More Faith Activities for Advent and Books

You can read the first part of this post here.

In addition to more daily activities for advent, I’m starting with a couple of things you can do with your children throughout the season.  If you are looking for calendars your children can color or mark with stickers day by day, or even week by week, you can find them all over the blogosphere.  We are going to use some in Spanish courtesy of Juan Carlos García Caballero at Educar con Jesús.  Scroll down to see the Advent word game sheets and links to on-line Advent puzzles (my girls think the puzzles are so much fun).

A more involved activity that will take you through the advent season is to make ornaments for a Jesse tree, along with reading the bible scriptures associated with each.  Together, the scriptures and the associated symbols show how many events in the bible lead up to the story of Jesus and his birth through the centuries.  Vee has drawn and posted at Paper Dali a set of ornaments for coloring with the associated scripture readings, which makes this project much easier.  You can download them here.  My children will be coloring these ornaments this year, and they have decided to hang them on the decorative ribbons we place on the Christmas tree each year.  Traditionally, these are displayed on their own “tree.”  I may use ribbon to hang them in a tree shape instead.  Look for an update, and share your ideas.

Here are more activity ideas for your Advent Calendar.  I start with an activity we did for Thanksgiving last year, but I think it works for Advent also.  I have forgotten where I first saw the idea for the tree pictured below, but I know I’ve seen it on several blogs.  We just cut a tree and leaves out of construction paper, wrote our thankful messages, and glued everything together.  The falling leaves say “Tree of Thankfulness” in Spanish.

Give thanks to God for your family and other parts of your life./ Dar gracias a Dios por su familia y otras partes de su vida.

Go to confession and repent.  Wait for Christmas with a pure heart./ Ir a confesarse y arrepentirse. Esperar a Navidad con un corazón puro.

Look for Christmas books at the library./ Busque libros de Navidad en la biblioteca.

Participate in or visit a live nativity./ Participar en o visitar un nacimiento vivo.

Listen to the story of Saint Nicolas and look for things to give to others./ Escucha la historia de San Nicolás y buscar cosas para dar a otros.

Think about the angels that deliver God’s messages and make an angel craft or two./ Piense en los ángeles que envían mensajes de Dios y hacer una arte ángel o dos.
 

Think about how Jesus is the light of the world./Piensa acerca de cómo Jesús es la luz del mundo.

 

Color the paper doll images for las posadas./Pinta las muñecas de papel para las posadas. (You can find Vee’s paper dolls for las posadas for sale here.)

Sing Christmas songs./ Cantar canciones de Navidad.

Decorate the Christmas tree and pray a blessing for it./ Decora el árbol de Navidad y orar una bendición para él.

A list of Advent events for the Archdiocese of Galveston Houston inspired some of these activities.  See the list here.

Also, as promised, here is a list of our favorite books for the season.  Hay varios que son bilingües o en español.

The Gift of the Poinsettia by Pat Mora/bilingüe

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats

Mary’s First Christmas by Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Our Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola /Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe por Tomie dePaola

A Piñata in a Pine Tree by Pat Mora/bilingüe

Saint Nicolas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer

If you decide to purchase any of these books, please use the Amazon links provided in the left sidebar, where you can click and see pricing information.  Any purchase you make through Amazon by linking from this site will earn me a commission.  I am more than willing to provide all this information free of charge, but selling through Amazon is a way of compensating me for the time I spend researching and writing this blog.  Your consideration is appreciated, especially if you intend to purchase from Amazon anyway.  More information here.

Here is a list of books we are going to try out this season.  Let me know if you have read any of these and how you liked them!  Si me pueden recomendar libros de Navidad en español, por favor dime los que te gustan.

Christmas Remembered by Tomie dePaola

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola /La Leyenda de la flor de Nochebuena por Tomie dePaola

N is for Navidad by Susan Middleton Elya/bilingüe

The Night of Las Posadas by Tomie dePaola

If you need an idea for an advent wreath, go here. 

In 2012 I am linking with:

Catholic Bloggers Network, Peace in Preparation, Advent2012, Better Mom Monday, Welcome Home, For the Kids Friday, Faith Formation in Young Children, Making It Count, Kids Get Crafty, Keeping Christ in Christmas

In 2011, I linked with:

The Advent Link Up hosted by Xhonané at Familia Católica. 

The Preparing for Baby Jesus Advent Link up hosted by Erika at Raising Little Saints.

The Advent and Christmas Book Link up hosted by Jessica at Shower of Roses.