Family Fun - 4 Benefits for Using Advent Calendars with Kids

There are many different types of advent calendars to aid in counting the days until Christmas. Most of these calendars start on the first day of December and continue all the way until either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, with a window to open or a pocket to check for each day.

I have seen many different kinds of advent calendars, many with other added learning benefits. Lego advent calendars teach kids how to follow a diagram to put together a small item that adds to a larger Christmas scene.

An advent calendar my family had growing up helped us learn about the Christmas story, as the calendar had an item for each day to add to a nativity scene.

I've seen other interactive advent calendars that have other kinds of different activities for each day. These calendars all have their own uses too.

But even the chocolate advent calendars, where there is just a chocolate to eat each day, have their benefits too.

As I've been doing an advent calendar with my boys this Christmas season, I've noticed a few things that have made me think I should keep doing these every year with my kids.

1. Advent Calendars teach children calendar skills. As my oldest son who is three years old has been doing the advent calendar this year, he has picked up on some different calendar skills. Since the numbers on the advent calendar match up with the date, he now talks about what the date is. When I went to pick him up from his nursery class last week, his teachers said, "He was teaching us all about the calendar today." They had a calendar up on the wall that my son had apparently noticed and scooted a chair over to. He climbed up on the chair and was pointing out what day it was and which day was Christmas, which he knew because of which number was the last number on the advent calendar.


2. Advent Calendars teach children about taking turns. Most advent calendars have one thing in each box you open. If you have more than one child, they will have to take turns or learn how to share what's inside. This year, we have a Lego advent calendar, so the boys have been taking turns each day with who gets to put together the little model. Yes, there have been days where there has been fighting over it, but they're still learning. They are only two and three, so a little fighting is kind of expected. But my three year old keeps track really well of whose turn it is and explains to his brother, "Today is my turn to build, but tomorrow will be yours."


3. Advent Calendars are a great way to get the family together at least once per day. In my house, the boys have to wait until Daddy gets home to open the box for the day. Although advent calendar activities are really short, it is still something that brings the family all together for at least a few minutes each day while we open the box and see what's inside. Then we usually end up staying together a little longer to talk about it or other things and spend a little time together.


4. Advent Calendars help you keep your sanity. As Christmas gets closer, children get more excited, and more impatient, about Christmas. Instead of my kids asking me every five minutes, "How many more days until Christmas?" they already know. Because we look at the advent calendar every day, they can see how many boxes we've opened and how many we have left. Instead, my kid wakes up every day and says, "Mommy, there's only 7 more days until Christmas!" which is a much more pleasant thing to hear than constant whining about, "Is it Christmas yet?"

So, those are just a few benefits that I've noticed from doing advent calendars with my kids.