Retired Homeschool Mom: Celebrate Advent with Christmas Picture Books

Monday, December 12, 2016

Celebrate Advent with Christmas Picture Books

If you have young children, you probably do some sort of Advent activity to countdown the days until Christmas. There are lots of creative ideas for doing this and also reinforcing the message and meaning of Christmas with our children. For years I used the advent unit studies on the Symbols of Christmas and the Names of Jesus found in Celebrate With Joy! by Sondra Burnett/

We have created paper chains with Bible verses on them, tearing off one link per day.

We have collected change in a jar, counting objects in our house that are blessings, and then donating the money to the Southern Baptist's Lottie Moon Fund or another charity after Christmas. For example, on Dec. 1, put a penny in the jar for every shoe in the house. On Dec. 2, put a quarter in the jar for each car we own. On Dec. 3, put a dollar in the jar for each bathroom. On Dec. 4, put a dime in the jar for each Bible in the house. Etc.

We love books, and Arnold Ytreeide has written a wonderful series of Advent adventure stories set in biblical times. The stories, Jotham's Journey, Bartholomew's Passage, Tabitha's Travels , and Ishtar's Odyssey, are written as daily readings leading up to Christmas Day, and include questions to talk about together. Read a different one each year.

Another idea is to collect Christmas picture books and display them in a special basket, reading one story each day until Christmas. Advent traditionally starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas, but most Advent Calendars start on Dec. 1st. You can do it either way.
Here are some suggestions for books you might like to add to your Christmas collection.