I have found this calendar a great way for my young children to count down the return of their Papa. It can be done in many creative ways. This is a picture of the most basic.
The main idea is to gather all the events that will take place before your service member returns home – birthdays, holidays, vacations. Then make a train or list of them. I write this on some card stock or construction paper then string them together leaving enough string to fold the calendar up if it gets too long. In this one I punched a hole in the four corners of each piece of paper and tied yarn (about 4 inch) to loop the paper together between each event.
You then take the event off as it happens and the kids can visually see that the homecoming is getting closer.
I have done this with glitter and different shapes for the special events. You can make the events in the shape of boots walking home as well. It was a really fun project and tool for the deployment. It is also a fun cheap way for an FRG to do a hands on social meeting
Tags: chris, christina, countdown calendar, deployment calendar, kids, piper