Advent Activity Calendar, pt. 2

It was fun, and also harder than I thought, to come up with activities for our advent calendar.  I started by looking at our calendar and filling in the events we already have on the schedule and I also filled in a few days with "read a Christmas book".  Here's the rest of the list:

• Set up manger scene
• Make a pom-pom pinecone tree, similar to these
• Have a "Jingle Bells" parade
• Make salt dough hand print ornaments
• Have lunch or a snack next to the Christmas tree
• Make gingerbread waffles or pancakes
• Go see Christmas lights on our road
• Make a Christmas tree hairbow, inspired by this one
• Go to kids' Christmas party with friends from Daddy's school
• Go to the big kids' Christmas performance
• Make time capsule ornaments, inspired by this one
• Call grandparents to sing a Christmas song
• Make white chocolate peppermint bark
• Watch the Charlie Brown Christmas show
• Make and decorate cookies
• Take cookies to women's shelter
• Make a Christmas song video (Cadence loves to star in her own videos)
• Do some of the Christmas activities from Confessions of a Homeschooler
• Do Christmas pattern block mats

I haven't included our family advent time, which will be on each Sunday and Christmas Eve.  We light the advent candles and have a short Bible reading, activity, and prayer time.  I think this year we'll focus on some of the players in the Christmas story - Mary and Joseph, the shepherds, the angels, and Jesus.

Advent Activity Calendar

I just finished up an advent activity calendar for us!  It's important to me that the whole presents/Santa/stuff part of the holidays be very minimal in our house, so I try to put a lot of emphasis on the really important (for us, the story of Christ's birth and serving each other) and the fun (making cookies, decorating, etc.)  I thought it would be fun if we had an advent calendar with an activity for each day.  

I pretty much worked with what I had on hand.  My supplies were: a piece of scrap wood from the garage, white spray paint, cup hooks, and a cute paper tag pad from Target (I found these near the scrapbook paper - I was pleased that there were exactly 24 sheets in the pad).

cup hooks and tag pad

I screwed 24 cup hooks in the wood in a staggered pattern  - that got a lot easier when I started using Matt's drill to start the holes.   I screwed two more cup hooks in the top (I pinched the hook closed with pliers) so I could hang it on the wall.  Then I spray painted the whole deal. 

Conveniently, the tag pad has cute little cut-outs so I could just pop 'em up on the hooks.  I still have to write numbers on the front.  Our activities will be on the back on little post-it notes so I can move the activities around if I need to.  I got the post-it note idea from Simple Mom.

I hung it in our dining room so it will be convenient to check the activities everyday. Here's the list of our activities.

Linking up to: Sundae Scoop at I heart Naptime, Think Pink Sunday at Flamingo Toes, Made by You Monday at Skip to my lou, Take a Look Tuesday at Sugar Bee Crafts

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Chores

I've taken on a bit more than I could chew this fall - I've been tutoring 3 nights a week, babysitting (and delivering to school) a six year old several mornings a week, subbing as a dorm parent occasionally, doing a homework-heavy weekly Bible study, and doing all my usual mom stuff while Matt has worked the last 6 weekends in a row.  (Yeah.  6.  In a row.)  And of course, what's fallen by the wayside is chores.  Our house has been a disaster, which doesn't bother anyone except me, but it really bothers me. I'm changing my schedule to free up some time, but I also needed to implement some structure and accountability to my cleaning chores.

Enter this cute customizable chores printable from my3monsters, which I found via Pinterest.  I thought about what I wanted to get done each week and divided it for the weekdays.  My3monsters also has a chore chart with her chores on it, but it was CRAZY extensive.  Like washing the walls crazy extensive.  I don't have time for that - but my props to anyone who does.

I edited the blank chore chart in picmonkey, then printed it on photo paper, stuck it in frame from the Dollar Tree, and hung it up on my kitchen wall.  Accountability.

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

"Bup, Bup."

"Bup" is Piper-speak for book.

Theme of the Month: Helpers

We decided our next theme should be helpers, focused a lot on community helpers.  We're going to explore different helping occupations and also learn about fire safety.  The fire truck came to Cadie's preschool  week before last so we've got a jump start on that.

Cadence has been interested lately in how we can help others, so we're going to be helpers too!  I hope we can take some cookies to the fire station and some food to one of the local food pantries.

Books: When the Library Lights Go Out by McDonald (there's a teaching guide for this book here), Postal Workers Deliver our Mail by Greene, Trashy Town by Zimmerman, Community Helpers from A to Z by Kalman, and At the Fire Station (can't find a link for this one)

Bible Thought: "Help One Another." Galatians 5:13

Songs: The Wheels on the Firetruck (same as the bus, except sing about the siren, ladder, seat belts and hoses) and I'm a Firefighter 

Pretend Play: Duplo Fire Station set, Librarian (Cadence selects/recommends books and conducts storytime when we play this)

Extras: Fire Safety Tot Pack from Royal Baloo, watch Barney: Let's Go to the Firehouse



Linking up to:  I Can Teach My Child Show and Share Saturday Link-up

{this moment}

Inspired by SouleMama, {this moment} is a single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

first day - November