Unwrapped Book Advent Calendar

I love doing book advent calendars. It's a fun way to incorporate some literacy into the Christmas preparations and a great way to be sure we make the time to read our Christmas favorites.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

We did a book tree advent last year. It made a cute display and the kids loved unwrapping a book each night, but the problem was that some of our favorite Christmas books weren't available until a day or two before Christmas. (Technically we could have read the books when they're wrapped this way, but it ruined the surprise.)

http://www.readingconfetti.com/2012/11/book-tree-advent.html
Last year's book advent
This year I was determined to incorporate literacy into our advent calendar while leaving the Christmas books available for the entire month. Instead of wrapping each book, I made a simple scroll with the name of each book. (The bonus is that you can do repeats if you don't have 24 different Christmas books.) A slip of paper would work just as well, but these little scrolls make it seem more special and they're easy to make. Cut two lengths of drinking straws and a strip of scrapbook paper. Tape a straw to each end of the paper and roll toward the center, securing it with some string. Now they're ready to tuck into whatever type of advent calendar you choose.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

I was inspired by this advent calendar at Crafts Unleashed. I really like those little paper mache boxes. I used 23 round and one star shaped for my version of the advent calendar. I attached number cutouts I found at the craft store.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

Then I stacked them into a Christmas tree shape.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

Because the number didn't come out quite right, I have 3 presents under the Christmas tree.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

Each container has a scroll with our Christmas book for the day written on it. I also included little trinkets like Christmas erasers and stickers that I tried to match to the book.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books
Jingle bells for The Polar Express

And all the Christmas books are piled in our basket, ready to be read any time.

A book advent calendar for kids that doesn't require wrapping the books

Some of our favorite Christmas books:
Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood
The Little Crooked Christmas Tree by Michael Cutting
Christmas Tree Farm by Ann Purmell
Where, Oh Where, Is Santa Claus? by Lisa Wheeler
A Christmas Tree for Pyn by Olivier Dunrea
The First Christmas by Allia Zobel-Nolan
The Very Snowy Christmas by Diana Hendry
Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh
Santa Duck by David Milgrim
The Twelve Days of Christmas by Hilary Knight
Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry
Christmas Angels: Read and Share by Gwen Ellis
Rock-a-bye Christmas by Matt Novak
Not Enough Beds: A Christmas Alphabet Book by Lisa Bullard
One Shining Star: A Christmas Counting Book by Anne Vittur Kennedy
Christmas Mice! by Bethany Roberts
Where's Prancer? by Syd Hoff
Santa's Toy Shop by Al Dempster
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett
The Story of Christmas by Patricia A. Pingry
Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton
Christmas for the Snowmen by Wolfram Hanel
The Littlest Christmas Tree by R. A. Herman
Are You Grumpy, Santa? by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis
A Wish to Be a Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe
Corduroy's Christmas Surprise by Don Freeman
Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini
The First Night by B.G. Hennessy
 
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6 comments:

  1. Very cute! I like having our books available to read all month long too. It is fun to highlight a book each day though.
    Kelly at Little Wonders' Days

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  2. How adorable! Can't wait to do this! I love the paper mach boxes; the tree turned out so well.

    Wendy
    Read With Me ABC

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  3. i just love this! My boys love books so much the book idea would fit them well. Great post:)

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  4. Wow, love that idea. That would be absolutely beautiful to display too!

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  5. This is such a great idea! I will have to make one of these for my kids, my daughter loves books this would be perfect! Thank you for sharing! Now following you!
    Sheena @ http://thekeeperofcheerios.blogspot.com/

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  6. This is absolutely delightful! :) I love it! :)

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