautiful box or vase, or you can make such a Christmas tree out of them, for example.

We have already told you about how to make an advent calendar with your own hands from ordinary cardboard boxes. Now you are waiting for something more interesting than simple boxes. By this link you can download templates of beautiful boxes, there are 28 of them in total. If you print these templates on a color printer, carefully cut and glue them together, then you will be able to put together such a mega-super-amazing New Year's waiting calendar from them. It is realistic to make it in one evening, but how much joy it will bring to a child, just imagine!

Separately, here we want to talk about advent calendars that you can make with your own hands from cardboard toilet paper rolls. You just need to stock up on such rolls in advance, as you will need a lot of them. Let's start with the simplest calendars for waiting for the New Year. For example, if you press the side walls at both ends of the cardboard rolls, you will get such boxes. Fill them with all kinds of sweets, small gifts and notes with tasks, decorate the outside beautifully, and your DIY advent calendar is ready.

If you wrap each cardboard roll in a colored corrugated paper, then you can make a lot of these candy boxes. Stick "sweets" on a cardboard ring, you get a wonderful waiting calendar, reminiscent of appearance new year wreath.

Our overview article on advent calendars comes to an end. Concluding it, we want to give here examples of several more interesting, in our opinion, calendars for waiting for the New Year, which you can easily do with your own hands.

It is easy to make such a New Year's train from tetra pack cardboard bags that will bring a lot of positive emotions to your baby.

It's easy and quick to make a New Year's waiting calendar from a muffin baking dish.

By this link you can download cute circles with the image of grandfather frosts. Print them out, cut them out and stick them on a muffin tin. You will get such an advent calendar.

If you are a needlework mom and know how to sew well, then you can try to sew a New Year's waiting calendar with pockets. Such or

Here's one with a Christmas tree.

Advent calendar can not only be sewn, but also baked. For example, from gingerbread dough. And draw the numbers on the New Year's gingerbread and patterns with icing. Any child will love the idea of ​​eating a delicious gingerbread every day in anticipation of the New Year.

And, finally, the New Year's waiting calendar in the form of the head of Santa Claus (or Santa) with a long beard. Line the beard along the ruler into strips of the same width, number them. Every day, together with the baby, cut one strip from the beard.

And you can also seal the days on the calendar with Santa Claus with cotton balls.

We really hope that you have found something interesting and useful for yourself on our website. We wish you magical holidays, Happy New Year!

Material prepared: Anna Ponomarenko

Good day to all who visit!

A little more than a month remains before the New Year, and some mothers are already thinking about preparing the holiday. More precisely, I think everyone thinks about the holiday itself, but it is among young mothers (and not very young ones, that's me about myself) that in recent years there has been a tendency to arrange also advents, that is, to organize not only the holiday itself-gifts-treats, but also "centralized" preparation for it. What is advent calendar and where did he come from?

advent calendar(Adventskalender) is a special calendar in European countries showing the time remaining until Christmas.
By tradition, this is a postcard or a cardboard house with opening windows, where each cell contains a candy, a note with wishes (in religious families - with excerpts from Scripture) or small gifts. Calendars also come in the form of bags, sachets, handbags or bundles hung on a ribbon. The Advent calendar consists of 24 days, counting from December 1 to December 24, when Christmas is celebrated according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Catholic Church.

Since we celebrate the New Year more, Advent stretches for 31 days.

In principle, I already talked about something about Advent last December, in a review of the Cute`n Clever Calendar, which made it easier for us to hold Advent and gave me a lot of ideas, but, in fact, everything was much more extensive.

I'll tell you my opinion right now. On the one hand, ready-made versions of advent calendars simplify the task for mothers, but at the same time they drive them into certain limits. Sometimes it is difficult and even impossible to complete a specific task from Advent on a certain day, you have to invent, replace, transfer something. Inventing everything on your own, you will have more options for maneuvers, if anything (it didn’t snow, frost hit, or vice versa, it’s pouring rain, the child is sick, not on the day of the week, etc.). The choice is yours. I am leaning towards a more independent option, especially since you can find a lot of non-banal ideas on the Internet.

Right now, I myself am starting to look for options for tasks for the future Advent 2019 (as usual, in last moment), and I will share with you the ideas that we were able to implement last year, waiting for the onset of 2018.

