Teaching About Advent

I think I blinked… how is it that Advent has started? As far as the church year goes, Advent is definitely up there as one of my favorite seasons. Growing up, the only time we used the Evening Prayer liturgy was during Advent. Those responses and songs still bring back wonderful memories of soup suppers, evening church services, and taking the long way home to look at Christmas lights.

I try to make Advent special in my classroom. So much of what we do is focused on the youth-led Christmas service and special Christmas projects, it’s easy for Advent to get lost in the shuffle. Below are some of my favorite ideas to focus on Advent in your classroom or in your home. You can also check out my Pinterest board for more ideas.

One of the biggest “changes” I make for Advent (when you’re in first and second grade, anything different from our normal routine is a big deal!) is to switch out our devotions. Two of my favorite books to use during the Advent season are Countdown to Christmas by Laura K.E. Zimmerman and Celebrate Jesus! at Christmas by Kimberly Ingalls Reese.  Both of these books are fairly old, but used versions are available online.

Countdown to Christmas came with a set of paper ornaments with pictures to match each devotion. I used to hang them on a tree after each devotion, but a few years back I scanned them for use with my interactive whiteboard (IWB) and made them into a digital Advent countdown. The pictures also serve as a great review of the important themes the devotions cover. Because we’re not in school the full 25 days before Christmas, there are enough devotions to use this book every year with minimal repeats — a definite plus in a multi-grade classroom!

The devotions in Celebrate Jesus! at Christmas call for a manger scene to be arranged, added to and rearranged. I love this idea, but with so many little hands in my classroom both during the school day and at other times, it wasn’t working well. Now I use nativity scene clip art on my IWB instead. Little hands can still move it when it’s devotion time, but it stays put the rest of the time. As an added bonus, I can encourage my students to play with the kid-friendly manger scene that I bought. I found a stuffed one at Hobby Lobby several years back, but also have this one on my wish list.

Our afternoon devotion time is extra-special because of our Advent wreath. We still used the old-fashioned version in my classroom, real candles and all. If flaming candles aren’t an option in your situation, there are some great flame-free options. You could consider putting a picture of an Advent wreath on your IWB and “lighting” the candles with a picture of a flame. Check the Advent Pinterest board for virtual Advent wreath apps and a YouTube video of a lit Advent wreath.
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Of course, I can’t use an Advent wreath without teaching my kiddos about it. Oriental Trading has a nice coloring page to help students remember the names of the candles. This year each student will be making their own wreath to take home. You can find the PDF for this project here. I’ll probably print the pages on cardstock so we don’t need so many toilet paper tubes. I love how the flames can be folded up and down to light the candles!

Advent is a great time for older students to work on special projects for your church or school to share on social media. A simple text-based video like this one can be created with various presentation or video software like iMovie or Animoto. Have the students write their own text and conclude with an invitation to Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship. Your classroom could also use a website like Canva to produce a series of images to be shared throughout the Advent season. Consider using the O Antiphons or the names of Jesus as a theme.

Do you have any resources that I missed? Please share them in the comments below.

Blessings as you teach His little lambs during the season of Advent.

Please Note: The resources listed here and on my Pinterest boards are not always 100% Biblically accurate. I make every effort to list those that require little to no modifying to be usable and trust that you will use your judgement when utilizing these resources.