Count Down ideas???

[mickeyminnie123]

I really want to make a countdown and we leave in 18 days! please help me with some cute and crafty -yet simple- to make. Thanks!

 

[noahdove]

I hope someone gives you a good one, as I need it too Have a great trip and enjoy each and every moment

 

[Lil'DisneyMom]

We just made a simple chain. (like the construction paper ones we would make in school at Christmas time).

 

[DVCsince02]

We used a paper plate for the top of the paper chain. Then take two more paper plates and cut off the rippled edge. Staple or tape the smaller circles behind the large uncut plate making a mickey head shape . The kids can color it, or add a bow to make a Minnie.
Have a great trip!

 

[MaidMarian]

I've done the chains before and they work great. This year I did something a little different cause I wanted to start counting down from the 180 day mark. I took yellow ribbon and strung on 180 red pony beads and between each week I cut out mickey heads from black craft foam and wrote the date on it with a silver pen. We just move a bead down the line for each day and the foam heads act as both place markers and bead stoppers. Its been great seeing all those beads moving from one end of the ribbon to the other. I also took a a piece of poster board and divided it like a page of a calendar and printed out clipart of 30 different characters and glued one on each day. Then I took the small post it notes and covered the picture of the character so the last 30 days my daughter can countdown by taking off the post it and revealing a character.

 

[asktriplets]

not sure how old your kids are, but we started doing a countdown calendar scavenger hunt for our last trip and my kids LOVED it. this thread came at a perfect time as we have 24 days left before our trip (and we usually start our countdown at 30 days...i'm late!), and i am getting our calendar made tonight!!

here's how we have done our past countdown calendars:

cut out a "mickey head" shape for each day of the countdown, and print out 1 picture of an attraction, event, or place at WDW that your kids will enjoy for each of those mickey heads. glue/tape the picture on the back of the mickey head and tape all of them up on a posterboard, picture down. (we also wrote the number of how many days left on each mickey head). each day, the kids took turns flipping over one mickey head to see the picture of what they will do at WDW.


this past trip, we added a daily scavenger hunt to this same calendar:

hang up the calendar with the picture of each attraction facing down.
for each picture, there are 3 corresponding clues that i wrote out on slips of paper and hid every morning. to make the clues easier to spot, i tape them onto a big red mickey head (cut out of posterboard and covered with contact paper so we can reuse it). each of my 3 kids finds 1 clue and we read them out loud. after each clue is read, they each take one guess as to what they think the picture might be. (typically, by the 3rd clue, they all know what it is) after we have made our guess, whoever's turn it is "to flip over the mickey head" gets to do so.

it's a rather elaborate production (not visually...we keep it pretty simple looking and for THIS trip, my 4 y.o.s cut out the Mickey heads that i traced, so it'll be super cute and childlike). finding the pictures was initially time consuming (but now we use most of the same pics over and over again, so it's just a matter of printing them out), and the scavenger hunt and tips are also time consuming, but SO WORTH IT for us! i initially started it because my kids weren't in preschool yet and i was doing some preschool-like activities with them informally anyway (counting, reading a calendar, following multi-step directions, basic reading words, etc), so this all worked well.

my kids LOVE the daily excitement of this. i am one of those people that can't imagine keeping a WDW trip a secret from the kids...it's too much fun to anticipate!

as i said, i'm putting our calendar together tonight, so if it's doable, i'll take some pictures and post.


as for our pictures and clues, our first clue is always WHAT (a ride, a show, a place,etc) and WHERE (which park). i try and make some of our clues tricky because my kids have been a bunch of times and are super familiar with the attractions....

example:

picture: dumbo

clue #1 it is a ride at Magic Kingdom
clue #2 there is a mouse in the middle of the ride ...(tricky! could be teacups)
clue #3 you sit in something gray


have fun!

 

[MNFootballMommy]

Get some of the Mickey Head paint chips from Home Depot and attach them to a piece of poster board. Number the heads and then cross off one head each day until you leave. If it feels too cruel to X through dear Mickey, write the daily number on one of his ears, then put a smiley face on one Mickey each day until you leave!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Here's our countdown calendar:

We used wood, 2 small hooks, and Mickey Heads from Home Depot. It was easy to make, and it's reusable which is nice.

If we were to make it again, I'd have 3 digits instead of 2 digits for our countdown, as right now we're 300+ days away from our next trip. : )