10 Ways to do a Yoto Advent Calendar
Earlier this holiday season, I asked if there would be interest in ideas for a Yoto advent calendar and the answer was an OVERWHELMING yes!
(If you’re new to Yoto, this Yoto 101 post will get you up to speed!).
There are a million ways you could do a Yoto advent calendar at all ranges of costs. I hope that these 10 ideas for a Yoto advent calendar will help you find something that’s a perfect fit for your family and budget.
I ordered a handful of different advent calendars and this $10 one was by far my favorite for fitting Yoto cards!
10 Ways to do a Yoto Advent Calendar
- Buy 24 Yoto cards. This is probably the easiest and obviously the most pricey way to go! I have a whole list of favorite Christmas/winter Yoto cards here! Buy them all and pop them all in the slots of the advent calendar and let them get a new one each day (you could do Christmas/holiday themed ones or just fun new cards you think they’ll enjoy year round or a combo of the two!).
- Make 24 Yoto cards. This one will take more effort on your part but be less expensive – you can buy 2 dozen Make Your Own cards and then create audio for each one. Record yourself reading aloud favorite Christmas picture books, have grandparents record a story of a favorite Christmas, tell a holiday joke, or add favorite Christmas songs. The sky is the limit!
- Buy 3-5 Make Your Own Yoto cards and then refill them every day. You can cut down significantly on the cost by doing a few Make Your Own cards and reloading them with new audio every couple of days so you don’t have to buy 24 Make Your Own cards.
- Alternate Yoto cards with listening activities. Do 8-12 Yoto cards (whether they are premade ones or ones you make yourself) and then in the remaining slots, add something they can use while they listen. A packet of hot chocolate, a small LEGO project, a mini tub of Playdoh, some crayons, a coloring sheet, a fidget spinner, etc!
- Use Yoto’s 24 Day Advent. For the past few years, Yoto has released free audio every day in December – you can link it to a Make Your Own card (or 24 Make Your Own cards!) and pop it in the advent calendar every day. Easy, cheap, and festive. Thanks, Yoto, for doing all the work! (It won’t appear in the app until Dec 1)
- Alternate Yoto cards with Yoto accessories. Maybe it is a new jacket for their Yoto, maybe it is stickers to put on their Yoto case, a litle wallet that can hold 2-3 cards for on the go or headphones or something else!
- Choose a festive chapter book and then add 1-2 chapters a day to a Make Your Own card until you get to Christmas Day so they can listen to a bit throughout the month. I have a big list of Christmas chapter books here that would make great listens!
- Make Yoto cards of the Cinnamon Bear episodes. I grew up listening to this festive old-time radio program and it is a delight! It’s available in Yoto.Space so you can add it immediately to your Yoto app and create cards with it!
- Do 12 Yoto cards and then let them enjoy re-listening the next 12 days! If 24 feels overwhelming, this is a great way to start off December strong and then let them relisten to their favorites for the second half of the month.
- Utilize the free content on Yoto.Space! If you search “Christmas” there are lots of stories, jokes, music and more availabe to add to your Yoto app (and then make into MYO cards!) for free!
- Do some combo that works for you! Maybe you do some new pre-purchased cards, a few make your own, and some other non-card items. Be creative and make it work for you!
If you liked this post about a Yoto advent calendar, you might also like these other posts:
- All About Yoto Club (including the new changes!)
- How We Handle the “BIG” Gifts on Christmas Day
- 40+ Christmas Gift Rule Ideas
Photos by Heather Mildenstein
