In case you thought...

I was done talking about Advent, I'm not.

I wanted to share an Advent Calendar that my friend Sarah and I came up with to do with our MOPS group. It is really simple. Really.




We made it out of a placemat that I found at Bed Bath and Beyond. We purchased an awl at Home Depot and ribbons at Hobby Lobby. Each calendar will need either one roll of Christmas ribbon or 2 rolls of regular ribbon. Choose one that is thin and soft (grosgrain wasn't the easiest...)

So, supplies:

1 placemat
1 awl
1-2 rolls of ribbon
kid's needle (one with a big eye)
Advent scriptures formatted into a square, printed and cut


Steps to make your placemat Advent calendar:

It's never too late to make this now... or save it until next year. But, it really won't take you longer than an hour.

1. Poke holes into the placemat with an awl. Measure and mark 4 dots across and 6 dots down. Then poke 2 holes per dot that you marked. This way there is a hole for your ribbon to go through and one for it to come out. So, you will have punched 48 holes.

2. Thread ribbon through the needle and through the placemat, with the loose ends coming out of the front. Do this 23 more times. (or more reasonably, do it 5 times, take a break, 5 more, get some coffee, 5 more play with kids, and then only 8 are left). My hands hurt a bit after doing this!

3. Print and cut out your formatted Advent scriptures/lessons and roll them up like a scroll. Tie them inside of the ribbons on your calendar and make cute little bows.


Here are the "preschool" Advent pieces we used on this calendar. We have 2 Advent calendars and this one has been way more suitable for Beckett and possibly Taylor Joy, as well. We let each Christmas story fact build on the other so we talk about all that we have already learned each day up to that point, in hopes that by Christmas they will be able to tell us the whole story of Jesus' birth and the way it all went down.

I know you either are or aren't doing Advent this year already, but I just wanted to go ahead and pass this along for those who have asked what we do with our littler kids during Advent.

Happy Advent to you!