And yes, I want to say thank you again for the review on the advent of the author PokaDetkaSpit, it was she who finally inspired me last year!

Initial data: Vika was 3 years and 4 months old, she doesn't go to kindergarten. We lived at that time in my mother's apartment (this is to rather cramped conditions).

Duration: 31 days, from 1 to 31 December. Again, comment. There were doubts whether it was worth starting at once for the whole of December, whether my imagination and strength would be enough, whether the interest and patience of the child would be enough. What is the result? In general, we did it! Yes, there were a couple of failed assignments that I rushed through and ended up having to do them myself. There were repetitions, but here it was precisely because, on the contrary, I really liked something, and my daughter constantly asked, “Will Santa Claus send another such task?”. Well, He is kind, he sent.

I really liked the idea of ​​​​creating entire New Year's villages on windowsills or in other places, with snow, houses, snowmen ... But I could not realize this just because of the lack of free space. We are not upset, we are trying to implement this year!

In the end we had this concept: receiving letters from Santa Claus, with various creative tasks, family activities. Fulfilling them, we bring the New Year closer.

Two methods were chosen as the reference system.

Firstly, the past day, after completing the task in the late afternoon, crossed out on the usual calendar for December with a cross.

Secondly, for each completed task, Vika received a “treasure” from Grandfather Frost (in the form of a pebble from the Fix Price store), which was thrown into the most unexpected place, but so that it caught the eye for sure. Naturally, at the end exactly 31 treasures were put into the box.

I will make a reservation that there were a couple of times, when for various reasons we did not have time to complete the task of Grandfather Frost, then we received the pebble the next day. The daughter was not upset, because she already knew that everything would happen later, Frost would not deceive)

About more big incentives during December Advent. They were, but not every day. Although Grandfather decently gave me such nonsense gifts at the expense of my wallet. These were chocolate Kinders, paints or Play doh jars, coloring books or small magazines with assignments, stickers, ready-made applications, inexpensive toys from the same FP store, New Year's books.

The daughter reacted calmly to the presence / absence of a gift on one or another day.

At the start of Advent December 1 there was just a ready-made calendar, and this is Lotto about the seasons (it seemed to me quite appropriate and symbolic).

By the way, as I already wrote in a review of the finished calendar, at first none of my relatives particularly shared my idea. Mom sighed that the child would get tired of all this long before the New Year. Not to mention that “not ours” is a tradition ... The husband did not actively object (his forces go to fight the idea of ​​​​Halloween), but he did not support it either. But after a while, everyone joined! Both mother and husband began to help DM buy small gifts, print out the necessary materials, and somehow we all together helped Vika make an application from glue and various cereals, strewing the whole kitchen together)

If someone doubted the success of the idea, then everything became completely clear to me in the spring ... Some time after the noisy holiday, my daughter herself began to constantly remember the New Year and even more previous classes, asking if the New Year was coming again, what holiday was still you can “wait”, and that’s how I got the idea to arrange a summer pre-birthday Advent, but that’s a completely different story ... Although, I note that in summer Advent (her birthday is in August) we had riddles for every day, And now I also want to pick up winter ones.

So, I’ll try to remember from the photos what exactly we did for 31 days)! And how it all went.

On the first day, my daughter received the most detailed letter, Grandfather asked for help and speed up the holiday. I printed the first few letters on the printer. Then my mother found old Soviet New Year cards, and the tasks were simply written on them with colored felt-tip pens. We have this whole package now. When we ran out of suitable postcards, we switched back to the printer. Together with the letters, they left blank assignments if necessary: ​​coloring pages, templates.

December 2 (I realized that it is more convenient to leave letters not just anywhere, but in a special mailbox) and the task was to build this same box together with my parents. The usual cardboard box from the parcel, packing shiny paper, colored tapes and stickers with puppies from Fix Price.

There was another application made of plasticine, a Christmas tree.

From plasticine (Play doh) we sculpted snowmen.

There was also a task that played with the symbol of the year - to make treats from play do for the dogs.

Coloring pages on New year theme. I printed the blanks on a printer, the note indicated what to paint: finger paints, gouache or watercolor (several times).

Two applications from cereals, also on printed blanks (one of them is a puppy - as a symbol of the year).

Drawing with a glass of multi-colored soap bubbles.

Application "bunny" from cotton pads.

