DIY Advent calendars for kids

We have a bit of a holiday tradition around here of having advent calendars. I made two of them... one for each kid... a couple of years ago and they're always a huge hit. The boys love counting down to Christmas! 

The first one is a large Christmas tree and it only took a few things: 

A large piece of cardboard

Green Patterned Scrapbook paper 

Christmas Ornaments Scrapbook Paper 

Christmas themed scrapbook paper

Velcro Dots

Glue Sticks

Tape

Scissors 

First, I cut a large triangle shape out of the cardboard and covered it with the green scrapbook paper. I "laminated" it by putting packing tape all over the front. 

Then, I put the soft half of the Velcro sticky dots all over the tree. You'll need 24, so just spread them out. 

Then, I made the 24 ornaments. I cut out 24 circles from the Christmas themed scrapbook paper. You can glue them onto cardstock if you want. 

Then, I cut out 24 ornaments from the ornament scrapbook paper. 

I glued the ornaments onto the circles of paper, then wrote numbers 1-24 on them. 

Then, I laminated all of them by putting packing tape over the top. They'd fit through a laminator as well. 

Then, I put the scratchy half of the velcro coins on the back of each one. 

Each day, Cocoa Puff picks out the ornament with the day's date on it and puts it on his tree. He just LOVES watching it get filled with his ornaments. 

For the smaller calendar I made for Froot Loop, I found a piece of Christmas themed scrapbook paper and laminated it. 

I put 28 velcro coins on it, just for fun. I went up to 25 on this one, and then added a few extras for him to just play with. Instead of writing the numbers on the ornaments, I wrote them on the paper instead. 

Then, I cut out all the ornaments from the scrapbook paper, laminated them, and then attached the other half of the velcro coin to the back. 

Each day, Froot Loop grabs an ornament and adds it to his calendar. He looks forward to it as well. 

There you have it. They were both very easy to make and we just LOVE them! 

Do you count down to Christmas?