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k-cup advent calendar: make it a thoughtful, thankful holiday

home / Activities / holidays / christmas / k-cup advent calendar: make it a thoughtful, thankful holiday
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post contains affiliate links

 

 

 

kcup advent calendar We’re longtime fans of the advent calendar and and longtime fans of coffee.

When we stepped up our game last year and sprung for a Keurig, every day became a little more awesome, starting our day with a rockin’ cuppa java.ย  But those discarded k-cups?

As a longtime lover of recyclables, my guilt at adding to our world’s landfills started to grow exponentially with each tossed k-cup.

So for the past few months, I’ve been racking my brain for ways to use our empty k-cups for crafts and learning. Much like we’ve used recyclables in the past, I knew they would come in handy.

Somehow.

We’ve got a lot of things brewing, but most timely, is of course, our diy k-cup advent calendar.

Super-cute, inexpensive, homemade advent calendar using k-cups.ย  Bam.

We love how it turned out. I’m confident that this sweet calendar will help us to keep this advent season a thoughtful, thankful one for our whole family.

Here’s the skinny. . .

  • K-Cup Advent Calendar–Make it a Thoughtful, Thankful Holiday:

Though it looks a little involved, you can pull this diy k-cup advent calendar together in a fraction of the time it will take you to gather 24 empty k-cups.

Really.

 

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

Each little cup holds 3 things: a kiss, the day’s advent activity, and a little reminder to be thankful.

So start collecting.ย  Brew yourself a cafe mocha or a pumpkin spice coffee, and read on.ย  Then get crafting.

You’ll need:

  • 24 clean, empty k-cups
  • 3 pieces of cardboard
  • duct tape (I used light blue, dark blue, and green)
  • tissue paper
  • number stickers (optional)
  • hot glue gun
  • pushpins
  • ribbon
  • Hershey’s Kisses (or other small treat)
  • green cardstock

Once you’ve got your supplies together, you’re ready to go.

1. Clean your k-cups: Cleaning them is a cinch.

For coffee k-cups:

 

kcup advent calendar cleaning kcups

For hot chocolate k-cups:kcup hot chocolate cleaning

 

Let them dry completely.kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

 

2. Create your advent activity calendar.ย  We use the same basic one each year–our advent activity calendar.ย  It’s a holiday-time calendar that includes tons of our favorite holiday activities, like cookie-baking, gift-making, and carol-singing while giving us ample opportunities to reflect, give back, and be thankful.

You can download ourย advent activity calendar 2013 here as a easy, quick printable or as an advent activity calendar 2013 word doc that you can modify and make your own.

Be sure to print out two copies–one that you can keep as a reference and the other that you can cut.ย  Each day of advent will have one square of the calendar tucked inside.

3. Make your tree.ย  Your tree is what your k-cups will rest on, and it needs to be sturdy enough to survive your kids’ handling.

kcup advent calendar tree

  • Make your cardboard tree. Each of our sides are 18″, and the bottom is 10″. Our tree trunk is midway between the bottom, and it’s 3 1/2″ long and 2 3/4″ high.
  • Cut three cardboard trees. Remember, the tree needs to be thick.

kcup advent calendar tree

  • Using the duct tape, tape your tree together.
  • Grab your ribbon and loop it then staple it to the back of the tree.

4.ย  Make your thankful discs. I used my Fiskars medium squeeze punch for my circles, but you could totally use anything. I cut 24 discs out of our cardstock, and then I walked over to our Thankful Graffiti Board and copied exactly what I saw there onto the circles.

kcup advent calendar grateful disc

kcup advent calendar grateful disc

kcup advent tree - 44

I wanted our family to remember what we expressed gratitude for through November into the whirlwind that sometimes is December, and I knew that after the treat was taken out and advent activity taken, we’d have a whole lot of time to stare at empty cups. ย Here’s to hoping the thankful discs are a pretty, simple reminder of all of the greatness in our lives.

5. Cut tissue paper circle and number them. Trace the open end of a k-cup onto tissue paper and cut it out. Then cut 23 more circles all the same size. Number each circle from 1-24.

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

Each number represents a day in the month of December.

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

kcup advent calendar teachmama.com

 

6. Assemble your diy k-cup advent calendar!

kcup advent calendar how to

  • Use a tiny dab of hot glue to secure the thankful disc to the inside of each k-cup.
  • Using the pushpins, pin each k-cup into the tree. The rows should be: 1 k-cup; 2 k-cups; 3 k-cups; 3 k-cups; 4 k-cups; 4 k-cups; 5 k-cups; 2 k-cups. If you measured your tree the same way I did, your cups should fit tightly together.

kcup advent calendar how to

 

kcup advent calendar how to

kcup advent calendar how to

  • Load ’em up! Put the correct advent activity in each day along with a Hershey’s Kiss into each cup.
  • Make 5-6 tiny dots of hot glue around the circumference of each k-up and secure the tissue paper on it.

kcup advent calendar how to

kcup advent calendar how to

Hang, and you are ready to rock and roll!

ย kcup advent calendar how to

ย kcup advent calendar

And that’s it!

We think it’s pretty cool.

Look forward to other ideas down the road for using k-cups.ย  And feel free to share your own–let’s put those little guys to good use, shall we?

Happy, healthy, peaceful advent season to you!