The emerging picture. I drew a snowman in advance on half a leaflet with white wax crayon, my daughter had to paint over the entire sheet with watercolors and see what would appear.

I would call all these listed tasks “medium” because of their interest. Of these, I liked cereals more, but my daughter does not really like drawing.

Now I'll tell you about the tasks that I didn't like at all. This is to glue a chain of colored paper and cut out snowflakes. Maybe it had an effect that at that time my daughter was not very friendly with scissors, only then they began to train more to cut ... But I liked to cut the snowflakes myself instead of Vika, she led)

In order to somehow smooth this out, after some time, closer to NG, Santa Claus left us a pack of ready-made shiny snowflakes from their FP, with which we just needed to decorate the apartment.

Still did Christmas decorations from self-adhesive paper, I cut and glued, and my daughter decorated.

And now let's move on to the tasks that caused complete delight. They are associated with ice.

Two or three times (repeat just at the request of my daughter) we rescued dinosaurs from the ice captivity that fell into the freezer and were frozen there in a block of ice (apparently, since the Ice Age). Melted ice, watering hot water from a spoon, helping with salt (development fine motor skills goes very well here.)

On the last day, the 31st, I simply froze the last of the treasure pebbles in water, which were previously located in other places after completing the task, but I knew that there would be little time, since we were going to visit.

Yes, on the 30th we decorated the Christmas tree itself. This was also a task.

And I almost forgot to note that on one of the first days we wrote a letter to Santa Claus about a gift. The letterhead and the envelope were bought by my mother in a bookstore.

Returning to the ice theme. The second hit was painting with paints on ice, I also really liked it, I also repeated it. Everything is simple here, just freeze the water in advance in the form, give it to the child, and periodically rinse the ice in the process so that you can draw several times, not forgetting to take a picture of the resulting beauty)

Isn't ice beautiful?

And there was also drawing with colorful ice cubes on sticks. But it didn’t work out very well here, perhaps I added a little paint to each cube, the ice painted a little pale ... (who did this, tell me in the comments how it went for you?). But then we cheerfully mixed the remains of multi-colored ice cubes in a glass (well, mixing colors is generally our trick)).

Another fun field experiment is painting snow with colorful water from ... no, not spray cans, but from bottles of hydrosols. The first attempt ended pretty quickly, we got into a snowstorm in the park, and the second time I matched my husband’s schedule and the right weather, and we managed to make such a creepy traffic light snowman)) all gloves (but you understand that you have never regretted it!))

I really liked the manufacture of ice toys and hanging them on the street (they were made in FP ice cream molds, they resemble icicles in shape, supplementing with dry thuja sprigs, shiny foil).

And of course, a colorful ice garland! Here I give practical advice: pre-assemble plastic (not cardboard) egg cells and check for water permeability, some leak. Our garland hung in the yard for quite a long time, however, we did not find a Christmas tree close, we decorated the bush)

Another of the field events was a visit to the ice rink (the first for Vika). I think the impression is very memorable.

I'm sure I forgot something, but I think I conveyed the main idea. What we did not do that year was cooking various New Year's dishes, cookies / gingerbread. This year we will definitely be, my daughter has just awakened an interest in cooking. And I really want to include in the plan a visit to some beautiful place in the center of Moscow with New Year's illumination. In autumn, we really liked the walk on Chistoprudny Boulevard with projection lanterns!

And, of course, where without New Year's cartoons and books! This is already a traditional part of preparing for the holiday.

In conclusion, according to tradition, it is necessary to highlight the merits of the “object” of the review, in this case, the phenomenon advent calendar.

1. Many different interesting activities developing Creative skills child.
2. A magical atmosphere of immersion in a fairy tale, and not only for children.

I noticed, unfortunately, in recent years, that somehow I’m not really looking forward to the holiday, I’m not in the mood, hello old age. Routine, extra cleaning, inflated prices, eternal traffic jams, and then on the list of grumblers. But the New Year's advent calendar is able to resurrect faith in miracles even among adults, plunge into the atmosphere of expectation of magic.

3. Unity of the whole family, creation and preservation of family traditions

4. Helps the child better imagine the time left for the main holiday of the year.

5. It's just a lot of fun!

Mark as a minus the time spent on preparation and small funds, my tongue will not turn (more precisely, a hand))

Thank you all for your attention and have a nice pre-holiday fuss!

