I am incredibly, enthusiastically, over-the-top happy to introduce you to a in-real-life friend of mine today, Amanda, who is sharing a countdown to Christmas with books plus activities Advent calendar she is doing with her son (who’s 2) this holiday season.
You can start this now and do it for the days left until Christmas!
(By the way, the books are linked with an affiliate link, thank you for supporting us this holiday season!)
I had been itching to have an advent calendar for little man this holiday season and wanted it to be something simple (keep in mind he is 2), that would keep us doing our hands on activities this busy time of year and dual purpose (again he is a busy 2 year old) so I began my quest (in October) and come up with this Christmas book countdown Advent calendar.
For every day in December, little man gets a new (to him) book. These are all books that I had as a child, borrowed from my sister, a teacher and yes, and I did buy 2 new ones.
The books are all about snow, winter, Christmas, Santa, and even a gingerbread kid! To follow-up about a character or the story in the book we do an activity, project or a local activity for us to attend.
How to make a Christmas Countdown Book with Activities Advent Calendar:
I gathered the books I chose to use and then made a list of the activities with the supplies we would need so I was organized for the entire month of December.
I used Jamie’s activity planner to do so (they are amazing if you don’t use them yet! Get the free kids activities planner here.)
Our first day was Santa is coming to Iowa (affiliate link), so we made the classic cotton ball beard.
Little man cannot “count” but knows the numbers to ten. So we counted out 10 cotton balls and pasted them to a Santa face.
Some of the Christmas books and activities in our advent calendar:
Our second day was The Littlest Christmas Tree, he got to decorate his own tree for his bedroom, just a little 10″ artificial pre-lit tree, but man was he excited!
Jolly Postman at Christmas is on our list and we are going to make Christmas Cards to send to our friends and cousins.
Polar Express — a classic, we are making jingle bell ornaments to hang on his tree and going to see the Holiday Train.
Lots of craft ideas to go with the Christmas books for this advent calendar can be found in these 25 easy Christmas crafts for kids.
Sweet Smell of Christmas, we are making scented play dough and have holiday cookie cutters to use.
Tonight You are My Baby and The Stable where Jesus was Born, I created a felt activity set for him to put together and play with as he wishes.
Charlie Brown Christmas, attend our church Christmas program. Again simple was high on my list when I went about planning this.
Keep it simple for the holidays!
I wanted him to get more than presents and busy running around out of his holidays!
I wanted it be a way that we got to do what is most important to our family and that is spending time together.
Hope you have a happy holiday season, no matter how you celebrate!
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