Valentine Advent Calendar Activity Day
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This week I posted a photo on instagram of a project I was getting ready to work on with a group of girls from church. I got lots of requests for more info on what we were doing so I have decided to share it today on the blog.
You see, I have a new calling or job at church. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints we all have a “job” or a “calling.” We have a totally lay ministry which means no one is paid to do anything. We are all volunteers. I was recently given a new calling – that of Activity Day Leader. As far as I am concerned this is the best calling in the church. I get to play with the 8-11 year old girls twice a month. How fun is that!
Even though most of you aren’t Activity Day Leaders, you may want to try out some of the things we do with your kids, with your Brownie Troop, home school group or your grandkids so I will periodically (about twice a month) be sharing what we have been doing!
For our activity last week we made a Valentine Advent Calendar. In each heart pocket there is an act of love for them to do each of the 14 days prior to Valentine’s Day.
I needed a project that was fairly inexpensive (ended up being about $2.50 a girl) and was easy enough for them to complete in less than an hour.
I purchased heart shape doilies from the Dollar Store along with ribbon. Each banner has 14 hearts so requires 28 heart doilies. We also used about 2 1/2 yards of ribbon per banner.
I found the idea on Tip Junkie where the idea originally had you sewing the hearts together. It looks prettier that way but we just didn’t have time for that so we used a stapler. I had each girl bring a stapler from home. They put a staple at the bottom and then 3 on each side, leaving the top open to form a pocket. The hardest part of the project was pulling the doilies apart. They are very thin and it’s easy to get 2 or 3 instead of one. I did this ahead of time and then placed two doilies back to back so they were ready for the girls to staple. I even prestapled a few in each girl’s pile because I was afraid we wouldn’t have enough time.
I had cut out vinyl numbers on my Silhouette Cameo that they put on each pocket. You could also use stickers or just hand write the numbers on the hearts.
We then or rather I hot glued the pockets onto a piece of ribbon. This is the trickiest part of the whole thing and even though I used a cool glue gun I didn’t want to risk the girls burning themselves or anything. We placed the heart pockets down the 2 1/2 yds of ribbon, overlapping them slightly so it wasn’t quite so long.
They were then hot glued to the ribbon. After placing them on the ribbon, you need to open up the pocket as the glue comes through the holes in the doily and you don’t want your pocket to be glued shut! This is the tricky part and the part where you end up with hot glue all over your fingers so a cool hot glue gun is definitely recommended!
I photo copied the hearts that go inside of the pockets with the little acts of service they are to do each day leading up to Valentine’s Day. The original was in color but I copied them in black and white for the girls since there were 3 sheets and I wanted to save a little money. The example though is in color (it was prettier that way!) You can print off copies over at Tip Junkie.
They were then ready for the girls to take home and hang up!
If any of you out there are Activity Day Leaders I’d love to hear about some of your favorite activities!
Enjoy!
Leigh Anne
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