day 154: christmas book advent

the books for the christmas book advent

day 154 and the christmas bug has well and truly taken hold of my pinterest creations.  today i am making the first of a couple of advent countdowns for the family.  this one is dedicated to the kids and their love of reading and art.

the magical idea came from oopsey daisy's alison. when i saw her idea i pinned it to my christmas is coming board knowing it would be perfect for my kids even though they are much older than her little man. the concept is that you wrap up 24 christmas books so each day during advent you open up the book and read it with the kids then do an activity that has a synergy with the book you have just read.  the nice thing is the kids have a little surprise to open each day and a new activity to reinforce the message in the book ... fun times :)

i actually think as long as you adapt the craft and books you chose for your children and situation, this is a really awesome idea for all aged kids.   my kids can read but they still love me reading books to them and they adore baking and crafting, thus making it a perfect thing for us to do all december.  if you are pushed for time or christmas books maybe do a twelve days of christmas one :)

below are the list of books i am using and the activity that will go with each one:

1. A Letter to Santa - Writing a Letter to Santa
2. A Kiwi Jingle Bells - Make Strawberry Jam
3. The Littlest Christmas Tree - Decorating our Christmas Tree
4. Slinki Malinki's Christmas Crackers - Making Crackers for Christmas Day
5. Christmas in the Little House - Bird Feeder
6. How the Grinich Stole Christmas - Make Candy Canes from Pipe Cleaners
7. On this Special Night - Make a Fabric Pillow to Gift to a Friend
8. Christmas Comes to Mrs Mouse - Make Fabric Little Houses for your Friends
9. Mr Men: A Christmas Carol - Make a Mr Christmas Pudding Bean Bag
10. Angelina's Christmas - Bake Christmas Tarts for the Neighbours
11. Grandma's Kiwi Christmas - Pohutukawa Picnic
12. Santa's Kiwi Holiday - Go to Mission Bay to Make Sandcastles
13. Berenstain Bears Save Christmas - Gingerbread Cupcakes
14. The Christmas Caravan - Make a Christmas Star out of Tinfoil
15. Mog's Christmas - Make Christmas Stockings for the Kittens
16. Polar Express - Polar Express Hot Chocolate Party
17. Mrs Wishy Washy's Christmas - Home Made Bubble Blowing Solution
18. Snow Bears - Making a Teddy Bear
19. Mr Men: 12 Day's of Christmas - Make a Card for Raya and Deliver her Present
20. The Christmas Story - Ice Block Stick Manger with Hay and Baby Jesus
21. Jolly Old Santa Claus - Brownie Reindeer
22. Santa and the Reindeer - Reindeer Gingerbread Biscuits
23. The Night Before the Night Before Christmas - Make Christmas Tree Ice Cream Cones
24. A Kiwi Night Before Christmas - Make a Cricket Pitch Ready for an Afternoon Match

the books to be wrapped :)

a lot of the crafts have (of course!) come from searches on pinterest and so i have HAD to make a new board called 2011 Advent Crafts.  the links on the activities above will take you to my board that has the activities listed and linked their.  

as always on the day the kids and i make the creations we will blog about them right here with rightful thank you's to all the glorious owners of these wonderful ideas.  but for tonight all my thanks goes to oopsey daisy's alison, she is truly talented and has imagination to envy.  thank you alison so much for blogging about your christmas book advent, i can't wait for december to start so we can get into it :)  ok that's it for today, i'm off to wrap 24 books now the kids are asleep!