I welcome you, dear reader, on the pages of my blog. Approaching new year holidays and today we will talk about their main attribute, in families where there are children. Tasks for new year advent The calendar should be selected based on the interests and age of your child. My son was 5 years and 2 months old at the time of December. Many tasks can be adjusted for a different age - help the kids, complicate older children. The main thing is that the child does not just get a gift from the New Year's advent calendar, but spends time with his parents in an interesting way.

math garland

Nine days before the New Year. The second task for the New Year's advent calendar

Hello granddaughter, I really liked the gift you made for my grandmother. I saw how hard you tried.

And today I ask you to help me. There are few garlands in your city. So I thought you could make another one. Yes, not simple! My gnomes will leave you everything you need for her.
Do your best, respect the old man.

Santa Claus

After a while, under the Christmas tree, the child found a box. He was so happy, as if he had left a bag of gifts. Alexander loves mathematics, which is why I came up with this lesson.

We laid out the contents of the box on the table and immediately saw what the garland should consist of. Examples were written on the balls, they were accompanied by empty rectangles for fixing and a felt-tip pen. Alexander gladly took up solving the examples and writing the answers.

We didn’t have a single free place for a garland in the apartment, so Alexander and I decided to please our neighbors and hung it on the terrace window. Thus, we could see the mathematical garland, and the neighbors the usual color one. I hope that when they went down the stairs of the building, colored lanterns cheered them up for the New Year.

Christmas cookies for Santa Claus

Eight days before the New Year. The third task for the New Year's advent calendar

As I already wrote, we celebrate Catholic Christmas because Pope Alexander is Catholic. The child receives the main portion of gifts on this festive night.

Ho-ho-ho! Hello granddaughter, today I will be very busy, I need to deliver a lot of gifts. Delicious cookies and milk give me strength. Bake cookies with mom today. Don't forget to leave me!

Santa Claus

The description of some tasks resulted in a separate article. with a description of New Year's cookies.

photo enlarges on click

Seven days before the New Year. The fourth task for the New Year's advent calendar

Hello granddaughter, what delicious cookies I ate from you! Thanks for respecting the old man.

And for you I have prepared a new task. Make me snowmen, but not ordinary ones, but soda ones. When you turn them into gas, they will be transported to me. I really need help to get everything ready for the New Year.

Did you like my gifts?

Santa Claus

We had a great time playing with soda! My son obviously missed the experiments, so this task was to his liking. We got a real experiment: we froze artificial snow from soda, then watched how slowly it turns into gas, and at the end Alexander just played with the salt left after the experiment.

Details on how we made snowmen and our experiment,.

Lacing from geometric shapes

Six days before the New Year. Fifth task for the New Year's advent calendar

Sports and fun

Three days before the New Year

Unfortunately, on this day we were not able to complete the task of Grandfather Frost in full. As I wrote, the trailers with letters were sealed and I could not change the task. And on this day, Grandfather Frost gave Alexander three special toys for diving to the bottom of the pool. We were supposed to spend the day at the club and enjoy the sun, swimming and diving. The health of the child was not disposed to this. Therefore, taking rockets for a snack, presented for Christmas, we headed to the park.

How to grow a crystal at home

Two days before the New Year. Ninth task for the New Year's advent calendar

Hello granddaughter, well, here is the New Year on the way. And you don't have snow in the Dominican Republic. I decided to please you and sent everything you need to grow snowflakes. The truth will have to wait, they grow for a long time.

Santa Claus

For me, this task was the most interesting, since I myself was eager to grow a crystal at home. Alexander yesterday, admiring our snowflakes, told me that he was in love with them. Indeed, it is hard not to fall in love with them, because the crystals on them sparkle so much! detailed wizard crystal growing class at home, .

Rest and mood for the holiday

Hello granddaughter, the New Year is knocking on the door. Watch cartoons about me, play with toys, and don't miss the fireworks. Have fun today!

And I will come at night to leave you presents.

Happy New Year! HO-HO-HO

Santa Claus

On this day, the child, as on the previous ones, took out a gift from the trailer. It was the binoculars that Alexander had wanted for a long time. The toy occupied him for a long time! Then we watched a couple together and went to lunch with our friends. After returning, it remains only to sleep well and prepare for the celebration of the most beloved holiday of the year. We also did not miss the fireworks and, as Grandfather Frost punished, we had fun with all our hearts!

