It appears the holiday season is officially upon us so as we head into December, our eco-friendly Christmas craft today, for kids and adults, will be a perfect way to count down the days until December 25th.

We have previously featured many crafts from the very talented Belinda Graham of  kidspot.com.au and we continue today. Although you may have to purchase product to make our wall advent calendar, you can reuse items that you might have around the house which will teach resourcefulness and add to its eco-friendliness. It also stirs up some creativity and makes for a beautiful home decoration. Feel free to reuse boxes of varying sizes and shapes. You can also use leftover/used holiday wrapping paper, tissue paper and bows/ribbons to decorate the boxes. This craft is an excellent way of putting these leftover items to good use. I would recommend using colours, tones or designs that complement one another though. I’ve included the directions from Belinda’s Wall Advent Calendar post minus the store references so read on and have fun.

What You’ll Need

• 24 papier mache boxes, small gift boxes or mini cereal boxes
• Scrapbooking paper
• Ribbons
• Rub-ons (stickers or decals)
• Buttons
• A white gel pen
• Other crafty supplies – glitter, cutters, confetti, cut-outs. You’re limited by your imagination.

Instructions:

1. Work out a pattern on the floor – the boxes in this formation were mixed up between vertical and horizontal for interest and more flexibility in the decorations on the front.
2. Now get decorating! Vary using rub-ons and your own handwriting to date the boxes and use a similar colourway on all boxes in a range of different materials for a cohesive look.
3. Once done, fill the boxes and stick to the wall with 3M removable tape and enjoy the nightly countdown ritual!

There may seem to be a lot involved in this craft but it’s worth working your way through and it can be a work in progress. You don’t have to sit down and complete all 24 boxes at one time. You can set aside special time each week to build your calendar and use the time in between to plan how you will decorate and fill them. Or if 24 days is too much, you can also do a “12 Days of Christmas” themed calendar and keep it to 12 days. Try to use what you have in the house so the craft keeps an eco-friendly and resourceful focus while fueling creative minds for hours.

An eco-friendly Christmas craft is a great way to pass the time while the kids are stuck indoors plus you get a pretty nice decoration out of it too.

Enjoy and our thanks (again) to Belinda.

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