Have I mentioned that we love Christmas?  It’s possible to make almost any Christmas tradition into a Montessori work.  One of our favorite traditions is doing an Advent calendar.  I decided to make it into a number matching work that could be done all day, while we would open the calendar to find a surprise behind the correct door for each night (I don’t put the candy in until right before we open it at night because I don’t want our dog to find it!).  We have a large wooden calendar.  Each door has a number on a shape that protrudes from the background.  I drew the same shapes with corresponding numbers on pieces of cardstock and laminated them.  I put them all in a bowl and set it by the Advent calendar, only to quickly discover that L is not ready for this work  There were too many little pieces.  Next year this work will be perfect for her.  For now, we keep the bowl of numbers out of reach and hand her the correct number each night.  She brings it over and we match it to the correct door before opening it.  Since L is so young, this method works much better for us this year.  This work can be done with any advent calendar — just make number cards 1-24 and allow your child to match each one!