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Helping kids to remember the true meaning of Christmas can be hard in a gift-centered world. This Act of Kindness Advent Calendar for kids will allow them to have one simple thing they can do each day leading up to Christmas that puts others before themselves! Get the free download and build your own DIY kindness advent for Christmas this year!
Every Christmas I try to make sure my kids know that Christmas is more about giving to others than it is receiving. Just like all of you, I try to make sure my kids (and myself!) are focusing on the joy of Christmas and spreading the love of Jesus (the reason for the season!), but that can be tough with all the focus on presents. That’s why I made this Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar.
Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar
In the past we’ve done a muffin tin candy advent calendar, a “book a night” Christmas book advent, a few of the cool Christmas advent calendars you can just buy, and more. They were all great, and so much fun! But this year we are switching things up to focus on giving rather than receiving!
The concept is very simple. The Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar works like any other advent calendar. Every day you open one of the boxes. On December 1st, you open box number one. Each day, whatever acts of kindness you pull out for the day, that’s what you do.
I made a sheet of 24 things (grab the printable at the end of the post, or you can just write and make your own) that are perfect for kids to do on their countdown to Christmas. My sheet includes things like, “Pick up three things that don’t belong to you.” or “Make your teacher a Christmas card.” and more.
DIY Kindness Advent Calender {VIDEO}
What you’ll need:
- Foam Poster Board
- Wrapping Paper
- Small Favor Boxes
- FREE Printable Acts of Kindness Sheet (at the end of the post)
- Tape
- Scissors
- Marker
- Hot Glue Gun
- Small piece of yarn or twine (if you intend to hang the calendar – I used the twine that came with the favor boxes)
- Star (I used this cute wooden one)
Instructions
The process for making this fun DIY Christmas kindness advent calendar is so easy! Once you have all your supplies, you can enlist your kids to help, or do it on your own. This is a great calendar to enjoy year after year with new items in each box, or just use the same ones over and over by mixing up the order!
- Prep – Put 24 of your favorite boxes together. Then number them 1-24 with a marker. Make sure to number them in the correct directions on the top. Cut up your Acts of Kindness sheet and put one in each box.
- Arrange – Line up your boxes on the poster board in the tree shape with the star on top, so you can see how much of the poster board you need to cut off. Draw a straight line where you want to cut your poster board and cut the excess off. To make the right tree shape with 24 boxes, these will be the number of boxes in your rows: 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1. Yes, 3 was done twice on purpose.
- Decorate – Wrap your poster board in the wrapping paper of your choice. Use strong tape to tape the piece of twine onto the back of the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar for easy hanging.
- Attach – Glue your boxes onto the backing in no particular order of the numbers. Part of the fun of an advent calendar is looking for the number for today, so the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar should be no exception. Glue your star on top to complete your tree. I used one of the stars from the package I bought for these DIY Grinch Trees I made – I love them!
>> NEED SOME MORE CHRISTMAS DIY IDEAS? CHECK OUT ALL OF MINE HERE!
Using the Kindness Advent Calendar
Starting December 1st, kids will open box number one, and continue to follow the date each day to find their act of kindness for the day.
These are just simple tasks, but will give your kids a structured way to put others before themselves this holiday season. This is something they get to choose when and how to do it, so they get really excited to do it.
That’s all there is to the Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar. It’s not a difficult concept, but it is one that put the focus of Christmas in the right place this year. I know my kids are excited, and I am too!
Download the Kindness Advent Calendar Daily Ideas
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