There is something so exciting about counting down the days with your children until a big event, celebration or special day. This hanging leaf calendar counts down the days until Thanksgiving, but with a sentimental twist. Behind each leaf is a pocket that fits a sweet, little note from one family member to another!
Here is what you will need:
- Colored paper in Autumn colors
- Brown markers
- Ink pads in browns and dark orange
- Small sponge for applying ink
- Ribbon (I used about 7′)
- Scissors
- Glue Dots® Glue Lines
- Glue Dots® Mini Dots
- Numbers cut from brown paper
Directions:
-
- Print template and cut out leaf shapes.
Using the paper leaves as a guide, cut out paper leaves. You will need 28 this year! I alternated colors and shapes without sticking to a pattern.
Decorate the leaves by smudging them with a sponge dabbed on an ink pad. You can also draw the leaf veins. Be creative!
Cut out 24 – 1.5″X 2″ rectangles. Optional: I used a corner cutter on the two corners of the rectangles that will be facing down. Using Glue Dots® Glue Lines, line three sides and attach, leaving the open side towards the stem of the leaf.
Cut 24 – 1″ X 2.5″ rectangles. I used colors to represent each member of our family. Then we sat around the table and we divided them up. Every person ended up with one for each of the other members. Then we wrote why we were thankful for that person. Or why we appreciate or love them. Our little guy drew a picture and then we wrote what he said it meant. We just made it up for the baby! Shhh… don’t tell them but here are a few from our family’s collection.
Stuff the little notes in the leaves with the writing facing in-no peeking!
Attach the numbers to the fronts of the leaves using the Glue Dots® Mini Dots. They are the perfect size and stay put!
Hang your leaves on a ribbon using the same Glue Dots® Mini Dots. Yep! They work on ribbon too!
It is so important to remember that even in the busyness of the holiday season we should be appreciative of the people with who we are closest. We are really going to enjoy taking a few minutes each day to read a note from this Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar and I hope yours does too!
I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® Design Team.
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That is so cute!
Super cute, and I love the idea! I’m just wondering if it should be called Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar…I got confused with the word ‘advent’ in there, and wondered what it had to do with Advent/Christmas season.
Hey… good idea! I changed it. Makes more sense to me too. Thanks!
Super cute idea! I love it! What a fun family idea. 🙂
This is such a cute idea! My girls would love making this. Thanks for sharing.
wow that came out so pretty
Am impressed by the art work, I love painting and your really impress me, those calendars are so cute, am doing mine now.
That is very clever and I love the use of the dots.. We craft so much up here and glue is just plain messy sometimes. This is neat. thank you for sharing.
These are so cute. A great craft for the kids!
Glue dots are awesome! And much stronger than you would think. I did Red’s entire baby book with them, and they are tough.
What a really nice Craft to make for Thanksgiving. I like the leaves with the dates on them and it is so much fun to count down the days to Thanksgiving. I have a count down days calender for Christmas, but not for Thanksgiving. I need to make this!
I love love love the addition of the note pocket in the back. That is really sweet 🙂
Too cute! I love the idea of stuffing the leaves with notes.
Such a cute idea and simple to do. Pinning this to try it with the kids in the next couple of days.
This is such a fun project and it turned out really well! Nicely done.
This is very cute and I have the perfect place to put one like it in my house. Thanks for the idea!
Great idea! We do a Gratitude Tree, which is similar.
I love this Thanksgiving countdown calendar, It looks pretty and also serves a purpose. We all need to be thankful for our blessings.
This is a really great idea, makes me wish I had stairs! lol.
Something like this keeps it ever present in one’s mind. I think that’s a beautiful thing!
I like this idea! i’m going to use it for my son’s birthday, which is right before Thanksgiving!
Oh, those are adorable. I’ve never seen those glue dots either, what a great idea! My five year old would love those..
This is a cute idea for a craft and has so many uses and can be used for many holidays and many seasons.
Super cute craft for Thanksgiving and such a fun idea! I love the colors, and I’m glad I saw this because I forgot glue dots existed!!