 

 

fyi: affiliate links are used in this post

 

Want a few more holiday-inspired giftย ideas or activities? Check out:ย 

  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2014
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2013
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2012
  • Best Gifts for Kids and Families 2011
  • Holiday Fun Fact and JOKES Lunchbox Notes (with Hannukah!)
  • Holiday Time Fun Fact Lunchbox Notes
  • Little Holiday Notes and Jokes
  • Holiday Notes for Families
  • The Polar Express tradition
  • Scratch-off Cards
  • K-Cup Advent Tree
  • New Year’s Family Interview
  • Happy Holidays Backyard Birdsย 

 

fyi: Some of the links in the post above are โ€œaffiliate links.โ€ This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Forever and always I recommend only products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissionโ€™s 16 CFR, Part 255: โ€œGuides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.โ€ ย For more information, please see teachmama media, llc. disclosure policy.ย 

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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For the next few weeks leading up to my own start to the school year I am sharing a new series called โ€œDe-Mystifying Dyslexiaโ€ and I would love for you to join me! 

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Hi and thank you for your interest in watching my โ€˜de-mystifying dyslexiaโ€™ series. 

My name is Amy Mascott, and Iโ€™m a reading specialist and former high school English teacher. Iโ€™m also the creator of teachmama.com  where since 2008, Iโ€™ve helped families make meaningful connections with their kids and build bridges between home and school. 

As an educator, Iโ€™m always trying to share important informationโ€”bc I really think that when we know better, we do better. This series is part of my final project for a course Iโ€™m taking through Advancement Courses called โ€˜understanding dyslexiaโ€™. 

And as a reading teacher, I need to know all I can about this condition. What I realized is that I had a lot to learnโ€”maybe you, as a parent or teacher yourself, can also stand to learn a little bit. 

Maybe, like me, youโ€™ve grown up thinking that dyslexia was a condition where people read letters backwardsโ€”b for d or p for g? Maybe you thought, like I did, that if a person was dyslexic, they saw all of the letters jumbled together on the page? Iโ€™m here to tell you that both of those things are untrue. 

So if you would like to learn a little about dyslexiaโ€”if you would like for me to โ€˜de-mystify dyslexiaโ€™ for you, then follow along! 

(Continued on next VIDEO)

#readingteacher #teachersofIG #demystifyingdyslexia

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(Itโ€™s what Rusty the ๐ŸฆŠ is currently reading.) 

Find it at your favorite bookstore or order here: https://amzn.to/3Pu3tWs

(This is my affiliate link, so when you use it, I will earn a small percentage of the sale, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for using my link and supporting my small business!)

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How can people with dyslexia learn to read? ๐Ÿค”

Here are the 3๏ธโƒฃ elements that reading instruction should contain in order to be most effective for students with dyslexiaโ€”

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #readingteacher #teachreading #dyslexiaawareness
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Lately when I find four leaf clovers, Iโ€™ve been leaving them. ๐Ÿ€๐Ÿคท๐Ÿผโ€โ™€๏ธ

So if youโ€™re in Maryland, and you happen upon a lonely, little 4-leafer with very little grass, weeds, or leaves around it, I donโ€™t know WHO tried to set you up for success.

#yougotthis #keepyoureyesopen #itsthelittlethings #kilpattyluck
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Okayโ€”how do we know if someone has dyslexia? 

Which professionas are able to make that important determination? 

โ–ถ๏ธ Watch to find out. 

Hit me with the questions you still have about dyslexiaโ€”and know we have a few more posts to go!

#demystifyingdyslexia #raiseareader #teachreading #readingteachersofig
View
Open
What are some of the common signs of dyslexia?

Watch to learn and find out!

#demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading #dyslexia
View
Open
True โœ… or false โŒ?

#demystifyingdyslexia #dyslexiaeducation #readingteacher #raiseareader #teachreading
View
Open
What do you know about dyslexia? 

What questions do you have about dyslexia? 

For the next few weeks leading up to my own start to the school year I am sharing a new series called โ€œDe-Mystifying Dyslexiaโ€ and I would love for you to join me! 

Follow in my stories or on the highlight above!

#dyslexia #teading  #readingteacher #raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia
View
Open
(Part 2) 

The series will be shared on IG stories, on tiktok, on the teachmama facebook page, and in the Take 5 newsletter. 

Look for the logo on social, and if you want to receive the whole thing via email, then sign up for Take5 on the link below. 

Iโ€™m really excited about this. Itโ€™s taken a long, long time to create, and the only thing I ask is that you, once viewing it all, could take 2 minutes to give me some feedback. There will be a google form on the last of the slides, at the end of the series. I thank you, I appreciate you, and I look forward to learning along with you.

Join the Take 5 list if you want this series to land in your inbox: 
https://take5.teachmama.com/

#raiseareader #demystifyingdyslexia #readingteacher teachersofIG dyslexia teachreading
View
Open
Hi and thank you for your interest in watching my โ€˜de-mystifying dyslexiaโ€™ series. 

My name is Amy Mascott, and Iโ€™m a reading specialist and former high school English teacher. Iโ€™m also the creator of teachmama.com  where since 2008, Iโ€™ve helped families make meaningful connections with their kids and build bridges between home and school. 

As an educator, Iโ€™m always trying to share important informationโ€”bc I really think that when we know better, we do better. This series is part of my final project for a course Iโ€™m taking through Advancement Courses called โ€˜understanding dyslexiaโ€™. 

And as a reading teacher, I need to know all I can about this condition. What I realized is that I had a lot to learnโ€”maybe you, as a parent or teacher yourself, can also stand to learn a little bit. 

Maybe, like me, youโ€™ve grown up thinking that dyslexia was a condition where people read letters backwardsโ€”b for d or p for g? Maybe you thought, like I did, that if a person was dyslexic, they saw all of the letters jumbled together on the page? Iโ€™m here to tell you that both of those things are untrue. 

So if you would like to learn a little about dyslexiaโ€”if you would like for me to โ€˜de-mystify dyslexiaโ€™ for you, then follow along! 

(Continued on next VIDEO)

#readingteacher #teachersofIG #demystifyingdyslexia

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