Advent Traditions with Kids

The word advent means “the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event”, and the season of Advent is the time leading up to Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Christ. He is the notable person, and his birth is the event that was waited for!

Advent is naturally a great time to highlight Christ’s birth and the reality that God became a man, took on flesh, and lived among us (in advance of his death and resurrection at Easter.) There are sooo many ways that you can do this with your family. There are tons of resources out there to help you do it. (I will link a few at the bottom of this post to help you get started.) I want to share 3 ways we have sought to do this over the last few years. For reference, our kids are 7, 4, and 1.

Read Christ-centered Christmas books

This is such a simple way to bring the true meaning of Christmas into your home—read Christ-centered Christmas books. You can do it on whatever schedule works for you—bedtime, read aloud time during the day, skip a day when you are out and about, whatever works for you. You really only need 1 or 2 good books to get your collection started.

Here’s the thing, though. There are many, many Christmas books out there, and many of them are cute/beautiful/fun. We have many of them, and they make for a beautiful collection that we love to read together. But, you also have to intentionally choose books that point to Christ. Our very favorite is The Christmas Promise Storybook: A True Story from the Bible about God’s Forever King’ by Alison Mitchell. Another great one is Song of the Stars by Sally Lloyd-Jones. (Both are linked at the bottom.)

Jesus Storybook Bible Advent Plan + Ornaments

If you have not heard of The Jesus Storybook Bible, it is a wonderful, wonderful children’s Bible! It is written by Sally Lloyd-Jones for children ages 2–6. Here’s the description from the publisher: “The Jesus Storybook Bible invites you and your children into the story of God’s Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking, Always and Forever Love. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will clearly see that Jesus is at the center of God’s great story of salvation—and at the center of their story too. Every story whispers His Name. ”

All that being said, it is a great resource throughout the year, but at Christmas, Sally Lloyd-Jones puts together an Advent Kit on her blog. It includes a selection of stories for each day of December that start in the Old Testament and lead up to Jesus’ birth. The part I like best is that there are printable ornaments that have an illustration from the book as well as the story name that you can easily print out and use throughout the season. You could do this on its own or as part of an Advent calendar. When our son was 4 or so, we did this, and it was a really nice, intentional time to make sure we were reading the Bible regularly with him and to really clearly go through a selection of Bible stories and end, pointing to Jesus’ birth. If you’re looking to do some sort of Advent Calendar or daily activity during Advent, I think this is a great option for younger children. It is simple to set up, a pretty small time commitment each day, and very accessible for children ages 2–6.

Advent Wreath

This year, in conjunction with my DIY Advent Calendar, I wanted to incorporate an Advent Wreath. Our Advent Calendar is largely gifts and fun activities, so I wanted to build in a way to be intentionally talking about Jesus during this season. For each Sunday of our calendar, our ‘activity’ is that we read a short devotional and then light the corresponding candle on the Advent Wreath. We usually do this at dinner.

Each candle has a different meaning and highlights a different aspect of the Christmas story. There are some resources out there, but in general, it seems that you have to pull together the content you want to use for your advent devotional each Sunday. I think you could definitely do this as part of a broader Advent study and just read the daily reading for that day. I wanted to do a more traditional Advent wreath, so I looked up the meanings for each of the candles and put together a small write-up, with the Bible verses written out so we didn’t have to flip between pages, and then just printed them out on our home printer. It isn’t pretty, but it is simple and was easy to execute. I just tuck the paper into the pocket of our Advent Calendar to grab easily when we are ready for it.

One note on how it went for us this year. Our son, age 7, seems to really track with the readings and enjoy them. I think they are a bit over our 4 year old’s head. I think for next year I will try to use different content that could better engage with our two younger children. I might try to incorporate a couple of the Jesus Storybook Bible stories for each Sunday, or I’ll look into another resource we could use. I haven’t decided yet. I think it was still a worthwhile and meaningful time together each Sunday for sure, so I don’t consider it a waste by any means.

RESOURCES TO HELP YOU GET STARTED

• The Christmas Promise Storybook: A True Story from the Bible about God’s Forever King’ by Alison Mitchell
• Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story by Sally Lloyd-Jones
• The Jesus Storybook Bible is a great children’s Bible throughout the year, but Sally Lloyd-Jones shares an Advent Kit on her blog each year that includes printable ornaments for each day of December. These correspond to stories in the Bible starting in the Old Testament and leading up to Jesus’ birth. You could do all of them or just a selection, depending on what fits your schedule. This is awesome for kids aged 2–6, in my opinion.
• Lots of families like The Jesse Tree during Advent. I’m not very familiar with it, but it may be worth looking into.
• New Growth Press has several Advent Devotionals for Families. You could do the devotional on its own or as part of a broader Advent calendar.