This looks like a fun way to spend the afternoon with your family!
This is such a great way to teach about Thanksgiving!! It’s one of my favorite holidays so I love to see crafts that focus on making it shine!! 🙂
I really love this idea!
That is beautiful! It’s useful for the countdown but it also makes a pretty decoration!
what a fun idea!
OK, this is the cutest darn thing I have seen. I never thought to make a Thanksgiving Advent calendar.
What a great idea! I love ideas like this.
I just love this!!! I love all the notes to each other. Its like a little surprise for someone each and every day if you can hold out without reading then ahead of time. 🙂
how cute! i like the 3D effect of the numbers too
What a novel countdown for Thanksgiving. Looks great and festive too
Lovely count down calendar. I like the notes in the pockets telling what you’re thankful for.
what a great idea! love the fall colors and leaf design, it’s a great way to get even the little ones involved in the countdown to Thanksgiving (and Black Friday)
I like this idea! I may try doing something like this for my kids this week!
What a cute idea my son would love this.
Love this idea. I think I will do something similar for Christmas with snowflakes..thanks for the cute idea.
What a cute idea 🙂
Very cute idea- love it!
this is so pretty!! i have never used glue dots but it looks like they work very well
This is such a good blog!
Love
love the idea behind it!! Love how it is so easy to make, for those like myself who are not good with there hands. Thanks for the great diy, should be passing this on to my teacher friend. Thanks
Great idea. I’ll have to do this next Thanksgiving 🙂
lovely craft
What a great craft! Thank you for sharing this with us.
AH this is the cutest idea!
What a great idea and super cute too! This would be so much fun to do with my niece.
How cute is this! Would be nice to make a generic one for different holidays
Really so amazing work I need to try this
I love this so much! It would be a fun and pretty way to remind me how many days I have to get ready for the family to descend on my house! 🙂
Supe cute and fun way to get the kids involved. Do ya not just love glue dots?! I sure do!
this is adorable! i love the little thank you notes!
This is a great way to countdown to Thanksgiving, would love to make one for Christmas too using maybe snowflake cut outs.
That’s a great idea too. It could be used in many different ways!
I’m such a slacker when it comes to decorating for Thanksgiving. I go all out for Halloween and then I need a nap. This is really adorable.
I think this Thanksgiving calendar is a great way to show gratitude leading up to the holiday. My 4 year old and I were just talking about Thanksgiving today, and how important it is to enjoy the day with family and be thankful for all you have – this would be a great visual representation of that!!
This is so neat and simple! I think my boys would love doing it.
This is so adorable! I love love love using leaves in everything fall related, and a Thanksgiving countdown is perfect.
This is such a cute idea. We love Thanksgiving, because my whole family comes into town. We will be traveling in the weeks before Thanksgiving, I wonder if we can make a mobile version.
This came out lovely. I love the daily thankfulness too.
I like the Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar for my son. He would love to help make this and countdown to Thanksgiving. It looks like a fun craft to do.
What a super cute idea! This turned out really nice.
So cute! I love how the leaves turned out, great idea!
This is such a great idea! I really love the little hidden notes. It’s both creative and adds a really special, personal touch to something that’s a lot of fun!
Cute project and adorable idea! I would love to do this in my home. Not sure I have the patience for it.
This is such a cool idea!
I love this idea! We’ve been brainstorming ways to celebrate Thanksgiving besides food and this is decorative as well!
This is such a cute idea, and a great way for kids to learn numbers!
Love love love! Such a cute idea!
Oh I love this idea!!! So cute! Carter would love it! We did a countdown to when preschool started this year and he had so much fun with it! I have to do this for him! Fun!
I really like this project a lot. I think in the rush to Christmas so many tiimes Thanksgiving is getting overloooked. I like how you use it to teach what you should or can be thankful for and how to rememner it.
what a wonderful idea – and very inexpensive and fun for quite a while all adding anticipation for the holidays! I’d like to try making this!
I remember making the ring ones for Christmas. This is a great idea for Thanksgiving!