Ideas to Keep Christ in Christmas and Celebrate Advent with Preschoolers

The month before Christmas, known as Advent, is a period of expectant waiting and preparation for the nativity and celebration of Jesus’ birth. It means “arrival” or “coming”. Here are some ideas you can use to celebrate Advent and bring Christ into your Christmas Celebrations!

Nativity Scene- If you don’t have one that your kids can touch, try to find one. This is a great chance to talk about the characters of Christmas, and look forward to the birth of Jesus. Some families “hide” Jesus throughout the house each day, moving him closer and closer to the manger until Christmas morning when he appears there.

Jesus’ Birthday Party- Celebrate Jesus’ birthday on Christmas Eve- bake cupcakes, have balloons and birthday party ware, maybe play a game and sing. What a fun family tradition.

Christmas Books and Telling the Christmas Story- Find a few favorites and read them to your kids (over and over and over! J). You can find the story of Jesus’ birth in a children’s bible, too. Find Advent and Christmas coloring books online- here are a few:

http://www.dltk-bible.com/advent/index.htm

http://www.teacherhelp.org/chris.htm#color

Pray for other Families- If you pray together as a family at dinner, take a minute and pick a Christmas card you’ve received, and say a prayer for that family. A nice way to connect to other families this Christmas.

Talk about the Meaning of the Symbols of Christmas:

The Star: A heavenly sign of prophecy fulfilled long, long ago- The shining hope of mankind.

The Color Red: The first color of Christmas, symbolizing that Savior's sacrifice for all.

The Fir Tree: Evergreen- the second color of Christmas shows everlasting light and life. The needles point up to heaven.

The Bell: Rings out to guide lost sheep back to the fold, signifying that all are precious in His eyes.

The Candle: A mirror of starlight, reflecting our thanks for the star of Bethlehem.

The Gift Bow: Tied as we should all be tied together in bonds of goodwill forever.

The Candy Cane: Represents the shape of the shepherd's crook, used to bring lost lambs back to the fold.

The Wreath: A symbol of the never ending eternal value of love- having no end

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/treeornaments/a/MeaningChristmasSymbols.htm

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-symbols/

Christmas Preschooler Songs:

The Itsy Bitsy Shepherd

(This song is song to the tune "Itsy Bitsy Spider")

The itsy bitsy shepherd went up to Bethlehem.

(walk two fingers up your arm)

Down came the starlight to lead him to the inn.

(start above head and wiggle fingers down)

Out came the sunshine to start a brand new day.

(join hands, with arms raised over head)

And the itsy bitsy shepherd saw Jesus on the hay.

(cradle arms as if rocking a baby)

Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star

Twinkle, Twinkle, Christmas Star

Twinkle, twinkle, Christmas star,

How I wonder what you are.

Shining high up in the sky,

Showing all where Jesus lies.

Twinkle, twinkle, Christmas star,

How I wonder what you are.

http://christcenteredtraditions.blogspot.com/ or try

http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/advent/songs.htm

Jesse Tree- The Jesse Tree tradition comes from Isaiah 11:1 (A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.) The Jesse Tree celebrates the lineage of Christ, stepping through major figures of the bible in his lineage, and using a symbol to represent each one. It starts with creation and ends with the birth of Christ. Most versions of the Jesse Tree have 25 readings or devotions and an ornament for each, ending on Christmas Day.

Ornament templates- print and have your kids color or get crafy and make homemade ones.

http://paperdali.blogspot.com/2009/11/jesse-tree-ornaments.html

http://images.rca.org/docs/discipleship/jessepatterns.pdf

http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/jessetree_4up.pdf

Next year you can buy them- http://jessetreeornaments.com

Devotions-

http://www.rca.org/Page.aspx?&pid=1628&srcid=1602

http://www.cresourcei.org/jesse.html

http://www.eriercd.org/pdf/reflections.pdf

http://www.kingofpeace.org/advent/advent.htm

Ideas from mommy bloggers

http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2006/12/my_jesse_tree_o.html

http://simplemom.net/jesse-tree/

Advent Calendars- The advent calendar tradition usually involves 24 doors, envelopes or pockets, and is sometimes filled with chocolates or trinkets. But, what about filling them with:

Bible verses- http://tinyurl.com/adventbibleverses

Daily activities for the family- this can be stuff you were already planning on doing, like baking, or looking at lights, and can also be a chance to do one-on-one stuff with each child (i.e. a date with Mommy) http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2009/11/advent.html, or look online for more ideas

Advent discussion questions:

http://www.teachingmom.com/features/adventdiscuss.pdf

Some examples from this site are “If you lived at the time of Jesus’ birth and heard about it, what gift would you bring him?”, or “What is your favorite Christmas song and why?”.

Need some ideas to make your own Advent Calendar?

Crafty Sewing

http://www.greatturtle.com/stardustshoes/mini_stocking_tutorial.pdf

Crafty Paper ideas

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/gallery/list/?f=qa&qa=advent%20calendar

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35230767

Super crafty (maybe when our kids are older!)

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=132553.msg1294374#msg1294374

Advent Candles- This tradition lights one candle per week, in a wreath or log, and ending with a 5^th candle on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrating the arrival of Christ. Some versions use Hope, Love, Joy, Peace, others use Prophets, Angels, Shepherds, Magi, and some use specific candle colors. You can make this as simple or complex as you like- look online for more details.