December Activities: Week 1

This gets easier every year. The mailbox made a return this year, as did the advent nativity. We also have enough books this year to do one (or more) a day. I added a little note in each pocket of the advent calendar with either a scripture or song to go along with the nativity piece for that day.

We were out of town until the 2nd, so mailbox activities started on the 3rd. We also loaned our nativity to the local creche festival for that weekend, so our advent countdown didn't start until the 6th. (Since there are five sheep in our set, I left those out on the table for the days we missed.)

Here's what we did for the first few days:

December 3: Happy birthday, Beeper. In the mailbox was the first clue for a treasure hunt to find his present. Need I tell you how excited he was to receive Toy Story legos? Most of the day was spent working on putting the set together.

We also visited the creche festival that day. Someone told me they had about 1400 or 1500 nativity sets on display this year. It was amazing. Beeper appreciated it more than he has in previous years. We found it was equally fun to look at the simple sets as the fancy ones. Each had its own beauty. We especially liked looking at the homemade ones. Beeper liked the clay sets and declared he wanted to make a set from clay sometime.

December 4: Thanks for the idea, Beeper. The activity for the day was to make a Christmas creche from clay. That afternoon I got out my Sculpey, and we worked together to make a simple nativity scene. Yes, I did most of it, but I really enjoy working together with Beeper on projects like this. He enjoyed himself too and loves the set.



Books: The Stable Where Jesus Was Born and a cloth book of the Christmas Story (made from a fabric panel purchased at Walmart last year)

December 5: Time to get out the felt gingerbread house. This is always popular, and this is the first year Little Fish was really old enough to play with it too.


We ran errands in town that day too, which included going to the library. Beeper was able to get his very own library card. Yay! (The requirements here are to be six years old and be able to sign your name.)

Book: Legend Of The Candy Cane (Beeper loves this one)

December 6: Hang Stockings

Book: The Mitten

Advent: Mary (Luke 1:27)

December 7: Make candied nuts. You can find a recipe for cinnamon-glazed nuts here. They are surprisingly easy and a good recipe for someone Beeper's age. Plus the chemistry behind them is pretty simple, so you can use them as a science lesson too. Beeper especially enjoyed eating them.

Book: Wish For Wings That Work (one of my favorites)

Advent: Angel (Luke 1:30-31)

December 8: Penguin Day. I got out the box of penguins and cards, our parts of a penguin puzzle and a couple of books about arctic animals. We also watched March of the Penguins, and I added a snowflake matching game to the mailbox.

Thursday nights are our "breakfast night." Beeper proposed we have penguin pancakes. He provided a detailed description of his idea, and I made them. They turned out very cute:



Book: Penguins, Penguins Everywhere (a new addition to our collection - a cute and simple book describing some different kinds of penguins)

Advent: Joseph (Matthew 1:20-21)