Spin the wheel Advent calendar activities
Twenty-four days without planning them all ahead
Most families who try an activity calendar run out of steam around December 8, because every slip of paper had to be written in advance and half of them need a trip to the store. The 32 ideas on this wheel use things most homes already have: flour, paper, scissors, a pen, a phone for calling grandma. A few, like donating a toy or packing a food drive bag, are about giving rather than getting.
Busy weeknights and weekends need different tasks. A paper chain or a gratitude list takes ten minutes after school, while a gingerbread house or the evening drive to look at lights fits a Saturday. Spin on the day, and if it lands on something too big for a Tuesday, spin again and save the big one for the weekend.
Teachers use the same wheel for a classroom countdown. With 20 to 25 students, one spin each morning gives the class a shared job: a kind note for the custodian, carols before lunch, snowflakes for the windows.
What's on this wheel
- Bake Christmas cookies
- Make paper snowflakes
- Write a letter to Santa
- Hot cocoa night
- Read a holiday story
- Drive around to see lights
- Make a paper chain
- Hang the stockings
- Sing carols at home
- Donate a toy
- Mail a card to a relative
- Make a gingerbread house
- Holiday movie night
- Build a blanket fort
- Make a pinecone bird feeder
- Take a winter walk
- String a popcorn garland
- Color a holiday picture
- Pajama breakfast
- Make salt dough ornaments
- Leave a kind note
- Thank the mail carrier
- Wrap a gift together
- Dinner by candlelight
- Make a sock snowman
- Kitchen dance party
- Write a gratitude list
- Pack a food drive bag
- Video call a relative
- Bring treats to a neighbor
- Take a family photo
- Share a favorite memory
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How to run an advent wheel at home or in class
- Read through the list in Entries on November 30 and cross out anything that doesn't fit your family, then add two or three traditions of your own.
- Each day of December, let a different child press Spin. Younger kids love being the one who decides.
- Choose Remove from wheel after every spin, so no task comes up twice before Christmas Eve.
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Advent activity questions
How many activities does a full advent calendar need?
A classic calendar runs from December 1 to December 24, so 24. The wheel holds 32 on purpose: you can skip the ones that don't suit a given day and still have enough left to reach Christmas Eve.
Which ones work for toddlers?
Paper chains, coloring, hot cocoa night, pajama breakfast and a sock snowman are all fine for two- and three-year-olds with an adult helping. Leave the gingerbread house for when they are a bit older, or count on doing most of it yourself.
Does it keep track of what we already did?
Yes. Tasks you take off the wheel stay listed under Set aside, and the Results tab lists every winner, newest first, so on the 15th you can see how far you have come. Both live in this browser on this device.
Can I make a version for adults or couples?
Swap the kid tasks for things like a new recipe, a walk without phones, writing each other a letter or rereading old holiday cards. Give the wheel its own title so it is saved separately from the family one.
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Similar ready-made wheels
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- Christmas questions40 cozy questions to ask kids, family and coworkers
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- New Year's Eve party games40 games, dares, toasts and jobs to run the evening until midnight
- Valentine's gift ideas40 cheap, homemade and shared-experience gifts for a partner
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