I grew up with one of those advent calendars made of card where you open the little door and inside there was a picture of something Christmassy. These days, the possibilities for advent calendar ideas for your kids are endless and creative! Some of my favourite DIY advent calendar ideas are below.
For our own kids' advent calendar, we have a string of mini-stockings. Each day the elves come to spy on the girls. If the elves think the girls are being good, they leave a little something in the mini-stocking and then go report back to Santa about what kind of behaviour they saw! Princess Pea (who really is pretty much always good anyway) loves this idea - she gets so excited for the elves to come!
We put just teeny-tiny things in the stockings: Maybe a single hair clip or a single marker from a pack (the others will show up on different days, or I save them to put in gifts or party favours later in the year).
Last year I bought a mini Playmobile set and put in a piece from it each day, along with a clue as to what the next piece would be. (For example, one day she got a tiny Playmobile rabbit hutch and a note asking who might live there; the next day she got a tiny rabbit to put in it and a note asking what rabbits like to eat; the next day she got a tiny carrot, etc.). That went over really well, and I liked that it also made her think and learn at the same time! This year we also got this adorable Playmobile advent calendar - I'm so excited to give it to them!
I don't have everything yet to put in this year's calendar, but the beauty of the elves coming to fill one stocking at a time is that it gives me more time to find things to fill it with! ;-)
and here's a great list of advent calendar activities to include
by Nurturestore
by Maya Made