We can’t believe December is already here. Everyone is gearing up for another Holiday season. I am sure your little artists have been talking about Santa ever since they saw the first Christmas decorations in the store (since what feels like June!). To help keep them from asking, “How many more sleeps until he is here?”, we have designed a couple of Advent calendars to make.
With most Advent calendars, a door is opened or taken away. In our projects, we are adding an item over the next 24 days to build our Advent calendar. This is a great way to teach little artists about counting and basic math skills. In each of our projects, you will make 24 items, adding just one daily until the project is completed. After adding one item to the project, you can count how many you have left to add. It’s a great way to sneak in some fun learning!
Let’s get started!
In our first advent calendar project, we are making a strand of Christmas lights. Children can choose to use any color light bulb they want. We start on day one by cutting a paper plate into a spiral and adding one light. If you would like, you can write the numbers 1-24 on the light bulbs to help with number recognition skills. By the end of the next few weeks, you will have a colorful addition to your decorations.
To find the pattern and directions for this project, please visit our Christmas Light Project page.
In our next project, we are making a holly wreath. This time we start by cutting out 18 holly leaves and 6 berries. On the first day, we cut the center of a paper plate out to use as a base for our wreath, and then add a leaf or berry every day until Christmas.
To find the pattern and directions for this project, please visit our Holly Wreath Project page.
Last year we had fun making this handprint advent tree. Every day we traced and added a handprint to the tree and on Christmas, we added a star. This is a great project to make as a class. Each student takes turns adding his or her own handprint until the tree is completed. Click the image for more information.
We hope you had fun learning different ways to count down to Christmas. However you count down this holiday season, we know you will be telling your little artist, “You’re so creative!”