Recycled DIY Christmas Advent Calendar

The festive season is almost upon us and my boys are really getting excited for Santa’s arrival.  Little boy asked me just yesterday if Santa would be here in 2 days! If only he knew that Santa hasn’t even started thinking about their Christmas gifts yet!!

I thought it would be a great idea to make a Recycled DIY Christmas Advent Calendar for the boys to count down to Christmas… and to spare myself the daily nagging of “How many days is it to Christmas?”  We made the advent calendar from toilet rolls so it’s a genius way to recycle the toilet rolls we’ve been collecting. Yet another way to reuse and recycle!

This craft turned out to be brilliant for counting, number recognition and 1:1 correspondence.  The boys enjoyed counting the toilet rolls, reading the numbers and sticking the numbers in the correct order.  There is also a large amount of fine motor workout in covering the ends of each toilet roll as well as peeling and sticking the number stickers on each toilet roll.  We had a lesson in shapes too! We observed that the ends of the toilet roll were round, however the roll itself was a cylinder. Our Christmas tree had a triangle shape with a square base and we also cut out a star for the top of our tree.

There is also an opportunity to be creative when decorating the completed advent Christmas tree.  You can use whatever craft supplies you have on hand for this.

Hope your kids enjoy counting down on the Recycled DIY Christmas Advent Calendar but first, we’ve got to gather 25 little treats to hide in the calendar!

WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR THE RECYCLED DIY CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR:

• 25 x toilet rolls
• Green tissue paper
• Coloured cardboard scraps
• 1 to 25 numbered stickers (optional)
• Various stickers, glitter, pom poms etc to decorate
• 25 x assorted treats to place in advent calendar

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE RECYCLED DIY CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR:

• Use sticky tape to cover one end of each toilet roll with green tissue paper.
• Stand the toilet rolls on a table with covered side facing up and make a Christmas tree shape.  We used four rolls to make the tree trunk and placed the remainder in a triangle shape.
• Use double sided tape to stick the toilet rolls together in the Christmas tree shape.  The tree should be able to stand on its own once stuck together.
• Use green tissue paper to cover sides of Christmas tree.
• Cut out a star or angel from coloured cardboard and glue to the top of the Christmas tree.
• Place numbered stickers on the end of each toilet roll or you could hand write the numbers.
• Let your creativity loose and decorate as desired.  We used coloured rhinestones and ribbon.
• Place a treat in each toilet roll through the open end of the toilet rolls (i.e back of the Christmas tree).
• Use green tissue paper to cover the back of the Christmas tree after filling up with treats.

* This post and all associated images have been supplied by the lovely Rossa from Curious Little People.  Follow her on Instagram for more creative inspirations!