Advent at home with young kids: 5 simple ideas
Advent is the four weeks before Christmas when Christians get ready to celebrate Jesus' birth. With young kids, keep it small and daily: light a candle, read one verse, do one kind thing.
What is Advent?
Advent is the season of waiting and getting ready for Christmas. It starts on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. The word means "coming": Christians remember the long wait for Jesus' birth and look forward to his coming again.
1. Light an Advent wreath
An Advent wreath is a ring of greenery with four candles, one lit each Sunday, and often a fifth in the middle for Christmas Day. Let your child help light (or point to) the candle each week. Coloring an Advent wreath page first helps them understand what each candle is for.
2. Read one verse at supper
Pick one short verse a night from Isaiah, Luke or Matthew, and let a child read it or repeat it after you. One verse is enough.
3. Start a kindness jar
Every time someone in the family does something kind, add a slip of paper or a cotton ball to a jar. On Christmas Eve, read them out loud. It turns "love one another" into something kids can see fill up.
4. Sing one carol a week
Choose one carol for the week, such as "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel", "Silent Night" or "Joy to the World", and sing it at bedtime until everyone knows the first verse.
5. Throw a birthday party for Jesus
On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, bake a simple cake and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Kids immediately understand whose birthday Christmas is.
How do we keep it from becoming one more chore?
Do less, every day. Five minutes of the same small habit beats an ambitious plan you drop by the second week.