How to Celebrate Advent at Home

A 4 Week Advent Guide for Kids

Updated for 2022 Advent Season

We began celebrating Advent in 2019 when my daughter was only two, and I have seen the value of the tradition. We planned to use advent and candle lighting to shift the focus of Christmas from Santa and gifts to Jesus. Even while she was still so little, the candlelight captivated her, and I knew this would be a tradition we would continue. By 2020, at age three, she could tell us the meaning of each candle and started learning a portion of the memory verses.

As we continued to celebrate Advent, I created a guide to help keep us on track and decided to share it with others. Since then, the guide has been downloaded over 1,000 times by other families.

This year the guide was redesigned and became Advent at Home. I have also added physical products and an Advent at Church guide to our resources. So if you need help observing Advent as a family, you are in the right place.

Let’s make this Advent season a Christ-filled celebration as we anticipate Christmas Day.

Signup to receive the free Advent Guide download. Advent 2022 starts on November 27th.

How do I use the Advent Guide?

Advent is a centuries-old tradition that helps those who practice it keep their minds on Jesus and the miraculous virgin birth that brought our Savior to Earth. There are many different traditions involving the candles, wreath, and scripture readings. This guide is my interpretation and how we have decided to celebrate Advent as a family.

You will find directions for which color candle to light along with scripture readings and memory verse for each week. We light the candle around dinner time when our family is together. Throughout the week, we will do the craft and work on learning the memory verse. You can continue to light the candles every night or just once per week.

The memory verses are included as a printable, and I’ve bolded smaller sections of the memory verse for younger kids to memorize. The activities are suggestions that I hope help give you some new ideas for celebrating.

The weekly craft prompts reinforce the memory verse to help with memorization. You can find links to each craft below.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase, which allows me to continue offering free content to you.

Below are craft ideas I collected for each week to reinforce learning the memory verse. The Youtube Tutorial shows how I put each craft together. The supplies and directions for each craft are discussed in more detail below.

Supply List for Suggested Crafts:

• Print off printables
• Advent wreath with and candles (3 purple candles, one pink, one white for the center)
• Up to 25 small pieces of candy, prizes, or printouts for Advent calendar
• Hot glue gun
• String to hang ornaments
• Pre-bought cake (or cake ingredients) and sprinkles
• Skewers/toothpicks for birthday banner
• Craft supplies for each week listed below

Add Christmas books and/or objects for a more interactive experience. View my suggestions here.

Week 1: Baby Jesus Craft

Supplies for Baby Jesus Ornament

• Popsicle sticks (4)
• Peg doll (I purchased a pack at Hobby Lobby)
• Star
• Paper shred
• Felt

For this craft, hot glue was necessary to hold the base of the ornament together. You can try regular glue for the other embellishments, but it will take longer to dry. After you create the bottom, add the paper shred for hay, the swaddled baby peg Jesus, and a star on top. Add a hanger, and this cute ornament is ready for your tree.

Week 2: Create a Crown

Supplies for Crown Ornament

• Wood crown ornament
• Sparkle Mod Podge
• Scrapbook paper
• Bead embellishment

First, trace the crown shape onto the scrapbook paper and cut it out. Add a layer of Mod Podge on the wood crown’s surface, place the scrapbook paper, and add another layer on top of the scrapbook paper. Add additional Mod Podge anywhere the paper is lifting until it’s secure. Once dry, hot glue the bead embellishment to the front and hanger to the back.

Week 3: Create a Star Ornament

Supplies for Star Ornament

• Oven bake clay (Hobby Lobby)
• Letter stamps
• Rolling pin
• Gold Sharpie Marker
• White paint
• Star cookie cutter
• Sweater for texture
• Pink yarn for tassel

The oven-bake clay is so much fun! These star ornaments turned out great. First, roll out your clay and check the thickness against the package directions. I rolled mine to 1/4″. Add the sweater material over the top and press it into the clay with the rolling pin to add the texture. Cut out shapes and add a hole with a toothpick. Bake your clay shapes according to package directions.

Once the ornaments have baked and are cooled off, I gently sanded the edges, then painted the front of the ornaments white. After, I added some gold sharpie to the word “JOY” and the bigger stars’ edges. For an added embellishment, I made a quick yarn tassel.

Week 4: Create an Angel

Supplies for Angel Ornament

• Sparkle Mod Podge
• Peg Doll
• Coffee Filter
• Wire
• Feathers

First, cut the coffee filter down to size for the angel’s gown. Add a thin layer of sparkle Mod Podge then set aside. Add the twine hanger to the back of the angel, then wrap with the dry gown. Twist the wire into a halo and glue it on top of the angel’s head. Finally, cut the feathers down to size and glue them to the back of the gown. The sparkle Mod Podge makes the angel extra special.

Christmas Day: Celebrate with Cake

Make a small cake (or buy one from the grocery store) and add all the sprinkles. The Christmas Adventure download includes printable banners that say “JESUS” to add to your cake.

We had so much fun using our Shepherd on the Search last year. Here are some highlights from his time with us. You can purchase one here.

More Ideas

Here’s my Pinterest board full of more craft ideas for each week. I love getting inspiration from Pinterest, and I have organized this board into sections for countdown calendars and weekly crafts. It’s easy to navigate the ideas without getting lost in all the Pinterest posts.

Let’s Do this Together

Starting in November, I will be sharing our crafts and more on my social media @turnerlittles. I would love to see how you’re using the Christmas Adventure guide with your family. Please tag me on social media, so I can see and share. Instagram and Facebook @turnerlittles.