A Digital Advent Calendar for Your Child: 24 Doors, Written for Parents

Picture a small person in pajamas, a parent’s phone held in both hands, waiting to find out what is behind today’s door. This page is for the parent, or the aunt or uncle, who fills that calendar. The child is not the reader: you open the link, you decide when the child sees it, and you read the doors aloud if the child cannot yet read. It gives 24 doors, one specific line each, grouped by what the door does. For the general list, see 24 digital advent calendar ideas.

The maker is free: 24 doors, no account, one link to send, and the email address you enter is used once, to send you the secret link that edits or deletes the calendar. The site’s terms say a user who is under age may use the service only with the approval of a parent, guardian or teacher.

Before the first door: you hold the link

The calendar is a single link, and anyone who has it can open the calendar. Keep it between you and the people who need it, such as a grandparent who is sending a video. A new door opens every day in December, so the child can open the day’s door with you in the morning and the next one waits until tomorrow.

None of the 24 doors below shows a photo of a child, and none asks for a child’s name or a class list. Drawings, voices and tasks do the work. If you want a photo behind a door for a grandparent, the page on photos of children covers what the school rules say.

Doors 1 to 6: riddles and jokes

Riddles are the easiest 24 doors to fill: a text door, the question one day and the answer in the next.

1. A riddle, with the answer in tomorrow’s door. “What has hands but cannot clap?” Door 2 begins with the answer, a clock, then gives the next riddle. Keep the pattern so the child knows where to look.
2. A joke for the breakfast table. “What do you call a bear with no teeth? A gummy bear.” Read it aloud and let the child tell it to the next person who wanders into the kitchen.
3. A close-up to guess. An image door: a photo of the toaster, a boot or a spoon, taken so close that it is hard to name. The child guesses before opening door 4.
4. Count it. A text door: “How many windows are in our home? Count them and tell me at dinner.” Choose a number you have checked.
5. A sound to guess. A voice recording on a free online voice recorder such as Vocaroo, which shares a recording as a link: a spoon on a glass, a zip, a key in a lock. Put the link in the door.
6. Two true things and one made-up thing about the family. A text door. The child finds the made-up one. Make the made-up one funny.

Doors 7 to 12: a story a day

A story in parts keeps a child coming back for the next door. The read-aloud advent calendar has the whole plan; the six below show how it starts.

7. Part 1 stars the child’s favorite toy. A text door, about 100 words: the bear wakes up on the shelf and the snow outside is higher than the door. End on a problem.
8. A character who comes back every day. A text door that adds a fox, a delivery driver or a very small dragon. Keep the same character’s name on every door.
9. A story that ends with a question for dinner. A text door whose last line asks something the child answers at the table: “What would you have done with the key?”
10. A part told by a grandparent. A voice recording, a minute long, in which a grandparent tells part four in their own voice. Put the link in the door.
11. A choice between two endings. A text door that offers the child a choice for tomorrow: “Should the bear leave or stay? Tell me at dinner.” You write part 12 after the child decides.
12. A part that comes from the child. A text door that begins “You told me yesterday that the dragon was afraid of spoons”. Write down what the child says and put it in tomorrow.

Doors 13 to 18: voices and videos from people they love

The best doors for a child are the ones where a person they know speaks to them.

13. A video from a grandparent. Ask them to film 20 seconds: good morning, today’s date, and one question. Upload it to YouTube as Unlisted and paste the link in the door. Google’s page says unlisted videos “can be seen and shared by anyone with the link”, viewers need no Google account, and the video stays off the channel’s Videos tab unless someone adds it to a public playlist.
14. A voice note from a relative far away. A recording: an uncle reads three lines of a poem. Put the link in the door.
15. The dog or cat says good morning. A short video door, filmed by you, of the pet waking up. The child decides what the pet said.
16. A message from an older cousin. A voice recording or a text of five lines: what the cousin liked at that age.
17. A bedtime message for the nights a parent is away. A voice recording, one minute, read in your voice, saved for the night you travel.
18. A video of you reading the first page of the story. A video door that starts the story again from page one, so the child can follow along in the text door.

Doors 19 to 24: tasks and things to do

A task is a door that asks the child to do something small and gives the parent something to see.

19. Draw the weather. A text door: “Draw what the weather is doing right now”. Stick the drawing to the fridge; the door is the prompt.
20. A blanket fort before dinner. A text door with a time limit: “Fort, 20 minutes”. The child shows it to you; nothing goes back into the calendar.
21. A card for a neighbor. A text door with a task from 24 kindness tasks: draw, sign, and put it through a door.
22. Find five red things. A text door; the child brings them to the table. Five green things the next day.
23. Bake something small. A text door with a recipe of four lines. The parent measures; the child pours.
24. A video from you, saying what you noticed about them this year. The last door, 30 seconds, filmed in one take. Door 24 has more on how to end a calendar.

Good to know What Google’s pages say about children and video. For a made-for-kids video on YouTube, Google lists as unavailable autoplay on home, comments, live chat and personalized advertising, and says “we don’t serve personalized ads on kids content”; the page does not mention embedded players. Google’s page on embedded ads says embedded videos “may show skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads”, and that there is no way to turn ads off for embedded videos alone; that page does not mention made-for-kids. The privacy-enhanced embed domain, youtube-nocookie.com, makes ads non-personalized, and Google says a child-directed website or app must self-designate even when it uses that mode. Because the pages do not meet, no calendar can promise what an embedded video will show a child.

If you would rather sidestep the question, keep the video doors few and short: a grandparent’s greeting is worth it, and the riddles, the story and the tasks are all text.

In the tool The maker’s doors hold an uploaded image, a message, a YouTube video, a GIF or a link, and a new door opens every day in December. Doors 13, 15, 18 and 24 are video doors (a YouTube link, set to Unlisted); doors 5, 10, 14, 16 and 17 are link doors to a recording; door 3 is an image door; the rest are text. Videos are links to YouTube, not uploads. When the 24 are filled, the calendar goes out as one link by WhatsApp or email, which you can send to your own phone first.

Put it in a calendar

The template for a child has these 24 doors laid out for a parent to fill in an evening; copy it and change the names. Or start from an empty one: Create your calendar, pick a background, and fill door 1 with a riddle.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a digital advent calendar available?

Yes. A digital advent calendar is 24 doors on a web page, each opening on its date, sent as one link. The maker described here is free and needs no account.

How can I make my own photo advent calendar?

Upload images, write messages, or add YouTube videos, GIFs and links to the doors. For a child, drawings, close-ups of everyday objects and photos of the weather work without a photo of a child.

What can I put in a digital advent calendar for a child who cannot read?

Image doors and voice recordings: a close-up to guess, a sound to name, a story read aloud by a grandparent. You read the text doors aloud, and the child opens the door with you.

Will a YouTube door show ads to my child?

It can. Google’s page on embedded videos says they may show skippable or non-skippable in-stream ads that follow the same settings as on youtube.com, and that ads cannot be turned off for embeds alone. The page does not say what happens for a video marked made for kids.

What does "made for kids" change?

On YouTube itself, Google lists what is unavailable on made-for-kids videos, among them comments and personalized advertising. Google’s page does not mention embedded players, so it does not tell you what an embedded video will show.

Can my child make their own calendar?

With a parent. The site’s terms say a user who is under age may use the service only with the approval of a parent, guardian or teacher.

Does my child need an account to open it?

No. The site’s page says anyone can open the calendar directly via the link. Send the link to your own phone first and open the doors with your child.

How long does the calendar stay online?

The site’s page says at least through January, and that you can delete it yourself at any time. Save the videos you want to keep before then.

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