Advent Activity Ideas

It's the season again! Advent, one of the most exciting periods leading to the day of celebration for all of us, Christmas.

As usual, I was looking for some ideas on how to engage my not-so-interested children.

Before my reversion, I never kept my promise to raise the children in the Catholic faith. After my reversion, I realized how important this is for our lives. And just like all mothers, we want the best for our children.

So to cut the story short, my lack of faith in the past has impacted the way my children understand their relationship with God.

Yes, relationship! I wanted to make Advent more engaging for the children - meaningful, focused on relationship, easy to do, and not forgetting, cheap (I mean, affordable). We all know, moms, we are busier than CEOs!

I'd like to share the activities which we did with you. These activities not only achieved all of the above, I also found that it taught all of us about patience (the virtue I certainly lack) as we can only take one item at a time.

I shortlisted some ideas, brainstormed with other moms, and here's what we chose to do:

1. Advent Wreath

Materials:

Green wire 25-30 cm

Paper (to draw the leaves)

Markers (colorful ones)

Paint (optional)

Advent candles (3 purple, 1 pink, 1 white)

A base for the candle

Scissor

Hole puncher (optional)

What to do:

Each day, we light the candle according to the advent week we are in and dedicate an extra prayer as a family for a person/family one of us think needs prayer. This could be a cause, an organization, vocation, or anything in general. The prayer is then written on a piece of paper leaf before we put the leaf inside the green wire that we formed into a round shape.

E.g.: For one of the days, we prayed for one of my son's friends because my son found out that he was facing some problems. Other days, we prayed for all priests, and also the children in a shelter.

We take turns in putting in our intention each day. In the morning or afternoon, I would remind all of us, whose turn it is, and to think of someone or something we want to pray for. There is a simple rule: this special extra prayer should be for the benefit of others.

On Christmas vigil, after the mass, we light our long-awaited Jesus' candle (that's what we called it) together with the prayer as a family. The kids were super excited to light Jesus' candle!

How did it go

Engaging:

My daughter loves art and craft, so she gets to do the cutting and coloring. I like to let the kids light the candle, with INTENSE supervision.

(Spoiler alert: they will fight over who will light the candles!)

Meaningful:

Each leaf represents an act of charity. Usually, in our normal daily family prayers when each of us would put up individual petitions, the kids were most likely to pray for a handphone or a vacation. During this special period of advent, teaching them how to make a conscious effort to pray for others, we are also doing what Jesus' has taught us, which is Love thy neighbor. And this is also what Mother Mary, the angels, and the saints do, praying for others.

Focused on relationship:

Thinking of what others may need, builds empathy. Putting others in mind helps us to focus less on ourselves, (less selfish). By praying together and do this together, we bond with one another.

Easy:

I just needed to get the green wire in round shape, no skills needed. We can find the materials in art and crafts or stationery shops. Drawing the leaves, and coloring them turned out to be fun too!

Cheap:

Looking at the material list, no further comments!

2. Jesse Tree Devotion

Materials

Jesse tree printables (there are both paid and free ones on many websites)

Christmas ornaments (optional)

Any Christmas tree with enough space to hang all the ornaments. Tree branches will do too.

What to do

Printout the printables you've downloaded from any websit. You can also make your own version (I tried and my drawings couldn't make it).

Try to stick to ONE ornament a day no matter how tempting it is to give in to the kids' whining to hang them all at once. Each day, read the passage and/or story about the respective ornament. The story is so interesting as we explore creation, prophecies in the old testaments, and finally leads to the birth of our beloved baby Jesus.

After reading the passage and/or story with the kids, we reflect on the questions. We then close with a short prayer.

How did it go

Engaging:

The kids were happy to hang the ornament as they get to choose their baubles. This is optional - you can hang it without the baubles too. I just thought that it looked nicer, and the kids enjoyed choosing the baubles.

The story - the kids definitely loved them. I learned new things too! The reflection questions also helped me so much. Although the kids were not really into the questions, I felt that next time I could try to find ways to formulate them in ways they could better understand.

Meaningful:

The kids learned to take turn and to practice charity by giving in to the one who insisted on put the ornament on the tree.

It was very rewarding for the kids as they get to the final day to hang THE STAR! My children (and me) literally were shrieking for joy. I teared as I saw our Christmas tree was finally completed, and reflected how Jesus has been the light the world badly needed. It was our most meaningful Christmas by far.

(Spoiler: the kids will fight over who hang the star, so we had some negotiations days before the STAR day, which is Christmas. Finally they struck a deal, where one of them would put the star, the other light Jesus' candle).

Focused on relationship:

The story we were following each day, helped us to understand how God has always been present since the point of creation. For example, when we shared about the story of creation, God provided everything before He created humans. It's actually happening in our very own lives too. He provided us with everything we need even before we came into this world. We then reflect on appreciating everything we have, not just the things we have, but also the people around us that God has sent.

Easy:

We just need to download from any website, print it out. There are also many choices of Christmas trees.

Cheap:

Definitely.

Note: I found that the family prayer in the Advent booklet distributed by ONE (Office of the New Evangelisation) helped so much. We will definitely do this again next year, especially the Jesse tree.

What the kids said:

"It teaches me to be more patient".

What they looked forward to the most:

"The final day!"

Do let me know your comments in the comment section. Any feedback is highly appreciated. Jesus loves you!