A Homemade Advent Calendar

Growing up my mom would make a construction paper Christmas tree with numbers 1 - 25 on it.  On each day of December leading up to Christmas we would put a sticker on the tree.

Okay, my tree is a little crazy.  When I first made it it looked strange so I added branches and now it looks crazy.  Oh well.

Last year I did the same thing as my Mom.  This year I did something a little different:

I made construction paper Christmas tree ornaments to put on for each day instead of stickers.  The child just matches the numbered ornament to the number on the tree - so that each day in December the tree is decorated a little more until Christmas day when the star is added.  Then it is complete.

I am not a particularly "crafty" person so while my bulb ornaments, candy canes, and mitten were drawn by hand the other ornaments were traced from some cookie cutters.  I wish I would have thought of the cookie cutters earlier!!

Anyway, this is a fun advent calendar to do with my little ones.  (It also helps them practice recognizing their numbers.)