DIY: Scratch-Off Christmas Activities Advent Calendar

I LOVE Christmas and I LOVE advent calendars! This year I decided to do something different for my 3-year old daughter. I made a scratch-off activities advent calendar with scratch-off stickers. I made it super simple, since it's going to be used by my 3-year old, and made it for only 12 days. Since I have circular scratch-off stickers, I am going with a Christmas tree theme to blend in like ornaments. You can order scratch-off stickers from multiple sites on the internet.

Create your calendar: I folded a large piece of construction paper in half and drew half a Christmas tree. (You could do whatever kind of picture you'd like. You could cut the stickers into any shape you'd like too.)

I opened my paper and then I actually ironed it out a bit because I don't like the fold down the middle. If I were a better artist I wouldn't have a fold at all. ;)

I used a stencil to plot out my activities that will be covered by the scratch-off stickers and wrote out the actual activities with a pen.

Cover the activities with scratch-off stickers. You could number the stickers if you have specific activities that you'd like to be revealed on certain days.

Decorate! I wanted to make this calendar super cute with decorative scrapbook paper and all sorts of cute embellishments but it's going to be used by my 3-year old.

We ended up with this simple tree using ornament stickers instead.

I can't wait to see what will be revealed!

Here are some activity ideas for kids:

Build a snowman
Watch a Christmas movie
Decorate gingerbread houses
Bake and decorate sugar cookies
Visit a neighbor or friend
Write a letter to Santa
Go sledding
Visit Santa at the mall or other location
Make an ornament or pick out a special ornament that represents a special occasion from this year
Sit by the fire and play a game
Have an indoor snowball fight
Do something nice for someone else
Reenact the nativity
Go to a Christmas tree lot and find the "perfect" tree
Read the Christmas story from Luke 2
Donate an old toy or book
Check out some Christmas books at the library
Make paper snowflakes
Send a special Christmas card to someone that might need some extra holiday cheer
Take a Christmas Train ride
Read your favorite Christmas book
Go see Christmas lights

You could also make a special advent calendar for your spouse to spice things up for the holidays. Along with other activities that you've already thought about, here are some extras: