More Kid Friendly Advent Activities

There is something so magical this time of year and I don't want it to be a one day thing with my kids. I also don't want to look back and wish we had done more. Enter Advent, a way to prepare your hearts and minds for Christmas. And since I have had so much fun planning and doing Advent activities with my kids over the last few years, I thought I would go ahead and share a few more simple ideas that we have enjoyed or plan to enjoy this year along with a few tips to help it go smoothly. See my original post with more ideas here.

Set up our Jesse tree

We will add the first ornament and read the first corresponding story from the Bible. (This is something we will do each day until Christmas day. If you want to know more about the Jesse Tree, email me, but basically each day you hang an ornament on the tree that represents a story from the Bible you have read that leads up to the birth of Jesus.)

Christmas tree slam

I already have green cups and fake snowballs so instead of a Snowman slam, we are going to stack cups like a Christmas tree and then try to knock them down.

Make a skating rink for Charlie Brown (or your child's favorite figurines)

Pictured above

Make homemade snow

We are trying a different snow recipe this year. This one has shaving cream so is not safe to eat obviously, but I wanted to try a different consistency for the kids this year.

Read a new to us Christmas book

Make Christmas cards

In the past, we have used marshmallows to paint snowmen. This year we are going to use marshmallow to make Santa’s beard. I will add pictures as we do it!

Jingle Bell drop

Make a Christmas snack and watch a Christmas movie

Christmas Chex mix

Reindeer snack

Have a pizza picnic by your Christmas tree

Breakfast with Santa (or make a Christmas themed breakfast)

Christmas sensory bin

We are doing this one because we have the magnetic wants, but just look on Pinterest for other basic ideas!

Make snow cream (on a day you have a fresh snow)

Load up the car and go see Christmas lights

Paint the snow

Give a giftcard to the Garbage man (or to someone who works hard and might not get noticed-Postal worker, Bus driver, etc.)

Decorate a Gingerbread house or have a contest!

Polar Express Train ride! (Or simply watch the movie and drink hot chocolate!)

Take coffee or a treat to a friend

Make Sugar cookies for your neighbors (this might be a 2 day activity including the delivery of the cookies!)

Go sledding or go on a winter walk

Have your kids choose some new or "like new" toys to donate

Christmas craft

We are going to try Dish Brush Christmas Wreaths

Read the Christmas story as a family and sing happy birthday to Jesus

Tips:
Plan your activities in advance. Shop for your craft items, buy your food items, check your stock of paints, etc. That way you don't have to waste time during your day going out and buying items, you can just get right to your planned activity. (This is the kindergarten, type A person that I am telling you this. You do you, but this helps me because the last thing I want to do is go out to buy a few supplies each day with my two kids in tow.)

Keep your activities SIMPLE and STRESS FREE. You want this to be a fun way to enjoy the holiday season with your kids, not something that is going to be stressful for anyone.

You don't need to plan an activity for each day. Keep it flexible. The holiday season is already so full of fun activities that are already planned for you (Lights at the zoo, holiday parties, visiting Santa, etc.) The last thing you want to do is make yourself too busy or feel bad if you don't do a certain activity one day.

HAVE FUN!

Moon Dough Recipe + Space Sensory Box for Kids

For Aiden's Valentine gift this year, we gave him an astronaut costume because he loves pretending to blast off in to space and is always turning things into rocket ships. So this sensory box was inspired by his Valentine's day gift...you know because I love him to the moon.

This sensory box was so much fun to put together and my toddler helped me with every step so he was very involved with the whole process. We started by making Moon dough.

This only requires two ingredients, 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil. Mix them in a bowl and then stir and mix with your hands until it starts clumping together like sand.

Once we had our moon dough made we added it to our plastic box. This one is from Target, but any plastic box with a lid will do (so you can save the moon dough to play again another day).

We added glow in the dark stars around the sides of our plastic box to make it more space-like and then added our space figurines. This activity kept Aiden busy for at least an hour and if you are looking for some fun books to read that have to do with the moon and space, our favorites are pictured below.

Suggested items for Moon Sensory Box:
Plastic box with lid
Moon dough

Glow in the dark stars
Space figurines

Also, I post a lot of random activities for littles on Instagram (#nestfulofactivities) and in my Insta stories if you want to follow me, click on over here.

Easy Acorn Art for Kids

When we take walks, I like to have something in mind for Aiden to do besides simply walk, or in his case run. Most of our walks become nature walks and we look for certain things together (sticks for throwing into the creek, bugs, cicada shells, leaves, etc.) On this particular day our focus was acorns. Aiden had so much fun and collected so many acorns that I thought I should use them for some type of activity, hence this post.

