creative countdowns?

[sl_underwood]

I am looking for a creative way to count the days till our upcoming trip. Now that my 4 yo knows, he wakes up every morning and asks if we are going to disney world today. He then asks all day long. I thought maybe some sort of visual would help him understand that we have to wait for awhile. I am not very creative, Any ideas?

 

[danielle916]

I am looking for a creative way to count the days till our upcoming trip. Now that my 4 yo knows, he wakes up every morning and asks if we are going to disney world today. He then asks all day long. I thought maybe some sort of visual would help him understand that we have to wait for awhile. I am not very creative, Any ideas?

i posted almost the same question about a month ago, got some nice ideas also was suggested to go to the creativity forum and ask there.
i am also going to make one soon, we aren't going till dec. so i have some time to make it, but i think what i might just do is make a grid, put the numbers in the windows and just decorate it with disney fonts and tons of disney stickers, i know that doesn't sound too creative...but i am sure the kids won't mind, i just haven't decided if i will let them put a sticker on the days as the days go by or if they will pull a tab off and see a sticker underneath....
good luck! and have fun!!!!!!!

 

[bebelle]

On small strips of paper, we write down all the things that we are excited to do in WDW...ride Splash Mountain, eat a Dole Whip, watch Tink fly at beginning of Wishes... Then we form the strips into a paper chain. Every day we pull off a "link" and post it on the fridge for the day. As the chain gets smaller so does our wait time for the trip.

 

[PollyannaMom]

The visual is a very good idea!!

Have done a catterpillar of paper circles taped to the wall before (remove one daily), with the "head" wearing Mickey ears.

The good old-fashioned paper chain this time - with a twist because is goes with current school lessons: mark every 2nd (or 5th) ring, by using a different color or a sticker or Mickey paper-punch, and they have to count them by 2's (or 5's) after they take one off each day.

Have also seen some really good calendar-style ones, especially with Disney-themed things to do (games, movies, books, food) written on some of the days, to start getting in the Disney mood.

 

[DizzyErin]

I have made 1 and am in the process of making another 1 now .. i cut out lots of disney characters from all disney magazines i can find ... decorate the outside of paper with the smaller ones and use the larger characters to put on each day .. so nice to put on rather than take off and it be empty .. if i can take a pic i will .. my DD absolutely loved it .. oh and i by the way i'm not creative either

 

[lindsmom]

I "liberated" a whole bunch of (different colored) mickey heads from Home Depot, just over 30 of them, and I'm trying to decide what to do. Probably some kind of calendar thing, where she puts one up each day for that last month. I just liked the idea of using the paint chips - already the right shape and size!

 

[katiesmom2]

On small strips of paper, we write down all the things that we are excited to do in WDW...ride Splash Mountain, eat a Dole Whip, watch Tink fly at beginning of Wishes... Then we form the strips into a paper chain. Every day we pull off a "link" and post it on the fridge for the day. As the chain gets smaller so does our wait time for the trip.

We do the paper chain too and we call it a caterpillar. I make the strips online using Disney clipart, so each strip has its own character. I also count down the days on each strip, so that each day when we pull off a link, they get to see what character it is and how many more days until we leave.

The visual of the caterpillar getting smaller and smaller really works!

 

[james'mommy]

my son is currently counting down the days until our cruise (4 more days ) my mil wrote down numbers from 1-65 on a sheet of paper and we taped it by his bed and every night he x's off a day. once we get home from the cruise he wants to start a new one for disney

 

[Benducci]

cool ideas!

 

[MNFootballMommy]

I "liberated" a whole bunch of (different colored) mickey heads from Home Depot, just over 30 of them, and I'm trying to decide what to do. Probably some kind of calendar thing, where she puts one up each day for that last month. I just liked the idea of using the paint chips - already the right shape and size!

One idea that I have posted before (that I 'borrowed' from someone else here) is putting the paint chips on a piece of poster board. Write the number in the ear and rather than X-ing out Mickey each day, have the kids make a face on him. By the time your trip comes, you will have a huge poster of smiling Mickeys ready to see you off!

 

[_queenie_]

My DD13 created a special countdown calendar for my DD3.5 on the computer (American Greetings cardmaker) and out of construction paper.

It's sort of like an advent calendar (started it last week with three weeks to go), each day she rips off a little piece of paper shaped like Mickey Mouse, and behind it says what her fun little WDW preperation "task" is. It says things like to look through the planning book and bookmark with post-its what rides she wants to go on, where she wants to eat, etc, to paint a picture of Daisy Duck (that was yesterday's), to help me pack a certain item (t-shirts for DH is one), and to make gifts for characters (today she beaded a pink bracelet for Aurora), it gets a little more involved each day. It's supposedly all narrated by the Fairy Godmother (like she's granting her wish, WDW), and if she does all the tasks she asks, she'll get a special gift the day of the trip (haven't decided yet). Here's an example of the wording: "Today, 13 days, before you leave for Leave for Disney World, your task is to bead a special bracelet for my special friend, princess Aurora." Instead of a picture of Mickey Mouse on the day we leave, there is a big picture of Cinderella Castle, and behind it it says "Congratulations _, I'm very proud of you, you may get your specal gift! Cinderella and all of your Disney friends are waiting to see you in Disney."


She's been loving it, it's even been helping her with reading. It's pretty girl oriented, but you could change some of the characters to make it more boyish. Of course, now we'll have to do this before every WDW trip!

 

[danielle916]

I "liberated" a whole bunch of (different colored) mickey heads from Home Depot, just over 30 of them, and I'm trying to decide what to do. Probably some kind of calendar thing, where she puts one up each day for that last month. I just liked the idea of using the paint chips - already the right shape and size!

i took the same things, lol, the thing is i need over 200 of them, lol and i didn't wanna get caught grabbing so many.
let me ask, did you cut off the writing on the paint chip?
i still have some, i just don't know how i am going to use them yet