Christmas Countdown: Snowman Placemat

When I was a preschool teacher, whenever a new child joined our class they made their own placemat for lunch and snack time. I don't know why it has taken me this long to have Zel make one, but it has finally happened. I printed a coloring worksheet with his name on it from this site and put it on his easel. I had him use watercolor so that it would dry quickly and also because tempera can get kind of lumpy. Zel was pretty excited to paint a snowman and to use the watercolor. As soon as it dried I used contact paper to laminate it and put it at his place at the dinner table. Zel wanted to do more snowman stuff so we watched Frosty the Snowman too!

Countdown to Christmas Activity Calendar

I've seen a lot of advent calenders going around Pinterest and decided that it would be fun to do one with Zel this year. I made it a countdown because that seemed more exciting and to me, the word advent makes it too religious.

The countdown from little eco footprints is the first calendar that got my attention. I loved that it was nature themed rather than all Christmas or religious. During our outdoor playtime, we searched for the best leaves of all different colors. Once we started setting up the calendar, I realized that I didn't have enough clothespins. I decided that it would be much easier to just write the calender on the window with window markers and use the leaves for one of our activities.

I didn't want to just have a list of activities since that wouldn't be very exciting for Zel. I came across the advent jar from mess for less and knew this would work for us. I had recently purchased a pack of colored popsicle sticks and my mom always has a million extra glass jars around the house. I picked activities that I knew Zel would enjoy and would take little preparation. I used some Christmas projects and activities, some Hanukkah stuff, and a few projects and outings that are fun anytime of the year.

Unfortunately as I was writing this post, Google told me that I reached my photo limit. So please check out the blogs that inspired me to do this project and go to the Z is for Zel facebook page to check out our photos from Christmas countdown activities until I solve this photo dilemma. I will also be posting Zel's activity choice each day on facebook and I will write up blog posts on our favorites...Stay tuned!

Update: Thanks to my fellow KBN bloggers I figured out how to add more pictures!