Originally I thought we would just dip them in paint and use the tops as stamps, but then I remembered doing marble art and thought why not try it with acorns. I love the art Aiden created with the acorns and it was a fun and easy process.

Here's what you need:
-Washable paint
-Egg carton to hold the paint (or other paint container)
-Acorns
-A container deep enough that the acorns won't fall out when your toddler shakes it
-Paper

-First place a sheet of paper in the bottom of your container.
-Then have your child dip acorns in different colors and place them on the paper.
-When you have a good amount of acorns in the container, have your child shake the container back and forth so that the acorns slide all over the paper. Aiden needed help shaking the container at first, but by our 3rd attempt he was an expert shaker.
-Remove paper to let dry and replace with a new one. Repeat!

Toddler Friendly Easter Activities (using household items)

As a former teacher, I love a good themed activity, especially when it promotes learning. With a new baby in the house, I've been slacking. I haven't been out much and when I am out, I really don't want to spend time scouring shelves for educational supplies. Let's be honest, I only leave the house for Starbucks and Groceries these days. So I've been scouring Pinterest for a few easy and fun Easter themed activities that I can do with my toddler that involve items I already have around the house. (I'm counting plastic eggs as something you might have around the house if you are a parent since Easter is right around the corner, if not, you can find them everywhere this time of year.)

Here are a few activities I have tried or plan on trying soon with my toddler...

Plastic Egg Scoop

Materials: Plastic Eggs, Clear container, Spoons/Ladle, Strainer

Count the Cottontails (This one I made up myself, pretty self-explanatory, right?)

Materials: Plastic Eggs, Mini Marshmallows, Optional: Bunny book

Potato Stamping

Materials: Potatoes, Paint, Paper, Knife

Plastic Egg Painting

Materials: Plastic Eggs, Paint, Paper plates

Easter Story Snack Mix 

Materials: Pretzels, Craisins, Round cracker, Goldfish, marshmallow, M&M's (or other small treat) 

This activity is adorable and I love the idea behind it as it puts the focus of Easter on Jesus and not eggs and bunnies, but you might have to buy a few of these snack items if you don't have them.

Ideas for A Kid Friendly Advent Calendar

Since the Christmas season goes by so quickly (how is it December 6th already?!) I wanted to make the most of it this year with my two year old, but in a no pressure, relaxed way. Enter the Toddler Friendly Advent Calendar.

The point of doing this is to come up with simple, fun and stress free activities to bring out the holiday cheer in your family. I also wanted to promote kindness, love and generosity to my Toddler. This is NOT meant to be overwhelming or stressful. If I don't do an activity, I'm not going to get upset or feel like a failure. If I do an activity on a different day, it's no big deal. If I want to do an activity twice because Aiden enjoyed it so much, than that is what I'll do.

There is no wrong way to do this. My friend Katie made her own tin number set and hung them up on her refrigerator. I liked the idea of the tins because my toddler can play with them, so I bought my set on clearance at Starbucks last year in the hopes of actually doing it this year. I have also seen people do their own calendars by simply hanging twine on the wall and clipping numbered note cards to it. I pinned a few helpful ideas on my Pinterest board here if you want to see other people's creative ideas or ways they displayed their calendars.
In my opinion, the days leading up to Christmas should be more filled with fun, generosity and joy. Too many people are stressed around the holidays and this is not meant to be something that causes a parent stress. With that in mind, these are the activities I came up with for my toddler based on what I felt he would enjoy. (Example: Giving the garbage man a treat...Aiden loves watching our garbage being collected so I knew this would be something he would like to do. Meet and give the garbage man something! I can't wait to do this one!)

So here are the activities I chose for our Advent Calendar...
Set up Nativity (read story)
Make Homemade Snow
Decorate the Christmas Tree
Get new Christmas PJs and dance around in them to Christmas music
Visit a toy store and test out toys
Read a new to you Christmas book
Make Christmas cards
Build a Snowman (if there isn't snow, build a snowman out of homemade play dough!)
Christmas Craft (Stamping with Marshmallows was a big hit!)
Build a Gingerbread house
Horse drawn carriage ride (if not applicable...go on a winter walk!)
Take coffee to a friend
Polar Express + Hot Chocolate
Make and eat Snowman pancakes for dinner
Make a gift to give someone
Go on a drive to look at Christmas lights
Make donuts (or fudge!)
Take a picture with Santa
Give the Garbage Man a treat
Bake and decorate sugar cookies
Share cookies with our neighbors
Go Sledding
Have a pizza picnic by the Christmas tree
Attend a Christmas Eve service at church
Read the Christmas story in bed as a family

If you want to see these activities in action, I made a hashtag just for fun... #aidensadvent

Have you done this before? What other ideas would be fun to add some holiday cheer to your family this year?
SaveSave