Advent pockets or even little advent drawers are popular these days. I found some good-value ones in TK Max. But there are others here or here.
It’s easy to pop in a choccy for each day, but if you want something which helps children explore the Christmas story over the 24 or 25 days. I’ve made a set of Christmas story cards which tell the story one line a day or you can download the printable ones or just make your own. Here are some ideas of what you could fill your pockets with (and don’t forget a chocolate too!):
- Copy or print the Bible passages from a child-friendly version of the Bible and cut them into 24/25 sections. Roll these up and pop them into the pockets in order of how they should be read. This is what I did for my Goddaughters this year.
- Find little play characters which relate to the different parts of the story and use them to build a little nativity scene, one piece each day. I’ve used our Play Mobil nativity set and also made ones from Benecol bottles.
- Draw, copy or scan in pictures of the Christmas story characters from a book or the internet and put these into your pockets. You could add a little bit of text to explain their role in the story or get the children to guess/explain when they get out the pictures.
- Do the same as above, but using pictures from old Christmas cards.
- Buy or make out of Fimo/clay a nativity set with characters small enough to fit in the pockets. You will need 24 characters. Here’s a suggestion of what you could have:
| Mary | Shepherd 1, 2 and 3 | donkey | donkey | frankincense | |
| Joseph | Sheep 1, 2 and 3 | Innkeeper | Wise man 1, 2 and 3 | myrrh | |
| angel | Jesus | Innkeepers wife | Camel 1, 2 and 3 | ||
| star | manger | lots of angels | gold |
And don’t forget to use your nativity set to explore the Christmas story together!
For more ideas and Activities to explore at Christmas visit my 50 Faith at home ideas for Christmas here.
