Advent activity ideas

[4lovelychildren]

We have a felt advent calendar and I put in activities we can do together in the run up to Christmas. Some simple ones like read a Christmas story or drink hot chocolate for busy days and something craft like or trips out for weekends. I'm stumped trying to remember what we have done previously and wondered if anyone would like to share their ideas?

[Leeds2]

Go to visit Father Christmas.

Write letter to Father Christmas.

Get snacks ready for Father Christmas and Rudolph.

Make mince pies, or fairy cakes with Christmas decoration.

Make, and hang, paper chains.

Watch a Christmas dvd.

[LikeSilver]

Bath with glowsticks and LED tealights (DD's favourite by a mile)
Bath with Christmas bathbomb
Make reindeer food (mix glitter with oats) and sprinkle over the garden
Decorate the Christmas tree
Make paper snowflakes for windows
Make handprint baubles for g-rents

[everydayaschoolday]

Do a christmas craft kit (good value in Baker Ross)
Bake Christmas cookies
Make homemade gift tags for grandparents presents
Visit the garden centre to see decorations
Decorate the kids bedrooms with paper chains and fairy lights
Make a charitable donation (food to food bank etc)
Visit our local National Trust properties for kids craft and nature days (google your local ones for events)
Take a flask of hot chocolate with us on a walk through the woods
Have a DVD movie night
Trip to the panto on Christmas Eve
Trip to the cinema to catch the seasonal kids movie

[everydayaschoolday]

love the glowsticks and LED tea light bath time!!

[Leeds2]

Donating to a food bank is a fab idea! Especially if you can donate Christmas food, such as a selection box, or tube of sweets, which your children will understand will go to another child.

[bananananacoconuts]

These ideas are so lovely. I'll be using these!

[4lovelychildren]

Thank you so much for all of the lovely ideas. Please keep adding if anyone has anymore. I must remember to make a list and keep it somewhere safe for years to come too :)

[LegLass]

These are more "crafty" but there might be a few that tick your boxes:

Make an igloo out of old boxes or material and have fun playing in your new pretend home.
Make a Christmas collage out of whatever you can find—magazines, catalogues or newspapers.
Make snow flake decorations by folding some cut out circles into a thin wedge and cutting out shapes.
Make chocolate rice crispies wreaths
Make paper chains by gluing strips of paper from magazines, newspapers etc to form links.
Make salt dough decorations.
Enjoy having a hot chocolate together (can make a "melted snowman" with a marshmallow face and a candy cane chucked in if you fancy something, well, fancy).
Make Christmassy playdough (add nutmeg, cinnamon etc for it to smell nice)
Make a pine-cone bird feeder (roll a pine cone in peanut butter and then seeds/bird food)
Make stained glass window biscuits
Winter Ice Art - fill a cup/shallow bowl or tray with around 3 inches of water and add anything you like to it (leaves, ribbons, sequins etc). Leave it outside overnight on a freezing night (or leave it in the freezer) and it will turn into pretty object d'art like here.

[crazykat]

Make snowman lanterns. Clean an empty jam jar and take off the label, glue on white tissue paper and draw a face/scarf/buttons. Decorate the lid as a hat. Put a battery tea light candle in. Looks brilliant in the window at night.

Decorate stockings. Get some cheap felt stockings and stick on some felt shapes.

[crazykat]

Asda an sainsburys have Christmas themed craft sets that aren't too expensive.

Decorate Christmas biscuits.

Make your own crackers.

[iloveholidays]

Can I follow for ideas please?

[nic013]

Make a huge gingerbread house
Make mini houses from biscuits and icing sugar.
Make a Christmas play
Make a Christmas scene from Lego
Make salt dough decorations

[thatsn0tmyname]

Make and thread popcorn for tree tinsel. Decorate Christmas biscuits and hang on the tree.

[Allalonenow]

If the children have Christmas clothes such as woolly hat or pajamas take a picture and send to grand parents

Make Christmas wrapping paper from plain paper sheets, off cuts etc, by potato printing with a simple repeat or random pattern such as holly or ivy leaf or christmas tree shape. Grandparents love receiving this!

Make christmas sweets, peppermint creams or dates stuffed with marzipan. Have them after dinner on Christmas Day or give as gifts, (yes that's right - to Grandparents!)

Visit a local church to see the crib. You don't need to go to a service, just pop in.

[Allalonenow]

Oh just remembered, we used to sing a different carol each day too.

[mumtobetothree]

Oh I love this idea! I've been crocheting teensy socks to hang as a mini advent, and aside from little party bag type toys and celebrations etc I've been wondering what I could do...I'm thinking the first clue to a mini treasure hunt on christmas eve for the hamper!!

[chocomochi]

Oooh. Brilliant ideas. Am shamelessly tagging along here.

[LikeSilver]

I feel quite sure my DD will request glowstick and LED tealight bathtime for many years to come We make sure to do it early on in December so she can request another for Christmas Eve. We also now have to do it on her birthday too

We make and decorate snowman pancakes too on a weekend morning, that went down well with DH who ate about nine.

[4lovelychildren]

Wow! What fab ideas to wake up too! Thank you so much :)

[chocomochi]

Go out looking for holly bush.

Sing along and dance to Christmas CD.

Reindeer handprints picture.

Decorate pine cones with glitter glue.

Marshmallows / Christmas chocolate lolly dipped in hot chocolate.

[evelynj]

We have some favourites including

Having a picnic on a blanket under the Christmas tree
Going to the zoo to wish all the animals happy Christmas
Going for a walk in the dark with the finger lights
Making cards (thumb print ones are good)

We're actually going for a Santa experience this year which I think will be awesome :)

[evelynj]

Ooh & getting wrapped up & stargazing with a hot choc-ds loved the quiet time of that & looking for a shooting star, even though he didn't see one.

[tanya1312]

Following as doing one this year, so far got

Xmas picnic by tree
Sleep by the tree
Snow day (if we get any) then come home to hot choc bar all set up
Buy a tree dec for a family member
Salt dough decs/gifts
Go look at Xmas display
Drive to look at Xmas lights
See santa and wear tacky Xmas jumper

Love the glow stick/tea light bath idea will be doing that one for dd, and I will be finding out about food donation bit xx

[evelynj]

Yes one of ours is taking old toys or stuff that just doesn't get played with to the charity shop to make way for hopefully getting some from Santa.

Just thought also as we have a very friendly robin who comes to our garden & sits inches from me - making some bird treats as pp mentioned will go down well-easy enough idea for Ds who's 5 to get involved.

My trouble is that I want to do everything to do with decorating the house in the first few days!

[withsexypantsandasausagedog]

I know this is an old thread but what fab ideas!