advent calender idea from Twin Dragon Designs

http://thecsiproject.com/2011/11/21/random-acts-of-kindness-advent-calendartwin-dragonfly-designs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheCSIProject+%28The+CSI+Project%29

I am so excited to be back at the CSI Project!

And truly, I couldn’t wait another minute to share this Random Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar with you.

My name is Heather and my little corner of the blog-o-sphere is Twin Dragonfly Designs.  I am a Program Coordinator with a passion for Inspiring Creativity.  If you pull up a cozy chair, grab a mug of hot chocolate and browse around awhile you will find;  crazy party ideas, tried and true recipes, epic craft projects and tutorials for just about all of it.  Oh and did I mention?  I have twin, four year old boys {so they’re involved in pretty much everything}.

{Random Acts of Kindness} is a concept that is near and dear to my heart.  I have worked with young children my entire life and one of the teaching tools that I have always used is Random Acts of Kindness.  Primarily children learn about service to others and empathy through fun, interactive tasks.  I’ll explain more later.  But first, isn’t this Advent Calendar cute?!?

I created 24 ornaments {with pockets for our RAK tasks}, clipped them to numbered clothes pins and strung them on a piece of twine.  Here’s how:

I started with two cream sweaters that I found at the thrift store.  Then I traced 8 hearts, 8 stars and 8 trees onto the knit sweater and did the same to the fleece sweater {I ended up with 48 shapes in total}.  If you are interested in my star/heart/tree pattern let me know and I will include it on my blog.  I cut out all of the shapes.  

Next I matched up my shapes {ie. a knit sweater heart with a fleece heart} to create 24 ornaments in total.  I cut a little square of fleece and sewed one onto each of the fleece shapes to create a pocket.  Then I pinned the right sides of my knit and fleece shapes together.
At this point I also pinned a loop of ribbon between the pieces to act as my hanger.

Then I sewed the two pieces together {leaving a 1″ – 2″ hole for inverting}.  Then I inverted my ornament so the right sides were out, stuffed it with batting and sewed my hole closed {Can I confess? I was not looking forward to hand sewing 24 holes closed so I used my hot glue gun ~ so much faster!  I just can’t really throw them in the wash}.  Finally I stitched a button onto each ornament.  The pocket in the back hid my knot and stitch work.

Now all that is left is to add our Random Acts of Kindness tasks for December.  We started doing a RAK Advent Calendar last year and the boys really got it.  You know?

I love that we give in service to our community as a family with these activities.  And really teach our children that it’s not about what we getduring the holidays but what we give.

Here are some of the tasks that we did last year:

{keep in mind these are uber simplified for toddlers}

Share a special toy with your brother

Say hello and smile at everyone you meet today
Paint a picture for GG
Put money in the salvation army cup
Invite a friend over for dinner
Find the home with the best Christmas lights and bring them a thank you card
Take in someones garbage cans
Leave kind notes for daddy all over the house
Call Meme and tell her that you love her
Draw a picture of the nativity
Make a gift for your brother
Deliver gifts to preschool teacher
Help mommy carry in groceries
Draw a picture on a card and leave it for the mail man
Decorate cookies and deliver them to a friend/ person in need
Make an ornament for Grandma
Sing Christmas carols
Compliment a stranger
Visit someone elderly
Help mommy wrap gifts
Help clear the table after dinner
Give doggy treats to Max.
Film a movie, thanking Jesus

I made scalloped circles with my Cuttlebug, numbers with my Cricut and glued them to wooden clothes pins.  I’m thinking of having the boys hang each one of these on the Christmas tree after we have completed each task.  What do you think?  I’ll let you know how it goes!