10 original DIY Advent calendar ideas to make with children of all ages

Christmas is the most joyous and exciting time of the year for families. The festivities don't end with Christmas Eve, but last for almost the whole month of December, as families prepare to welcome in the enchantment of Christmas and the New Year. To keep young and old alike waiting, a tradition was born and has become widespread: the Advent calendar. It's a clever way to treat yourself or those around you every day leading up to Christmas, while helping the more impatient to wait. To help you choose yours, here are 10 original ideas for make-your-own Advent calendars.

Hang a rope over your mantelpiece or above a piece of furniture and attach numbered envelopes to it. The envelopes can be decorated in Christmas colors and contain a variety of gifts: quotes, love notes, rewards or family activities. If you have several children, add their first names to their respective envelopes.

Once you've finished decorating your tree, you can add a little touch that will delight your little ones: an Advent calendar in the form of little decorated boxes hung from the branches of the tree. Each box can contain a small toy such as a figurine, or a sweet such as a chocolate or candy.

Another original idea for a DIY Advent calendar: small fabric bags like burlap, which you hang on a string or rope. This is then attached to a wall in the living room. Place a small gift in each bag to delight your children.

Christmas is also a good time to teach your children about the environment. To introduce them to recycling, work with them to make an Advent calendar from toilet paper rolls, which can be used to build a Christmas village in which each roll contains a little surprise.

Make several papier-mâché houses with your children and paint them. Make sure that each house can be lifted easily by your children, so that each morning they can discover one of the surprises you've hidden inside. Here, each house has an address number corresponding to an Advent date.

Salt dough is very easy to obtain, as well as being easy to shape. You can use it with your children to make an Advent calendar with several figurines corresponding to each day of the calendar. Let your children have fun painting and dressing up the figurines.

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into figurines, and is known for stimulating dexterity. You can introduce your children to this technique and help them make an Advent calendar with paper envelopes or boxes, each containing a surprise you've prepared for them.

Reuse thick cardboard boxes lying around your home to make a beautiful Advent calendar with your children. Build little houses, color them and attach them to a wooden or thick cardboard frame, so that each day your children can remove one and discover the surprise it hides.

If you're a handyman and have the necessary tools, you can create a wooden Advent calendar with the help of your children. It can be made up of a sturdy frame containing as many wooden boxes as there are days of Advent. Decorate it and hide a surprise in each box.

Use empty canning jars to make a beautiful Advent calendar. After cleaning and drying them well, decorate the jars with ribbons and glitter, before placing a small gift for your children in each one. Take care to wrap the surprises to keep the mystery alive until each jar is opened.