Family Activities For Advent: 21 Ideas To Help Shift Our Focus This Christmas

A list of family activities for advent to help prepare our hearts for Jesus this Christmas.

Although keeping Christ at the center of Christmas has always been a top priority for us as parents, I personally wasn’t familiar with the idea of Advent until a few short years ago. Advent simply means “arrival” or “coming”. The idea behind it all is to prepare our hearts and minds throughout the entire month of December as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Family Activities for Advent

I’d like to share with you some family activities for advent that may be helpful in leading your family closer to Jesus this Christmas season.

Those of us with young children may not be able to do lengthy devotionals each evening, but we can certainly still point our children to the Man who died to be their Savior through the use of music, Scripture, and fun activities!

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Family Activities for Advent- Devotionals

A simple devotional can be the perfect family activity for advent as it helps to draw our thoughts to the true meaning of Christmas. The list below includes ideas for a variety of ages.

Prepare Him Room

Marty is a talented author with a keen ability to share gospel truths in a way that children can easily grasp. This particular advent family devotional is ideal for families with children of all ages. It contains Scripture reading, songs, activities, discussion questions, prayer time, and an optional Christmas story called “Bartimaeus” that ties it all together.

Prepare Him Room is designed to be read 3 times per week in the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas. I’m excited for our family to dig in to this one this year!

The Light Before Christmas

Another advent family devotional written by Marty Machowski, The Light Before Christmas, was just released this year. This one follows the same outline as his prior book, with a focus on “light” and how this theme is woven throughout the entire Bible.

Readers will follow the story of young Mia and her grandmother as they seek to understand the true meaning of light this Advent season.  

Love Came Down At Christmas

Sinclair Ferguson is another gifted writer with a passion to preserve the beauty of Scripture. In Love Came Down At Christmas he shares 24 simple daily devotionals pertaining to 1 Corinthians 13 and the greatest love the world has ever known.  This one is not specifically geared towards children and will likely be too deep for young children. I’d recommend this for families with teenagers who are ready for a deeper look at the heart of the gospel.

Joy! Getty Kids Devotional (FREE)

The Joy! Getty Kids Devotional is a free advent devotional by husband and wife duo Keith and Kristyn Getty. It includes a short daily Scripture reading paired with a Christ honoring Christmas song (with links to the audio recordings). This one is perfect for our littles with shorter attention spans!

As musicians the Getty’s obviously have a passion for music. Their hope is for these rich lyrics to be a catalyst for good conversations about our good God and His Word.

Advent Guide by Becky Aniol (FREE)

If you don’t have enough time to purchase a devotional this year you may want to check out this free Advent Guide by Becky Aniol. A friend recently shared this one with me and it looks to be a wonderful option for families with elementary age children.

Each day Becky lists a specific Scripture reading, hymn, Scripture memory options, poem, and recommended children’s Christmas story book.

Emmanuel

Ruth Chou Simons is a gifted artist and communicator. Her writing has a way of encouraging yet graciously convicting at the same time. I’d recommend Emmanuel for an independent advent study or for use with older daughters.

Family Activities for Advent- Music & Movies

Although listening to music isn’t typically considered an activity, filling our homes and cars with songs that thoughtfully capture the beauty of God’s greatest gift is a wonderful way to help each of us keep a proper perspective around the holidays.

If you’re on the hunt for some solid Christmas music I’ve listed a few albums below. And if you’re looking for a free Advent music playlist please feel free check out the one that we’ve been enjoying at our house.

This is Christmas by Kutless

Kutless has been my favorite band since I was a teenager! Although known best for their heavier rock sound they transitioned into worship music several years back. Their Christmas cd is the perfect blend of both!

We Sing Joy by Cloverton

My very favorite Christmas song “A Hallelujah Christmas” is performed by this talented band! However, it is unfortunately very difficult to find. You cannot purchase this one, but can listen to it here. Both of Cloverton’s Christmas cd’s offer low key music with beautiful lyrics and melodies.

Christmas: God With Us by Jeremy Camp

Jeremy Camp’s Christmas album is a bit more lively. It includes a few classic Christmas carols as well as more contemporary songs added into the mix.

A Jolly Irish Christmas by Rend Collective

Rend Collective’s folk Irish tunes are a pleasant change of pace from traditional Christmas music.

