Celebrating Advent with Kids
Celebrating Advent with kids can be a lot of fun when you find amazing Advent activities and Advent books to walk you through the Advent season with your kids.
There are some really fun Biblical Christmas traditions you can teach your kids and enjoy with them year after year.
Teaching Advent to kids is all about focusing on the birth of Jesus instead of getting caught up in the commercialization of the Christmas season.
You can choose these Christian Christmas activities for kids as a way to keep your family’s focus on Advent this Christmas season.
We have enjoyed many of these Advent activities for families, and I hope you’ll find a few that your family can enjoy this year as well.
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Jesse Tree
Let’s start with what a Jesse Tree is. A Jesse Tree is used during the season of Advent to walk through Jesus’ lineage. The first ornament represents a tree stump and references Isaiah 11:1-10.
Then every day for the next 22 days, you’ll talk about a prominent person/event that happened leading up to Jesus.
The last day of Advent is marked with the symbol of Christ as found in Matthew 1:1-25.
I love that the Jesse tree keeps us in scripture leading up to Christmas and that it is a visual symbol as well.
Photo Credit: Faithward.org
You can get this free set of printable Jesse Tree ornaments here.
If you aren’t crafty and you want to use the Jesse tree during the Advent season, you can buy this set of beautiful Jesse tree ornaments instead.
If you choose to use a Jesse tree, you may really enjoy The Advent Jesse Tree book.
Nativity Craft
I want to give you some fun, interactive Advent activities for kids that make them excited to sit and learn about Jesus every day of Advent. I found a book that does just that.
For every day of Advent, you’ll gather together as a family and read about what was happening leading up to the birth of Christ. You’ll have the chance to read the Bible together, pray together, and then craft together. I love that this Advent activity book has you making gifts that you’ll actually want to give to others.
This activity book will help you slow down while creating Christmas gifts with your kids that aren’t just and someone would actually be grateful to receive.
Advent Wreath
You can choose to purchase an Advent wreath if you don’t already have one, or you can buy the supplies to make one together as a family.
You can buy a wreath and then decorate it, making sure to grab 4 candles for the wreath itself, and then the Christ candle for inside the Advent wreath.
For every week of Advent, you’ll light a candle. The first candle is the candle of Hope. The second Sunday of Advent, you’ll light the candle of Peace. For the third Sunday of Advent, you’ll light the candle of Joy, which is the pink candle. And the fourth Sunday of Advent, you light the candle of Love. The last candle is the white candle, and you’ll light it on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. This candle is representative of the birth of Christ.
Advent Books
Another one of my favorite ways to celebrate Advent as a family is with a book about Advent.
This Advent storybook is a beautiful way to introduce the Advent story to your kids. It can become a piece of your Christmas celebration every year, as your kids learn all about the beautiful story of the Nativity.
There are Advent devotionals for even the littlest family members, which I appreciate so much.
As your kiddos get older, you can choose an Advent kids’ devotional that dives deeper into the Advent story
And, as a mom, you can nurture your own heart during the Advent season with an Advent devotional for women. As you guide your children to Jesus, you too can grow deeper in your faith walk during the Advent season.
These are my favorite Advent devotionals for every member of your family.
Advent Calendars
I love Advent calendars because they’re a great way to track through the Advent season. We have incorporated them into our homeschool days, which is also a fun way to celebrate Advent every day.
Kids’ Advent calendars are a great way for your kids to wake up excited each morning of the Christmas season. I know many Advent calendars offer treats, and that’s great, but you, as the parent, can offer a deeper look into each part of the Advent season.
If you have little ones, a simple nativity character Advent calendar is a great way to walk through the entire Christmas story character by character.
If you want to start an Advent calendar with your kids this year, I have collected my favorite Advent calendars and put them into a one-stop shop for finding the perfect Advent calendar for your family. Everything from popular Character Advent calendars to DIY Advent calendars.
Daily Act of Kindness
Another way your family can celebrate Advent is with a daily act of kindness.
You can choose to serve those around you or even strangers. You can serve at a local food pantry or soup kitchen. You can sponsor a child for Christmas and buy Christmas gifts for their parents to give when they’re financially unable to provide Christmas gifts for them.
There are so many amazing ways for your family to serve at Christmas. Here are Christmas giving activities you can do together as acts of kindness this Christmas season.
Read a Chapter from the Book of Luke
Every day leading up to Advent, your family can sit together and read a chapter from the book of Luke. If you have little ones, I recommend you find a version of the Bible that is understandable to them.
Even though you can work your way up to the King James version as they get older, it’s important that they can understand what is happening now so they continue to take an interest in it year after year. As they get older, I do recommend moving toward the version of the Bible you most closely related to that gives the most detail about what was happening at that time.
Advent is meant to be a season of slowing down and resting in the birth and gift of Christ Jesus. Yet so often we get caught in the commercialism of Christmas. I hope the ideas I have shared here will spark something inside of you so that you can help your family stay focused on Jesus this Advent season.
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