Advent Forest Project

We are all super excited about the craft Susan has for you this month!  If you’re needing a fun post-Thanksgiving craft to transition your family into the winter season, look no further!

As the excitement of Christmas begins to build, celebrate its imminent awesomeness a little bit every day with this adorable, extremely kid-friendly Advent Forest Project. Not your typical Advent Calendar, this project will give you a mini-forest in which you can hide surprises for the kids as they wait for jolly old St. Nick himself!  This is also a great opportunity to work on counting, reading a calendar, translating days to weeks to months, and of course, have loads of fun.

We present to you The Advent Forest Project – Enjoy!

Materials
-Construction Paper (Red and Green Sheets are highly recommended)
-Gluestick or Tape
-Scissors
-Pencil
-Ruler
-Markers
-3 plates in 3 different sizes (for tracing)
-Decorative Materials (stickers, markers, glitter glue, pom-poms, etc.)

Instructions

On construction paper, trace 9 circles using the plates, 3 circles for each plate size.

1. Divide each circle into thirds. Exactness is not necessary, though a ruler and finding the center of the circle will definitely come in handy.
2. Cut out each 1/3 section. You should have 27 total. Discard 2, or save for backups.
3. OR download and print this template: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/pdf/crafts/FF1110CREAT-Advent.pdf

Then trace 25 copies, varying the sizes as you go.

1. Decorate each section using whatever miscellaneous fun stuff you have around the house! Make sure you leave space for the number square! (Be forewarned, stickers will have a hard time sticking once the section is rolled into a tree.)
2. If you used glue to decorate, let dry before moving on.
3. Glue one straight edge of the 1/3 section. (or attach tape)
4. Roll into a cone shape, making sure the bottom is even. Hold in place for ten seconds, or attach a clothespin to the tree, holding it together until it dries.



5. Cut out 25 squares from construction paper, 1.5” for large trees, 1” for small trees, and .5” for baby trees.
6. Number the squares 1 to 25.
7. Tape the numbers to the trees, and arrange them into a forest. (These would make a great coffee table adornment or mantel decoration)
   
8. Once the kiddos have gone to bed, hide some special surprises for them under each tree. 

Some ideas are:

-Candy pieces

-Vending machine toys

-Coupons for fun activities (i.e. stay up 1 hour later, skip a chore today, go to the park, etc.)

-Clues to a treasure hunt

The possibilities are truly endless!