Advent is such a special time in the Church year, a season filled with hope, anticipation, and joyful preparation for the coming of Christ. Whether you’re a teacher planning a classroom celebration, a family looking for a faith-filled afternoon at home, or a Catholic parish hoping to bring your community together, this Afternoon of Advent Activities is the perfect way to focus hearts and minds on the true meaning of the season.
Here’s how you can create a fun, faith-filled day of Advent games, crafts, service, and snacks that the whole family will love!
Planning Advent Activities
To kick off this event, we started by planning nine different activities that families with young children could enjoy. We built in some adaptations so older and younger children could participate successfully. Our group generally serves young families with kids from birth through school age kids. For families with older children we encourage them to volunteer and help at the event.
Many of our children that come are between kindergarten and second graders. We planned a variety of activities from crafts, to games, to coloring, to stories and a snack.
We also enlisted the help of some middle school students to help run the stations. I met with them before everyone arrived, explained the station they were in charge of, and then checked on them throughout the event.
To invite our parish and school families, we sent home flyers, personally invited kids at school and published the flyer in the parish bulletin. We made sure to include an RSVP so we knew how many people to expect.
At the event, families were welcomed in and given nametags. Then they were free to move from table to table and tryout the different activities. There was no time limit or requirement to go to every activity.
Supplies Needed:
- Plastic Table Cloth Covers Purple (or Christmas colors) - we used what our group members already owned
- Name Tags
- Sign In Sheet
- Sharpies
Here are some of the activities we included:
Games for the Advent Season
Kick things off with a few festive games that bring everyone together and remind us of the joy of the season.
Advent Bingo
The Bingo station had two different games printed, laminated, and ready to go. The Catholic Advent Bingo is a little more challenging and I told my station leader to save that for if older kids came to play.
Nativity Bingo is a little easier, as it is a junior bingo game with only 16 squares. Each picture is a person or thing that was part of the Nativity Story. This was perfect for younger children that came.
We also had a prize table that the children could pick from if they won bingo. Our group just looked around our houses for things to donate - saint stickers and magnets, Christmas crafts and books, etc. You could also find low cost items at the Dollar Store to use for a prize table.
Supplies Used:
- Advent Bingo (print out 10 different boards and laminate)
- Nativity Bingo (print out 10 different boards and laminate)
- Mini Christmas Erasers (to use as bingo chips)
- Calling cards laminated (included in games)
- Prize table
Pin the Baby Jesus in the Manger
A playful twist on a classic game that always brings laughter. It’s a wonderful reminder that Jesus is truly the center of Christmas. We had this set up in a corner and brought blindfolds to use. This was a fun way to play a game, but also include movement in the activity.
Supplies Used:
- Pin the Baby Jesus Game
- Painter's tape on the back to make it easy to reuse if you have a lot of kids that are going to play or want them to have multiple turns
- Bandanas and sleep masks to cover eyes (one mask included with game)
Do a Family Service Project
Advent is also a time to think beyond ourselves and share Christ’s love with others. A simple yet meaningful way to do this is by making cards for residents of a local nursing home.
We encouraged children to include drawings, Bible verses, short notes of encouragement, or Christmas greetings. Our goal was to deliver these before Christmas so we were okay with more of a Christmas message versus an Advent one.
Supplies Used:
This small act of kindness can brighten someone’s day and help families live out the call to serve. One of our team members delivered these to a local nursing home after the event.
Create Meaningful Advent Crafts
Now it’s time to get creative! Set up several craft stations so families can rotate through them at their own pace.
Advent Wreath Rip Art
Use construction paper and glue to make a textured Advent wreath while talking about the symbolism of the candles.
I gave the middle school helper the book, All About Advent & Christmas, to use and had her refer to the page about the Advent wreath to help explain the different parts of the wreath and the meaning behind it.
Tip: Cut or rip the construction paper into smaller squares. From there children will rip even smaller pieces to glue on their picture. It just seems to help if they start with smaller pieces instead of a full size piece of construction paper. Scrapbook paper is also fun to use here and can bring in other patterns and textures.
Supplies Used:
- Blank Advent Wreath Template
- Glue Sticks
- Construction paper/scrapbook paper in green, pink, purple and yellow to rip
Candy Cane Ornament
Pair this candy cane ornament craft with a read-aloud of The Legend of the Candy Cane and remind everyone of the Christian symbolism behind this classic Christmas treat. While this is a great book, it is a little lengthy, so I advised the parent that was helping at this table to just read the page that describes what the candy cane represents and how it is tied to Jesus.
