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Christian Advent activities for families: 25 simple ideas for Advent 2026

Advent is four weeks of waiting and getting ready for Christmas. A few small activities, done often, help a family keep the meaning of the season in the middle of the shopping and the school concerts.

Advent 2026 begins on Sunday 29 November, and Christmas Day is on Friday 25 December. Here are 25 ideas for parents to pick from, grouped by week, plus tips for keeping it simple. You do not need to do them all. One a day, or even two or three a week, is plenty.

Before you start

• Choose a regular time: after dinner works for many families
• Pick a spot: the table, near a candle, or by the tree
• Keep a Bible, a candle and matches (out of reach of little hands) together in one box
• Decide who reads. Older family members can take turns.
• Keep it short. Ten minutes done most days is better than an hour once.

Week 1: hope (from Sunday 29 November)

1. Light the first candle of an Advent wreath and talk about what you are looking forward to.
2. Read Isaiah 9:2-7 together and ask: what does it mean to wait for something good?
3. Make a simple paper chain with one link for each day until Christmas, and remove one link each evening.
4. Write a family prayer list and put it on the fridge.
5. Go for an evening walk to look at lights, and talk about Jesus as the light of the world.
6. Put out the nativity set without the baby, and add the figure on Christmas morning.

Week 2: peace (from Sunday 6 December)

7. Light two candles and read Luke 1:26-38, the angel's visit to Mary.
8. Have a no-screens evening with a board game and hot chocolate.
9. Write Christmas cards together for neighbors, grandparents or people who live alone.
10. Read Luke 1:39-56 and talk about how Mary and Elizabeth encouraged each other.
11. Ask each person to name one thing that makes them feel peaceful.
12. Bake something simple and give half of it away.

Week 3: joy (from Sunday 13 December)

13. Light three candles. In many churches this is the joyful Sunday, often marked with a pink or rose candle.
14. Sing a carol together after dinner, one new one each night.
15. Read Luke 2:8-14 and ask: why do you think the angels came to shepherds first?
16. Choose a charity or food bank as a family and put together a box of gifts.
17. Make a list of ten good things that happened this year.
18. Phone or video call a relative you do not see often.

Week 4: love (from Sunday 20 December)

19. Light four candles and read John 3:16-17.
20. Do a secret act of kindness for someone in the family.
21. Read Matthew 1:18-25, the story from Joseph's side.
22. Write a short note to each person in the family saying what you love about them.
23. Leave a small thank-you for a delivery driver or mail carrier.
24. On Christmas Eve, read Luke 2:1-7 by candlelight before bed.
25. On Christmas morning, add the baby to the nativity set and light all the candles, including a white center candle if you have one.

A verse to come back to

If you want one verse for the whole season, this is a good one to learn together:

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.” (John 1:5, WEB)

Write it on a card by your candle and read it each time you light it.

Tips for mixed ages

• Let younger ones blow out the candle, turn the pages or move the paper chain.
• Give older ones a real job: reading the passage, leading the prayer, or choosing the carol.
• Ask open questions, such as "What did you notice?", rather than quiz questions with one right answer.
• If a night goes badly, stop early. You can try again tomorrow.

For adult households

These ideas are not only for families with young children. Couples, housemates and adult families can use most of them as they are. A few that work especially well for grown-ups:

• Read one chapter of Luke each evening from 1 December. Luke has 24 chapters, so you finish on Christmas Eve.
• Choose one person each week to pray for by name, and send them a short message.
• Keep a shared Advent notebook and write one line each evening about where you saw something good that day.
• Give up one evening activity for the four weeks and use the time for reading, prayer or a phone call to someone who is lonely.

When December gets busy

Some weeks will be full of events, travel and late nights. On those days, keep the thread with the smallest version: light the candle, read one verse, say one sentence of prayer. That takes two minutes and still counts. Advent is about waiting well, not about keeping a perfect record.

If you would rather have each day planned for you, our free 25-day Advent reading plan for families lists a passage for every day from 1 to 25 December.