Not everyone is a fan of countdown calendars. Some say it’s too much like advent calendars. Others say that they’re filled with plastic junk or chocolate which they don’t like for their kids. But there are still those who love the idea of a Hanukkah countdown calendar.
Essentially it’s a way for kids to engage in each night of Hanukkah in an age appropriate way. Instead of small toys or chocolate, you can also fill it up with pieces of paper with an experience written on each. The experiences don’t have to be complicated things to pull off. They can be as simple as “Read a Hanukkah book”, “Wear Hanukkah pyjamas”, “Donate canned goods” or other things you can easily do together with your kids as a busy parent.
This Hanukkah countdown calendar is actually something kids can make themselves. If you have multiple children or you’re doing this as part of a group activity in a classroom or camp, the good news is that paper bags are inexpensive. Here I’ve used white paper bags to tie into Hanukkah’s blue and white colors but brown bags work just fine too if you’re on a budget (you can just decorate with blue and white.)
Kids will love decorating each bag of their calendar and hanging it up themselves. Have them do it a day before Hanukkah starts and make sure they wake up each day to a full bag. It’s a good idea to fill it up day by day to help build up patience and avoid opening all the bags at once.
Materials
- White paper bag
- Glue
- Scissors
- Paper in shades of blue (I’m using light and dark blue)
- Blue alphabet and number stickers
- Blue glitter or glitter pens (optional)
- Any other craft supplies you have lying around the house that are blue and white or Hanukkah themed like Hanukkah stickers
Steps
- Use stickers to number the paper bags. For visual interest, I used numbers on some of the bags and on others I spelled out the numbers.
- Add Hanukkah symbols to the bags. I did this by cutting out Hanukkah shapes like a Star of David and dreidels from the blue papers. But if you have Hanukkah themed stickers, use them!
- Lastly, I used white glue and blue glitter to make designs on some of the bags such as polka dots and stripes.
Provide kids with a good amount of craft supplies and options and you’ll be amazed by their individuality and creativity!
Need more ideas for Hanukkah? Check out all of our Hanukkah crafts.
Did you make this DIY of ours? We’d love to see it! Share with us on Instagram or Facebook @helloholydays.
If you make this DIY and share photos of your version on your own blog, please include a link back to this page as your source of inspiration and tag @helloholydays on all social media.
