Screenshot of the digital advent calendar with buttons for each day with a background of Christmas trees.
Activity

Accessible digital advent calendar

Created by students, this digital advent calendar can teach tech skills!

“Why was the snowman embarrassed when he was caught hunting through a bag of carrots?”

“He was picking his nose.”

Advent calendars are a fun way to count down the days to Christmas. Tactile Times has created an accessible digital advent calendar with a fun twist. Each day unlocks a student-friendly, holiday-related joke, song or ??? created by 3 braille students in the UK.

This motivating advent calendar can also be used to teach/practice tech skills to students!

Tech skills

This digital advent calendar is on a webpage with informational text and a countdown timer before the actual advent calendar. How can you quickly navigate to the advent calendar? There are several options! What are the pros and cons of each method?

Navigating to the advent calendar

Screenshot of the digital advent calendar with buttons for each day with a background of Christmas trees.

Navigating the actual advent calendar

The actual advent calendar is in a table format with the day of the week as the column header. What is the best way to navigate the calendar? With iOS devices, set the rotor to Rows, then navigate with a swipe up, down, left or right. Students should first have a mental map of the calendar layout. If necessary, the student can drag a finger to build the mental map. Some students may benefit from a simple tactile graphic. The tech goal is to develop a mental map of the calendar (and of the webpage!) and then to navigate quickly and efficiently to the desired day.

Note: The calendar starts with Monday.

Resource

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