I love Advent.

“Come Lord Jesus, Come”–my individual walk with God as an adult pales in comparison to the communal walk with God as a family.  Each day I become closer to God as I teach, listen, and create with my kids.  What a blessing and a gift.

I have done quite a few Advent projects over the years with my kids and kids in afterschool programs that I have taught.  Purple, pink, wreaths, glitter, candles–all my favorite things!

I tell the kids that Advent is a time to prepare ourselves for the birth of Christ.   In our house we do lots of little things–my oldest is 11 and he doesn’t craft as much any more but LOVES to HELP the little kids–which tells me that he is still interested but it may not be cool enough.  He does enjoy seeing his previous artwork on display.

Today’s idea is simple–it can be a coloring project.

This was from my #1–he made is in 1st grade.  It has been up in our house for 5 years now.

I like that it is simple and get the point across that each week we focus on a different word to bring us closer to the cross.

I wanted to do this project again–so when I was the room mom for Kindergarten Christmas Party I knew this is what I wanted to do for the craft!

I had 20ish frames in my basement–don’t judge me!–I’m a collector–but I’m working on getting rid of stuff that doesn’t add value to my life.  Let’s get back to the project.

I had frames, I cut paper into strips, I cut squares for the “flame” I had markers in a variety of greens and I had little jewels to put on the wreath–add some bling!

The kids cut the strips into different lengths (I was going for perspective and how a “real” wreath would look), the candles burn down each week (science), and I had them label each candle with hope, love, joy, and peace–the words correspond with our focus and prayers for the week.

For the flame I had them cut a triangle with fancy scissors.  Some kids took it a step further and used orange marker on the tip for a flame!  Kids are so creative.

Once they had the “candles” on the page I had them do simple crosses (or x’s) on the bottom for the wreath.

Simple, cute, frame-able for years to come.

I’ll be writing more advent ideas in the next couple of weeks!   If you don’t want to miss  an email . . . sign up to the Advent prayers and crafts sent to your email.

Be Blessed.

Today I’m linking up with

Heart and home, Titus 2 Tuesdays, Titus 2uesdays, Into the Beautiful, Soul Sisters, Hip Homeschool, Path A merry meaningful Christmas