"You are so creative!" I have heard that phrase constantly since I was little. DIY, Refashioning, Crafting, Sewing, Woodworking. I love it all! Now I have a place to keep my favorite projects or ideas organized and share them with you!



Monday, November 1, 2010

Thanksgiving Activity Calendar / DIY Advent Calendar

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I saw this idea for a Halloween countdown calendar using a muffin tin here and although I was not excited about counting down to Halloween, or eating candy each day leading up to the "Candy Day" I thought it was a clever idea to ration our Halloween candy into a Thanksgiving countdown. But since we have three children and three pieces of Halloween candy would not fit in a cupcake tin I grabbed our bag of Hershey Kisses I had ready for a Christmas project.

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I had my three year old put three in each spot of the muffin tin. Three year old's are pretty good at counting to three.

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Then when my daughter got home from school I had her part ready for her to do. Using a glue stick I had her glue a number to each square I had cut out.

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I wrote out 12 things for the kids to do, one for each day of our count down. Things such as.. Draw hand print turkeys. Bring a freezer meal to a friend. Bake a pumpkin pie. Honestly things we would do anyway, I put onto our cards. We are starting 12 days out from Turkey day because we are planning on being out of town part of this month anyway.

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My five year old also cut out the actions and glued them to the back of each paper square.

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This is when I thought to myself. Why make this and not use it again? So I decided to make them a bit more sturdy and laminated them with packing tape, because that is what I had on hand.

Now each day starting 12 days out from Turkey day, they get to open a number, do something fun, and eat a chocolate. Kind of like the advent calendars. You could very easily make your own advent calendar the same way. Can't get this project done for Thanksgiving? Aim for December! Merry Christmas!

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Don't want to make your own cards, or don't know what to write? Well I just happen to find a link this morning to someone who made some printable ones you can purchase. Here!

Linked up here:




A Crafty Soiree
Punkin Seed Productions



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9 comments:

  1. What an awesome & sweet idea:)
    very creative

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  2. This is such a wonderful project. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Very fun! I'm going to have to remember you have such good ideas when I go to put together a post on my other blog ABC & 123: A Learning Cooperative. Would it be okay to feature your projects? We usually use a photo, give a short description, and provide a direct link back to your post along with a credit to the blogger.

    http://www.abcand123learning.com/

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  4. That is fine with me Katie! I am glad you like it here.

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  5. I love it, and completely agree with you.
    Much better suited for Thanksgiving, and you did a fab job!!

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  6. Kara!!
    I think this is awesome!!
    I hope you come link it up to our next challenge at Paper Issues!!! It starts November 16!!!
    http://www.paperissues.blogspot.com/
    =)
    Cassie

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  7. Had to come back to this one - I have a new craft blog and am doing a post with great Thanksgiving projects. I'm going to include this one!

    : ) http://craft-interrupted.blogspot.com/

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  8. What a great photo of your son counting into muffin tins!

    I write articles online promoting hands-on learning to teachers, parents and homeschoolers. I would like to know if I might have permission to add a link to his blog and use this photo in my article about Skip Counting? http://www.squidoo.com/counting

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