From start, my plan was just too make a door and a ladder but well, things went kind of crazy.

My kids are now 4 and 3 years old and it's time to introduce them to advent calendars! When I was a kid we got a small gift for each day, just something small but some days the gifts were larger, like Lego or so, the joy!

I don't want to spoil my kids too much so I thought of a Santa´s little helper that needs help from my kids too solve thing, in preparing christmas, and when they help they can get a gift the next day, as a thank you (and encouragement to help out more : ).

So, I hope you enjoy this project of the little house, with lightning and all (yes, my husband helped with programmed lightning as well).

Step 1: Materials and Tools

Small papers for the assignments(they should fit in the letter box)

Ice lolly sticks
Coffee sticks
Skewer sticks or tooth pics
Lid from shoe box, or similar
Dried heather, or similar

Wood glue
Scissor
Water colour

Print background on a piece of paper

Optional
Led lights
Battery
Arduino
Resistor

Step 2: Assignments

This is just a summary of the different assignments. These suited us, and I choose assignments on a daily basis, if our home needs to be cleaned, the santa helper will ask for help to clean the next day, a.s.o.

Our santas little helper is named Nissa.

As you can see in one of the pictures, my oldest really liked Nissa so she gave Nissa some of her saturday candy. :-)

Dec 1) Nissa introduces her self and asks for a drawing of the ones living in the house.
After my kids made this assignment I copied their drawings and put on the walls of the house. Nissa said the other day that she really enjoyed them and put them through her shrinking machine. The 4 year old loved this!

Dec 2) Nissa is hungry, give her some of your breakfast porrage and put outside her door.

Dec 3) A little gift for being nice and giving her porrage yesterday.

Dec 4) Nissa has printed sketches about christmas that my kids can paint.

Dec 5) Make wishing list for christmas gifts that you want. ( we had put a catalog from a toy store outside the house where our kids could mark what they wanted)

Dec 6) Help clean the house

Dec 7) Try some glögg today(a drink we drink in sweden at christmas time. Warm grape juice with cinnemon, clow, cardemom a.s.o. yummy!)

Dec 8) Help mom to bake lussebullar ( saffron buns)

Dec 9) Today it's time to buy a christmas tree

Dec 10) Gift that is something small to hang in the christmas tree

Dec 11) Make a call to grandparents (mums)

Dec 12) Make christmas cards to send to family and friends

Dec 13) Lucia. Sing Lucia songs for mom and dad and Nissa

Dec 14) Help mum and dad to clean the house

Dec 15) You helped clean the house yesterday, so today, Nissa have arranged a treasure hunt.

Dec 16) Buy christmas gifts for cousins and wrap them

Dec 17) Nissa needs help to fix a clothing rack so her santa cap. (I had prepared some things, see picture, including the wet cap)

Dec 18) Make some bracelets as gifts for family and friends (I had bought pearls and thread for this assignment, waiting outside the Nissa house)

Dec 19) Today we just take it easy, see a christmas movie with your mum

Dec 20) Call grandparents (dads)

Dec 21) Bake some ginger cookies

Dec 22) Help clean the house

Dec 23) (we were at my parents house the entire day, so no assignment this day)

Dec 24) (The house was now gone and instead there were just a note)

I really enjoyed being here with you and I will ask santa to stay at your home next christmas as well, since you ere so nice, I have left a christmas gift under the christmas tree.

Step 3: Door, Letter Box and Ladder

Well, good thing about this project is that everything is really simple to make.

Look at the picture to best see ho I did the different things.

I told my kids that Nissa would move out if they touched the house and they really listened to that.

Step 4: Window, Fence, Planter and Birdhouse

Here is when it started to get out of hand :-)

used some tooth pickers for inside window - otherwise I just continued to glue popsicles togehter.

Step 5: Paint

I just used my kids water colors. It made the door look quit old and since it will not be put outside this works just fine.

Just a normal black pen for painting the hole into the bird house.

Step 6: Make It a House! (and Skies)

I used the lid of a shoe box to glue the popsices to. The lid fit perfectly in our stair case.

Here you can see that I added a pair of skies as well, to make the bend at the top,I just put them in a glass of water for a while and then made the bend under pressure, until they were dry,

Step 7: Christmas Star

I made a littlle christmas star to have in side the window, look up a guide on youtube on how to make the 5 armed star and then i made holes in it with a nail.

Step 8: Plants

I was out grabbing some heather that i wrapped around a metal wire with usual sewing thread. Then I just put some of the heather inside the planter, under the window.

Step 9: Lightning

I drilled a hole over the door and put a led light though it. Needed some kind of distorter for the light to not be to bright so I painted the inside on one of my lenses packages and glued it over the door.

Then I put one led light in the christmas star and taped it inside the house.

One more led light was added, one that has RGB lights and then my husband help to program it so it flashes in different lights, this light is just put inside the house, where it is not visible from the window, this light makes it look like someone is inside watching TV.

It´s driven by a 9 Volt battery