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RAK Ornament Advent Calendar

Published | Updated | By Heather Painchaud | 7 Comments

I love, love, love how this Advent Calendar turned out!  I wanted to create something that would withstand the test of time and be used year after year. 
As seen as a guest post on the CSI Project.

{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}.  I cut out all of the shapes.  You can find a pattern for my shapes here. 
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.
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 on the last 23 ~ 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 get during 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!  Look for RAK updates the entire month of December!
I used a different button for each ornament.  These are a couple of my favs.  The one on the right says “Canada” which I love because I’m Canadian eh?!
Thanks for visiting!
I’m linking to these parties.
RAK Ornament Advent Calendar

about heather

Hello, I’m Heather!

I'm an active mom of twin boys who is always looking for opportunities to inspire creativity through fun crafts, do-it-yourself projects and delicious recipes. This blog has been an integral part of supporting my little family and I am so grateful to have you become a part of our journey! Let's create together... Read more...

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Love the idea – my students could stand to do more random acts of kindness.

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This is SUCH a sweet idea!! I love the idea of doing random acts of kindness as an advent!! Awesome!

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I LOVE the texture, simplicity, and beautiful reuse of old sweaters. Pinning!

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This is so special and reflects the true meaning of Christmas.

I’d love it if you could share this over on my Simply Christmas Inspiration Party at https://shabbyartboutique.blogspot.com/2011/11/inspiration-friday.html

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What a great idea!! I especially like the idea of adding the ornaments to the tree after you’ve completed the RAK.

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I featured this today on my blog:

https://www.oopseydaisyblog.com/2011/11/wednesdays-wowzers-5.html

Thanks for the great idea!

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This is so lovely! I really love the calendar but I loved your wonderful ideas even more! Thanks for sharing them.

I am hosting an Advent calendar link up as part of my 12 Days of Christmas series at my Christmas blog. I sure do hope you can pop by and link up this wonderful post!

Best Christmas wishes,
Natasha.

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SEEN ON

as seen on graphic