How to Make a Magic Village Advent Calendar for Kids

There’s nothing like a good craft project to get the whole family into the Christmas spirit. With this easy step-by-step guide, you can learn how to make an advent calendar for kids by turning your empty Cushelle toilet roll tubes and tissue boxes into a magical festive advent village.

Learning how to make your own advent calendar for kids is a lot of fun, but a note of caution: we recommend getting a responsible adult to handle the scissors, while the kids get messy with the painting and assembly. 

Takes 2 hours

1. Adults, this first bit’s for you. To prepare for making an advent calendar with children, first carefully measure and cut the 12 empty toilet roll tubes in half with a craft knife – you will need 24 pieces to make the calendar.
2. Cut open the empty tissue box and lay it flat on your work surface. Place a toilet roll tube on top, and draw round it 24 times. Cut out the circles and glue a circle of card to one end of each of the tube pieces. Then you can put the scissors away, and the make-your-own-advent-calendar party can really start!
3. To make an advent calendar rather than a cute collection of tiny houses, paint the tube pieces with red and white and leave them to dry. For some added variety, leave some of them natural if you like. 
4. To make the roofs, first draw around the small bowl on the sheets of red and white paper and them cut out. Fold the paper circles in half, and then cut to make two semicircles.
5. Roll the semicircles into cones, leaving a small hole at the pointed end, and stick in place with glue. Then cut and thread a length of string through the holes, and stick the ends inside the cones with sticky tape.
6. Fill the toilet roll tube houses with small treats, then stick the roofs to the open ends, and leave them to dry.
7. Decorate some of the roofs with painted red and white spots, and draw stripes on others.
8. Tear some soft tissue into strips, scrunch and glue around some of the plain red roofs.
9. Stick the numbers 1-24 on the houses, and draw windows, doors and hearts with the red and white pens.
10. Now all that’s left is to find a place to hang your advent calendar village. The Christmas tree is a great place, or you can turn your advent opening into a treasure hunt by hiding them all over the house.

That’s it! You’ve learned how to make your own advent calendar for kids. We hope you have a lovely, merry time.