Keep yourself active and enjoy all that nature has to offer throughout the festive season! 

The team at Green Angels have put together some advent activities, which are suitable for adults and children alike. Please ensure that you check your local rules if you are not sure.

Advent Calendar 2021

More information about how to complete some of the activities is included below. For photos, keep an eye on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages, as we will be posting photos of each activity every day!

1st December – Make a wild wreath

Use a wreath ring, or weave some willow to make your own wreath circle. Then collect your materials and arrange them (with the help or twine or wire) to produce your wreath! You can read a full how-to-guide on the Ideal Home website.

10th December – Discover wild animal clues

Find out which footprints belong to which animal by familiarising with the RSPB’s Simple Guide to Animal Tracks. If you are doing this activity with children, you could also take a plaster cast of the tracks you find!

If you want to get involved in supporting citizen science, you could also download the Mammal Society’s Mammal Mapper App.

11th December – Make a leaf mobile and hang outside

You will need:

• A stick or other type of base
• One long piece of string
• Scissors or skewer
• Leaves

Try to go somewhere with trees or shrubs for a walk today. Have a look on the ground around the base of the trees or shrubs and collect a couple of short sticks and some big leaves.

When you get home, tie the end of the string around the middle of your short stick or base. cut a piece of string to roughly one and a half times the length of your stick, and tie each end of your piece of string to each end of your stick. Use the skewer to poke holes in each of the leaves, and then feed the string through the holes.

Once you have added enough leaves, the loose end of you string onto a branch, and you should have a beautiful hanging leaf mobile! This will also provide a nice cosy home for small invertebrates too.

Thanks to Human-Nature Escapes CIC for this idea.

14th December – Make a stick star or snowflake

Collect some relatively long, thin sticks, and arrange them together with glue or string to create snowflake or star shapes. You could adorn these with ribbons, leaves, bows or pompoms to make them more colourful if you like. Take a look at the links below for more inspiration.

• Stick snowflakes
• Stick stars

19th December – Spot Winter Wildlife

Now that all the leaves have fallen off the trees, it actually makes it easier to see the birds! If you find yourself with a bit of time in the morning or evening, make the most of it by going and sitting in your garden just as the sun rises or sets. If you don’t have a garden, look out of your window, or visiting your local green space to watch the birds. Birds are most active in the morning and evenings, so it’s a good time to watch them:

• how many can you see?
• how many can you recognise or name?
• If you can’t see any, can you hear them? How many different types of bird do you think you can hear?

Not sure about a bird? Use the RSPB Bird Identifier to help you work out what it is!

22nd December – Stud an orange with cloves (pomander)

Check out the National Geographic’s instruction page on how to make a pomander by clicking on this link. It’s a great, scented Christmas decoration for adults and kids alike!

23rd December – Make a festive lantern

You will need:

• A clean jar
• Dry leaves
• PVA glue
• Tealight
• String
• Paintbrush

How to make a leaf lantern:

1. Head out onto a walk and collect fallen leaves or other natural materials, try to collect dry materials. If the materials aren’t dry, you will need to dry them out before using them as they won’t stick well to the jar.
2. Make sure the jar is clean – wash your jar well with water and soap, and dry thoroughly.
3. Apply the glue using the paintbrush. You can apply the glue to the areas were you are sticking the materials or all over the jar (be careful not to make a mess).
4. Make sure the glue is tacky/sticky before sticking any materials to the jar.
5. Use your fingers to stick the materials down making sure you press down on the whole area of the material to help it stick.
6. Repeat steps 3-5 with more natural materials.
7. Once the glue is dried, you can apply a top layer of glue to the jar. It is best to leave the jar for 24 hours to make sure everything is dry.
8. Decorate the jar with string, you can even create your own string handle.
9. Pop a battery powered tea light in the jar, and you have your own festive lantern!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!