Interactive advent calendar

This form of advent calendar is easy to create and enables children to see how many days are left before Christmas. It’s a really fun, festive activity for young children!

You will need:
A length of ribbon ( 2.5 metres)
24 miniature pegs
4 sheets of A4 card- metallic/ glitter card if possible
24 small envelopes
24/ 48 Christmas stickers
24 pictures or an assortment of recycled Christmas card / wrapping paper/ children’s own drawings of Christmas objects/ characters from the nativity story.

Creating the calendar:
Cut the card into 6 equal pieces that will each fit into an envelope.
Decorate each card with a picture and a number 1-24.(Older children can decorate and number the cards themselves. Younger children : An adult can print the Christmas words ( 6 to a page ) and write the numbers on the pictures before sticking onto the card.)
Number the envelopes 1-24 and put the corresponding card and sticker/s into each envelope. ( If you have 2 sessions each day then put 2 stickers into the envelopes)
Peg the envelopes in order onto the ribbon.

Using the calendar:
Children take turns to open the envelope and get a sticker to wear.
Peg the card in front of the envelope. If you have 2 sessions each day then replace the card in the envelope at the end of the morning session

Learning Opportunities:
–  Children learn to count the numbers in sequence and can see the number of days remaining before Christmas.
–  You could add a phonic element by putting the first letter of the day of the week on each number with’ th’ for Thursday
–  You can use the advent number line for asking problem solving questions such as how many Mondays are left before Christmas?
–  If you annotate the envelopes with events such as Christmas Concert, Christmas lunch, Christmas party, beginning of the Christmas holidays, this will add more opportunities for calculating e.g. how many days before the Christmas party?
–  Younger children can learn the names of key Christmas objects and see the purpose of writing when envelopes are annotated.