Creating Daily Reading with An Advent Calendar

Do you enjoy counting down the days to Christmas with your child(ren) by using the ever so popular advent calendars? Last year, I saw this idea on social media and tried it with my preschooler. She loved it! 

Here, I share what ours looked like and some suggestions to make yours an instant best seller!

Directions:

1. Lay out your books first to help group the books according to size. You want it to look like a Christmas tree.
2. Decide which ones will be wrapped in green paper and red paper. I used the heavier books at the bottom so I didn't have to hang them on the wall.
3. I wrapped the "tree" books in green themed wrapping paper, and the ones at the bottom in red. I cut out the star myself using yellow construction paper. The brown stem is a piece of 8x11 piece of paper. 
4. I used heavy duty bonding strips on each corner of the book to help it stick to my wall. 
5. Attach the books to the wall the night before December 1 and be ready for that precious reaction the next morning!
6. Allow your child(ren) to pick any book. Don't worry about how the tree will look. This advent calendar will help foster the love of reading!

Here are some suggestions for younger children:

• You may not get through all 25 books, so maybe do 12 days, or if you do all 25, just have fun with it and know some days will get skipped.
• I used some books I already had, some I got free in my neighborhood, and some I bought. It was a fun way to explore new Christmas and holiday books.
• Each day, as we unwrapped them, I read them aloud and had a story time.
• If you don't have the wall space, I also saw an idea where you can number the books and put them on a shelf.

For older children:

• You can use sprinkle in chapter books! Maybe read the first chapter together and let them decide which books they want to read first.
• You can also use a few picture books, maybe a few favorites from their younger days, and take the time to read to them together. This can be a new tradition and a time to recount memories from younger years, but also for future years.

This can be modified to other holidays and any celebrations throughout the year!

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