That's all our tasks for the New Year's advent calendar. Thank you for visiting and sharing your happy moments with us.

As soon as I found out about this interesting tradition, like an Advent calendar, I immediately wanted to try to introduce this custom in our family. True, last year I was a little worried that my daughter, at the age of 2, might not understand the whole essence of the tradition or would be too “tired of waiting” for the holiday with such advance preparation. But, as it turned out, all the experiences were in vain, the daughter was delighted with such an interesting preparation for the holiday and the surprises that awaited her every day in the advent calendar. Therefore, this year the miracle calendar will again decorate our pre-holiday days.

After all, the sweetest thing about any holiday is the anticipation of the holiday. And together with the New Year's Advent calendar, waiting is much more fun. Thanks to him, a festive atmosphere in the house will reign long before the New Year. In addition, it will help to better acquaint the child with the holiday, to involve in an interesting creative process. The advent calendar tells the child every day what interesting events await him today, what surprises and tasks Santa Claus has prepared for him on this day.

In this article, I want to talk about how you can design a New Year's Advent calendar, what tasks and gifts you can include in it. When my daughter was 2 years old, our advent calendar was calculated only for the last 10 days of the outgoing year. It seems to me that for this age this is the most optimal duration. This year, I plan to start early and stretch the pleasure for 20 days already.

Making an advent calendar

On the Internet you can find a huge number of the most different ideas DIY calendar design. Basically, advent calendars make sure that for each day of waiting there is a small container in which you can put a small surprise for the child. The container can be pockets, and drawers, and socks, and jars, and cardboard houses, etc. If the gift does not fit in the box, you can put a note "Look for a gift under the pillow" or attach a photo of the place where the gift is hiding. All containers are affixed with numbers that correspond to the number of days left until the holiday.

Option 1

This year our advent calendar is a small town of cardboard houses. Basically, these are small one-story houses, but there are also two-story and even three-story buildings. To make small houses, I used the templates found on the Internet, I used different ones for a change, here are the ones that I liked the most: template 1, template 2, pattern 3. I deliberately cut the bottoms on all the templates, otherwise how can I get gifts from the houses if they are airtight? (Just in case, here the same patterns with bottoms). Layouts are printed on A3 or A4 color cardboard, cut out, glued with PVA glue and you're done!

I made two- and three-story buildings according to the logic of template 2, only changed the size of the roof and walls. Also inside the two-story houses there are transverse cardboard partitions so that a gift from the 1st floor does not interfere with a gift from the 2nd floor

Option 2

Last year our advent calendar consisted of 10 cylinder gnomes. Generally speaking, Santa Clauses were originally conceived, but the daughter found them more like gnomes, and I agree with her.

I will briefly talk about the process of making such gnomes (Santa Claus). The cylinder is made of A4 color cardboard, it is fixed at the back with adhesive tape and a stapler. At the bottom, the bottom is also made of cardboard and fixed with a stapler. It is not difficult to make a gnome's face - for this you only need colored paper, cotton wool and PVA glue. Well, on top, instead of a hat - the usual sock of an adult. Preferably bright, multi-colored and not too narrow, because. from sheet A4, cylinders are obtained with a rather large diameter. On the side we sign a number indicating the number of days left until the New Year.

Option 3

Here is our 2017 calendar. This is again a town but with significant changes. You can read more about it.

Tasks for the New Year's advent calendar

I put all the tasks in the advent calendar in the form of short notes. While my daughter could not read and we only made laconic notes with large block letters read the assignments together. Now that he is already reading well, the size of the note can not be limited to 2-3 words. In general, you can still try to designate tasks in the form of pictures.

Also, every day, all the necessary props are put into the advent calendar or next to them to complete the task.

So the job options are:

• Decorate a Christmas tree

• Decorate your home for the holidays , for example: and other decorations, hang tinsel, decorate windows and mirrors with snowflakes, etc. We love decorating mirrors with these ready-made glass sticker sets.

• cook together or .

• Write a letter to Santa Claus. Just because your little one can't write yet doesn't mean you can't do without this fun activity. First, if the baby already knows the letters, you can try to make words together from the letters or syllables you have prepared in advance. If the letters have not yet been met, or there is no desire to play with them, you can compose a letter from pictures.