Prepare Him Room by Sovereign Grace Music

Sovereign Grace Music has more of a worship style with biblically sound lyrics that help turn our thoughts upon Jesus as we celebrate His birth.

Free Advent Playlist on Spotify

I’ve compiled a list of more than 20 Christmas Advent songs this year from a variety of artists. If you’d like to check it out please feel free to click on the link below.

The Nativity Story

Watching The Nativity Story every year around Christmastime is family activity for advent that my husband and I started with our children a few years back. It is truly a beautifully retelling of the story of Christ’s birth as well as the events that led up to it.

My children were quite young when we first began this tradition and yet were still intrigued enough to make it through the majority of it. I’d encourage you to consider watching this together as a family as time allows this Christmas.

Family Activities for Advent- DIY Projects

Sometimes getting our children involved in a hands-on DIY project can help them better remember and grasp what exactly it is that we’re trying to teach them. These two simple ideas below are perfect to create as a family!

Advent Wreath

Creating a DIY Advent wreath can be fun way to get your children involved while sharing with them the meaning behind the 4 candles. Patty from A Mother’s Random Thoughts offers an excellent tutorial HERE on a few different affordable options with minimal supplies.

Nativity Set

A nativity set can create a sweet picture in a child’s mind of what Christmas is all about- the precious baby who came to earth for the sole purpose of growing up to offer Himself as a sacrifice on our behalf.

Brooke from Re-fabbed.com shares a simple tutorial using an unfished wood nativity set from Hobby Lobby, a little fake moss, and a wood slab. These sell out quickly at Hobby Lobby! If you’re interested in this one I’d encourage you to purchase your supplies well before Christmas.

Some families choose to add a piece of the nativity set one at a time as they’re reading through the Christmas story (Luke 2, Matthew 2).

Make it About the Gospel

Christmas is ultimately about the gospel…. sinful man in desperate need of a Savior and a gracious God who stepped down from Heaven to redeem such unworthy people.  What better way to celebrate this amazing gift than to reach out to those around us?

We have the privilege of sharing the hope of Christ and being the hands and feet of Jesus! Below are some non-traditional family activities for advent that you may want to consider as you prepare to celebrate our Savior’s birth or anytime throughout the year.

(I’d like to make note that serving others should never be a replacement for verbally sharing the gospel, but rather in addition to doing so.)

RELATED: CHRISTIANS AND SANTA CLAUS: A BIBLICAL APPROACH FOR PARENTS THIS CHRISTMAS

Out-of-the-Box Family Advent Ideas

• Send a Christmas Gift Through Christian Relief Fund– CRF provides opportunities each year for people like us to meet the needs of those across the world struggling with basic necessities that we take for granted. Through the Christmas gift program you can provide animals (for eggs and milk), medical care, vocational training, and much more for children living in poverty.

• Make a Prayer Calendar to Pray for Persecuted Christians– The latest statistics say that 360 million Christians suffer persecution across the world and that number continues to increase each year. These men and women are our brothers and sisters in Christ and desperately need our prayers. You can make a family advent calendar and list certain restricted nations each day to pray for.

• “Adopt” a Soldier– Our men and women of the armed forces are truly heroes that all too often go unnoticed. By adopting a solider through an organization like Soldiers Angels,  you can have the privilege of not only thanking, but also writing to and sending care packages to those in need of encouragement.

• Sponsor a Child– There are many organizations that you can go through to sponsor a child, but I highly recommend Christian Relief Fund. CRF purposely chooses children across the globe who are not only living in poverty, but have also suffered greatly in a variety of ways. Because of this unique ministry they are able to reach children and their families for Christ even in countries where the gospel is forbidden.

• Write to a Persecuted Believer- Through the ministry of Open Doors USA you can write a letter of encouragement to a believer on the other side of the world that is currently being persecuted for their decision to follow Christ.

• Pass out gospel tracts to cashiers, servers, or neighbors, mailmen, garbage men, and delivery drivers (with a box of Christmas cookies!)

• Sing Christmas carols for a few neighbors (then offer them some delicious baked goodies and a small gift. Hidden Christmas by Timothy Keller would be the perfect gift to hand out around Christmastime. It digs deep into the events surrounding the birth of Christ while clearly communicating the gospel at the same time.)

I truly hope that this list of family activities for Advent is helpful for you. At a time of year when we’re often tempted to get caught up in the busyness let’s choose to slow down, keep it simple, and celebrate the goodness and grace of our Savior.