Then they made these simple candy cane ornaments using pipe cleaners and red and white pony beads and got to eat a mini candy cane.
- Thread the beads on the large pipe cleaner starting and ending with red.
- Make a little knot at the end by bending the pipe cleaner a few times.
- Bend into the shape of a candy cane.
- Use the smaller pipe cleaner to make a loop and twist it on. This will turn the candy cane into an ornament.
Supplies Used:
- The Legend of the Candy Cane picture book
- Green Pipe Cleaners cut in half
- 10 red pony beads per ornament
- 9 white pony beads per ornament
- Ribbon or small piece of pipe cleaner (about 1/4 of a full pipe cleaner) to make a loop
- Mini Candy Canes
Wooden Ornament Decorating
One of our team members had packs of wood ornaments laying around so we decided to throw this station in and it was one of the most popular. To speed up the dry time with paint, we used paint sticks. So much easier and less mess than regular paint.
Supplies Used:
- Wood Ornaments (found at the Dollar Store originally)
- Quick Drying Paint Sticks
- Small Paper Plates
- Sharpie to write names
Coloring Station
This was another station that ended up being really popular. We printed off a bunch of Advent and Christmas pictures - Advent Wreaths, Catholic saints with feast days in December, Nativity scenes, etc. and set out a bunch of crayons and kids who wanted a quiet activity could head to this table.
Supplies Used:
- Coloring Pages (December Saints, Advent Wreath, Nativity Scene) also Shining Light Dolls has some free coloring pages
- Crayons
Enjoy a Snack with a Message
After all that fun, take a break for a themed snack! We had Nativity Trail Mix made up ahead of time, with each ingredient representing a part of the Christmas story. We had a label printed on the snack bags that explained each item.
As families snacked, the helper at that table read the Nativity story aloud. It was a simple, reflective moment that helped bring everything together.
Supplies Needed:
- Christmas Snack Mix (there are many versions out there if you search, this is just what we used in ours:
- Popcorn - for Mary's pregnant belly on the way to Bethlehem
- Pretzels - for Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes
- M & Ms - for the manger where Jesus was placed
- Candy Canes - for the shepherds who visited Jesus
- Animal Crackers - for the animals in the stable
- Hershey's Kisses - because Jesus Loves Us
- Small Water Bottles
- Juice Boxes
- A variety of Children's Bibles and Nativity story books (we let the helper pick how long of a story to read based on who was at that station)
Learn About a Catholic Saint
At our saint station, children learned about St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe who we celebrate in December.
Share Juan Diego's story and how Mary appeared to him with love and encouragement, reminding us that God calls each of us, no matter how small we may feel. You might even display an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and invite children to offer prayers or intentions while they make a craft.
I included books with the stories and background info in them, but my daughter ran this station and is very familiar with the story so she just retold it as the kids worked on their craft. But we had books and saint peg dolls out to decorate the table.
Supplies Needed:
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Picture Book by Tomie dePaola
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Picture Book by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand
- Talking Eagle and the Lady of the Roses Book
- Our Lady of Guadalupe Printable Picture
- Small Tissue Paper Squares in red and pink (cut into about 1" squares)
- Pencils
- Elmer's Liquid Glue
- Small Paper Plates
- Crayons
- Roses to Display on the table and connect with the story
After hearing the story, children can color the image of Mary. And then they will wrap a tissue paper square around the eraser of a pencil, dip it in glue and then stick it onto the picture. Then pull the pencil out. Repeat until the image is surrounded by these tissue paper "roses."
End in Prayer
Gather everyone together to light an Advent candle, say a short prayer, or sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It’s the perfect way to end a day focused on faith, family, and preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. Depending on if people are just coming and going with no official end of the event, it might be hard to end in prayer like this. You could also start in prayer if everyone arrives at the same time. We left ours kind of open ended that they could come anytime in between the start and end time.We wrapped up our event just in time for Saturday afternoon mass, so many of us went to Mass together after this was done and cleaned up.
No matter how you celebrate, the most important thing is spending time together and keeping Christ at the center of the season. This Advent, take an afternoon to pause, play, create, and serve, helping the families you serve grow closer to Jesus while making memories that will last far beyond the season.
No matter how you celebrate, the most important thing is spending time together and keeping Christ at the center of the season. This Advent, take an afternoon to pause, play, create, and serve, helping the families you serve grow closer to Jesus while making memories that will last far beyond the season.
