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100+ ideas of how to fill your calendars with something other than chocolate. Encourage kids to spread Christmas joy with these homemade advent calendar activity ideas.
It’s often a tradition in most households to start an Advent calendar on the 1st December. It’s a special calendar used to count down the days with anticipation to Christmas. Some Advent calendars hold chocolates, sweets, a small gift, a poem, or a kind gesture.
Below you’ll find 100+ ideas of how to fill your calendars with something other than the usual piece of chocolate that you get from the supermarket Advent calendars (although there is nothing wrong with that!). Activities are a great way to have some fun with kids, with activities such as giving to others, baking, crafting and more.
Download this Advent calendar activity printable that includes the stockings that can be cut out, as well as several activities that can be stuck to the back of each stocking. You might like to do this for your child as a surprise or they might enjoy doing the craft activity with you. Hang them on string or use Blutak to stick them to the wall, turning one around each day to reveal the activity.
- Donate a coat or jumper to charity (leaving a happy note in the pocket)
- Decorate cookies
- Read a christmas story
- Watch a Christmas movie
- Drive around and look at Christmas lights
- Make some Christmas craft
- Play games by the tree
- Send Christmas cards
- Make an ornament
- Make a gingerbread house
- Have breakfast for dinner
- Wrap a gift for dad
- Colour a Christmas Picture
- Bake cookies for a friend
- Build a blanket fort
- Give to others
- Write a letter to Santa
- Play festive Christmas songs and dance
- Go to watch some Christmas Carols
- Make reindeer food
- Take some homemade cookies to a neighbour
- Donate toys to your favourite charity
- Tell a silly joke to make someone laugh
- Donate food to your local food pantry
- Let someone go ahead of you in a line
- Make a coupon for a hug to give to someone you love
- Give candy canes out to your friends
- Call a faraway friend or relative to say Hello
- Give a random act of kindness
- Pay it forward at your local coffee shop
- Take supplies to your local animal shelter
- Do a chore for someone in your family
- Give a compliment to a friend or family member
- Thank your local postman
- Pick some flowers and give them to someone you love
- Pick some flowers and leave them at your neighbours doorstep anonymously
- Leave a post-it-note on a mirror that says ‘You are Beautiful’
- Volunteer your time or make a donation to those less fortunate
- Take your kids to a charity centre where they can help the less fortunate
- Let 5 people you know how thankful you are that they are in life
- Have some Me-time doing what you love
- Collect and decorate pinecones for the christmas table
- Take a walk with your family looking at Christmas lights in your local community
- Make up a Christmas board game
- Learn a new carol
- Write your Christmas cards and deliver local ones
- Make up a Christmas story
- Have a picnic under the light from the christmas tree
- Hang a Christmas wreath on your door
- Make Thick Hot Chocolate with marshmallows
- Make a family traditional dessert
- Sing Christmas carols
- Write a Christmas poem
- Choose three of your toys and give them away to a charity shop.
- Write a Christmas wish and hang it on the tree
- Hang up your Christmas stocking
- Help wrap presents
- Research christmas jokes
- Make some crackers
- Get a photo with Santa at your local shopping centre
- Visit an elderly neighbour and take them a Christmas gift
- Donate to the local food bank
- Make christmas cards for your neighbours
- Leave change in the vending machine
- Sort through your toys and donate any that you no longer play with to charity or your local church
- Leave chalk messages around where you live
- Sharpen all the pencils in the classroom at breaktime
- Write a letter to your sibling telling them why you love them
- Leave a beautiful homemade bookmark in your library book and give one to the Librarian
- Leave the pound in the shopping trolley next time you go to the supermarket
- Tidy your bedroom
- Write a note and mail them to the houses with great christmas lights saying thank you for lighting up their house for you to see
- Sit next to someone you normally don’t at the lunch table and be nice to them
- Be a holiday helper – volunteer to deliver local christmas cards
- Make a bird feeder
- Send a care package to someone in the military
- Find three of your toys to give to the local childrens hospital
- Pass on some of your books to friends
- Give a lottery ticket to a stranger
- Donate books to your school library
- Leave out water for the birds
- Write thank you cards for your teacher, coach, Cubs leader or people that have influenced you in a positive way
- Clean up the area where you live by picking up litter. Make sure you wear gloves and do it with an adult.
- Help round the house without being asked to
- Donate pet food to a local shelter
- Put together a shoebox for your local church
- Write a thank you note for the bin collectors and post person
- Wash your parents car
- Give a homeless person a blanket
- Deice your neighbours windshields in the morning
- Take everyone in your class a candy cane or cookie
- Take poinsettias to your nearest nursing home
- Make a christmas card for the school receptionist
- Offer to help an elderly friend or neighbour with their christmas decorations
- Make christmas flowers for the reception at school
- Make a thank you card for the school crossing staff
- Cook dinner for your family
- Offer to pack the shopping bags of the person in front of you and behind you at the supermarket
- Invite a new friend for a play date or out to play
- Walk someone elses dog
- Give out a complement
- Give out free hugs today
- Hold the door open for people all day
- Smile all day
- Let someone go in front of you in a queue
- Introduce yourself to someone new at school and chat with them
- Ring an elderly relative and have a nice chat to them
- Make a tree decoration for your baby sitter
