Friday, November 20, 2020

Advent Activities for the Whole Family

My heart has never been more ready for Advent! The wonder, the hope, the light- and the focus on a newborn King come to save us. Here is a collection of free ideas, activities, and printables to help your family and classroom enter into the Season. 

(Just a reminder- you are always welcome to share these resources with your classroom or parish- especially during these weird times when so many of us are trying to teach and minister "virtually" I'm happy to be of help! When possible, I always appreciate a link back to the original blog post or a mention of looktohimandberadiant.com.)

First up, here is a "schedule" of suggested Advent activities for each week, perfect to add to a classroom newsletter or parish bulletin. The links all send the reader to free resources, like videos, printables, and music playlists. Or you are welcome to pull ideas from this and send them individually! 

Or here is an editable version that you can tailor to your students/program:


And now here are some links to individual activities or resources. Some of these are new, and some are old favorites- so sometimes they will just open straight to the resource, and others will send you to the original blog post with all the details. You can also look under the Liturgical Year Tab above for a list of past posts.

Sacred Art for Advent and Christmas- This set of Google Slides contains 20 pieces of sacred art for the Season, as well as steps for Visio Divina for older and younger kids. Perfect to pull up on a big tv, smart board, or projector!


And in Spanish: (and I forgot, they are in Dutch too!


Booklets for families on praying with the Advent Wreath, celebrating Saint Feast Days in December, and an overview of the new Liturgical Year:



Advent Family Traditions: There are about ten different cards like this highlighting various traditions celebrated during Advent.



Advent YouTube Video Playlist- wide range of videos for little ones up to high schoolers.

Advent Jeopardy  and a second Advent Jeopardy game here ( There are a few different games for Advent and December Saints are available if you search "Jeopardy" over in the search bar, but some of them need some reformatting, fyi. They don't always transfer well to Google Slides!)

What Advent Looks Like Coloring Page

What Christmas Looks Like Coloring Page (or use the whole Liturgical Year Coloring Book)

O Antiphon Coloring Book (and mini version for Ornaments or decorating)


Seeking Our Savior Detective Journey in English:

And Spanish:
And there are tons more, especially projects for Christmas and Epiphany in this list of links!

May this Season draw all of us closer and closer to the Light of the World!

17 comments:

  1. I live in our Sisters of Mercy Retirement home,"Catherine's Residence", with some 38+ other Sisters, and a number of them need simple projects for the various seasons of the Church Year. I find your suggestions (and those at Catholic Icing.com ) to be of help in this challenge. I am a retired Religious Education Coordinator for my Texas Diocese, and fell in love with these two sites years ago! Thank you for continuing to provide us with inspirational material!

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    1. Your message brings me so much joy! I usually create things with families of younger kids in mind, but what a perfect example of how the faith is for all ages! I am so encouraged that these activities have been a help to your sisters as well. God bless you!

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  2. This is amazing! Thank you so much for sharing these.

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  3. Hi Katie:

    I loved the ideas you have presented here. Our parish relgious educatin classes are meeting in person once every 4-6 weeks and the rest of the time work is completed at home. You provide options which is good for as you know all families are different. Thanks for all of your hard work. I can't wait to share your email with my students families and the teachers at the parish where I work. Wishing you a blessed Advent.

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  4. Hi. Thank you so much for all of these offerings! I have tried a few different ways to find the Jeopardy Advent questions, but it keeps showing me a website for slides. Any ideas? Thanks.

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    1. Hi! The Jeopardy game is in Google Slides, so it should open as a Slides Presentation. You might need to create a Google Account to see/download it? (But you shouldn't have to) If it still gives you trouble, send me an email at looktohimandberadiant (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll send you the PowerPoint File directly.

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  5. Hi Katie!

    I LOVE all that you create and use it in our parish. I noticed that the link under Activity Week One for the wreath is the instructions. So the instructions are linked twice. Just thought you might want to know after you worked so hard to create with wonderful resource!

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    1. Thanks so much for letting me know! I just fixed it by "cheating" and adding the link within the instruction page so that I don't have to recreate the pdf. Thanks for catching that it was missing!

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  6. Katie
    We played the Advent Jeopardy Game tonight at Youth Group and it was so much fun! The kids loved trying to figure out and working together as a team to answer. There were a lot of giggles and a bit of competition ;)
    Thanks so much for sharing this very fun game!

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  7. Dear Katie Anne, I went to Emmaus Press and pre-ordered your new book, but my order would not go through. I hope it will soon. It is for my granddaughter Etta, a holy young girl seeking God. Thank you for making it. Blessings froma teacher friend, Dianne Falk

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    1. Hi Dianne! I'm sorry I missed your comment! Just in case you still see this, the St Paul Center website ordering was down for a couple of days, but they did some maintenance and it has been up and running well. Just wanted you to know!

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  8. Dear Katie,
    Thank you very much for sharing with us your gifts and talents. You are amazing. You a gold mine for us teacher. Have a blessed Christmas. God bless you and your loved one. Stay Safe.
    Sr. Marie

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  9. Dear Katie.
    I am so impressed with your beautiful resources for Advent and thanks for sharing.
    Your effort, professionalism and sharing is a gift to all of us.
    Thanks again. Be blessed. Anna B

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