Advent Calendar Ideas for Toddlers That Are Not Candy

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Chocolate advent calendars are fun for about four seconds a day. Then the sugar hits, and the little door is forgotten. If you have a toddler at home, here are advent calendar ideas that give you something better than candy: a few minutes of play together, every day, until the holiday.

1. A game a day (free printable)

This is the one we made for our own families. Racky’s 24 Days of Play is a free printable countdown with 24 tiny racket games, one for each day in December. Each game takes two to five minutes and uses things you already have: a balloon, a pair of socks, a paper plate, a laundry basket. Play the game, color the star, and you are done for the day. There is a holiday coloring page at the end for the big finish. Print it, tape it to the fridge, and let your child find the day’s game each morning.

2. Twenty-four little notes

Write one thing you love about your child on 24 slips of paper and tuck them into numbered envelopes. Read one at breakfast. It costs nothing and toddlers ask to hear them again and again.

3. The sock advent

Hang 24 mismatched socks on a string. Put something tiny in each one: a sticker, a crayon, a balloon to blow up and bop around, a note that says “dance party after dinner.” Balloons are the best filler we know. A single balloon is a whole afternoon.

4. Books from the library

Check out 24 picture books, wrap them in paper you already have, and open one a night. Most libraries let you borrow that many at once. The wrapping is the magic; the books go back in January.

5. Helper jobs

Each day has a small job your toddler gets to own: stir the pancake batter, water the plant, carry the mail in, put the spoons on the table. Little ones love being the helper, and it fills the slow afternoon hours in December.

6. A countdown of places

Twenty-four small outings, one per day: the pet store to see the fish, the fire station, the big tree downtown, a drive to look at lights with hot chocolate in the car. Mix in easy ones like “blanket fort in the living room” for the days you cannot leave the house.

How to make any of these stick

1. Keep it short. Two to five minutes is right for a toddler. A countdown that takes twenty minutes a day gets skipped by December 6.
2. Same time every day. Right after breakfast or right before bath. Toddlers run on routine.
3. Let them lead. If the game turns into something else, let it. The point is the time together, not the rules.
4. Mark it. A star to color, a sock to flip inside out, a door to close. Toddlers love seeing how far they have come.

If you want the game-a-day version done for you, grab the free 24 Days of Play countdown. It is the same five skills we work on in our classes (catching, carrying, sending, aiming and rallying), shrunk down to living-room size. And if your little one wants more games after the holiday, Racky’s Play Pack has ten more, a 30-day calendar and a star chart for the fridge.