saraha Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I'm sorry if there is another thread out there about this, but I can't find one searching. I made 24 little stockings that we hang across the mantle and I put a piece of paper in them with a Christmas activity to do everyday until Christmas eve. Already we have done: Decorate the house, play Christmas Charades with mom and dad, get Christmas cards ready to send (We made an assembly line so each of the 6 kids could sign each card this year, and my son had the idea that each kid pick a random name from the phone book to send an anonymous card too), watch a Christmas movie, help decorate the sanctuary at our church. I am looking for free, quick ideas to fill in the rest of the days. Some things we will be doing: visit relatives for a weekend, Christmas themed pictionary, probably more Christmas movies, Christmas story read alouds, caroling at a nursing home, and a present wrapping night. Does anyone have any ideas that we could do at home? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama Geek Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Baking cookies Making some easy ornaments although not free if you don't have supplies Taking some family Christmas pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaAkins Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Make Christmas cookies...and the next day you could deliver cookies to friends, neighbors, etc. Read the book "The Night Tree" and string popcorn& cranberries to hang on an outdoor tree go out driving to look at Christmas lights (obviously needs to be done at night) Make ornaments Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saraha Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Ok, cookies, lights, ornaments, bird food garland, check. Thanks! I still need about 8 activities so that every other day isn't watch a movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 This site has activities for every day of December http://homeschooling.about.com/cs/unitssubjhol/a/advent125.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happi duck Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 If you walk around to look at lights, or drive somewhere but park and get out, you can leave notes thanking people for decorating. Making the thank you notes could be another activity. Another idea is making paper snowflakes for your windows. Learn a song or a poem to sing/recite to dad or others. If you have some more cards or can make some, send Merry Christmas/thank you cards to businesses you frequent or places you like to visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenpatty Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Eat a candy cane. Make homemade hot chocolate. (My kids love the activities that involve sugar!) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggie96 Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 In addition to the things mentioned above... We stretch Light Gazing into about 4 nights. We visit the city's festival of lights, a neighboring county's drive-through light display, and quasi-famous neighborhood's light display (entire subdivision decorates), then our local/close subdivision lights (sometimes we pull the kids in the wagon and walk the neighborhood with drinks and snacks). I supplement some nights with just a "treat" which is candy. For crafts, we have used construction paper on hand and cotton balls to make Santa's, Santa hats, and snowmen. We have also used the damaged plastic ornaments and hot glue to make a wreath. Once we picked out some Christmas coloring pages, colored them, then used glitter and glue along the outlines to jazz them up. I hate working with glitter, but the kids LOVE it because we so rarely do it. We also make reindeer food using instant oatmeal and glitter. This year we are abstaining. :hat: We are doing much of the activities, just not using our countdown props so I'm off the hook for the entire 24 activities. Bitter sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Our list: make an advent calender (a punch one, snowmen, birdhouses, rings, inside could be jokes or scriptures) make snowflakes, tape on windows, make strings hanging from the ceiling watch a movie about the arctic (we watched the polar section of Human Planet but it has whale hunting if you have sensitive kids) write a letter to Santa make 1 kind of Christmas cookie a week (each kid gets a choice) make a Christmas music playlist--vote on songs like American Idol set up the nativity scene--let a different child move Mary and Joseph to a different spot in the house each day, the child that finds them wins a piece of candy or their choice of breakfast make Santa's workshop on Minecraft (okay, my kids suggested this one) or a Christmas tree put lights up string popcorn make ornaments put up the tree wrapping gifts (for others) party sledding or snowman (if there's snow) a snowy boardgame like Snow Tales, Ice Flow, Toss the Cookies, Fistful of Penguins, Roll to the South Pole, or Hey, that's my fish! (anything snowy, wintery, or involving baking would work--if your kids are younger a memory game with types of Christmas cookies would work) St. Nicholas' Day Hannukah or Kwanza stories learning Christmas carols Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Here are some of the activities in ours: Make Christmas cards for friends/family Make Christmas cards for the nursing home (DS loves this, but we do have a relative in a nursing home, so he is familiar with how lonely some of the residents can feel.) Walk to post office to mail cards with a thermos of hot chocolate - or in our current weather, chocolate milk! Pop popcorn and watch a Christmas movie Hot chocolate before bed with a Christmas read aloud Dance party with Christmas music Make an ornament Make coffee filter snowflakes for the windows Random act of kindness Hmmm, there are more, but you probably have more than you need now. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitestavern Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I'm sorry if there is another thread out there about this, but I can't find one searching. I made 24 little stockings that we hang across the mantle and I put a piece of paper in them with a Christmas activity to do everyday until Christmas eve. Already we have done: Decorate the house, play Christmas Charades with mom and dad, get Christmas cards ready to send (We made an assembly line so each of the 6 kids could sign each card this year, and my son had the idea that each kid pick a random name from the phone book to send an anonymous card too), watch a Christmas movie, help decorate the sanctuary at our church. I am looking for free, quick ideas to fill in the rest of the days. Some things we will be doing: visit relatives for a weekend, Christmas themed pictionary, probably more Christmas movies, Christmas story read alouds, caroling at a nursing home, and a present wrapping night. Does anyone have any ideas that we could do at home? Thanks! We did the same thing this year...here are some of ours that you haven't done yet: --Christmas concert (lots of free ones this time of year) --Cocoa and driving around looking at Christmas lights --making gifts for music teacher, CCD teacher, etc. --go shopping --go ice skating --baking --the rest are different things going on in our area (gingerbread house exhibit, decorated tree exhibit-- find at your state tourism website) I LOVE the idea of picking a name from the phone book to send a card to...I think we might do this too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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