Do you celebrate the Advent season? Try one of these Advent Bible studies with your family this year!
As far as the church year goes, Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, and it lasts through Christmas Eve but many families choose to start Advent activities on December 1st!
We celebrate the traditional (church year) format of Advent each year, the remembrance of the time when old believers looked to the coming of the Messiah and also rejoicing in the promise of Jesus’ second coming!
I wanted to share our favorite advent devotionals that you will love doing with your family too! They are very budget-friendly and a great way to create a memorable holiday season with your children.
These nine Advent devotionals will help your family experience the wonder and joy of Jesus Christ’s coming and draw you nearer to Him in this busy season.
Nine Meaningful Advent Family Devotionals
1. Truth in the Tinsel
I’ve talked much about Truth in the Tinsel in the past, and you can find more details about it here! With a printable Advent chain, activity ideas, and a devotional for each day, you can go as simple or as “complex” as you’d like!
We did Truth in the Tinsel several years in a row when our kids were really young, doing a few of the crafts and ornaments each time until we had a whole tree full!
One of the reasons we liked it is that it highlighted each of the characters who were a part of the story of Jesus and tied those parts of the Bible to a fun activity that brought the story alive.
Pictured below is my then 3-year-old painting one of the ornaments (Mary!).
Age Range: 3-10
Learn more or purchase Truth in the Tinsel HERE!
2. Christmas Story and Jesse Tree Lego Challenge
My friend Tauna from Proverbial Homemaker offers a Jesse Tree challenge, and also a Christmas Story challenge which includes printable ornaments and is similar to the path of Advent. It includes building prompts and activities that you can do with your Legos or other building bricks! Click through the photo and navigate to the “Brick Challenges” category!
Age Range: 7-14
3. Advent Adventure Series
A new Advent family devotional from the author of Jotham’s Journey! Fourth in a set of Advent adventure books for families, Ishtar’s Odyssey follows the ten-year-old son of a Persian wise man as their caravan follows a star across the desert. Ishtar would just as soon stay in the comfort of the palace, but slowly he learns that there’s much to see, do, and learn in this world that can’t be experienced in school. He eventually meets Jotham, Bartholomew, and Tabitha as he follows his father and uncles in their search for a newborn king.
Age Range: We love Arnold Ytreeide’s books and own several. These stories are intense and dramatic, so I would recommend them for ages 9 and up.
Other Books in This Series:
As an idea, you can read this book with your children and print out and use our Advent Printable Banner, which goes along with each candle on the Advent wreath!
4. Countdown to Christmas
This family devotional has 15 readings that correspond with different members of the nativity. You put your nativity set together piece by piece with each day’s reading, leading up to Christmas Day. This devotional will engage your preschoolers but is sufficiently interesting for your older kids too.
I love this idea, because it allows kids as one reviewer said, “to experience the Christmas story in bite-size portions and interact with the Nativity sets they may already have at home.”
Age Range: All ages
Purchase Countdown to Christmas on Amazon!
5. A Jesus Christmas
A Jesus Christmas is a daily family devotional that you can read through Christmas Day. Each of the scripture readings and study notes looks at one of the serpent’s lies from Genesis 3 and how the birth of Jesus triumphs over the falsehoods every time. It also walks you through the entire Biblical history of Jesus’ ancestors and connects all the parts of the story together.
It’s a devotional that we liked because it focuses on our victory in Christ through the lens of the the incarnation of God becoming man in the human form baby Jesus.
We did this study with our family last year and really enjoyed it! Our kids range from age 15 down to age 8. You can buy and go through one booklet together, but there is a space to draw and/or take notes so you may desire to purchase a copy for each family member.
6. Focus on the Family Advent Calendars
Focus on the Family has several Advent calendars and devotionals available to download for free (and a couple you can purchase) on their website! I’m eyeing the Adventures in Odyssey calendar for next year!
7. Everyday Emmanuel
Everyday Emmanuel, from What’s in the Bible (a video series that teaches kids the history and truth of the Bible) a fun, easy-to-use family Christmas Countdown experience designed to help families make the most of Christmas and better understand the true meaning of the season.
Christmastime can become overrun with to-do lists and errands. This year, you can break the stressful cycle and create meaningful time together as a family by celebrating advent with Everyday Emmanuel!
8. Advent Devotions & Christmas Crafts for Families: 24 Scripture Reflections & Simple Projects to Anticipate Christ’s Birth
Each day of this family devotional includes not only a Scripture and short reflection on the true meaning of Christmas for the twenty-four days leading up to the holiday, but also inviting full-color images and simple Christmas crafts that can be done as you focus on the rich meaning of this season.
Find it HERE.
9. Comfort and Joy: An Advent Study for Families
Experience Advent in a deep and meaningful way while creating memories with your kids during this busy season of the year!
Our Advent resource, Comfort and Joy: An Advent Study for Families, is a Biblical experience created to help your family anticipate Christ’s birth.
The lessons are broken down into four weeks. Each week’s theme is based around the four Advent candles and leads your family through:
- Daily devotions revolving around a unique weekly theme connected with the candles of Advent and their corresponding daily readings of Bible verses
- Discussion questions
- Weekly Advent/Christmas Carol to learn and sing
- Service projects that reflect the light of Christ
- Daily Activities (some super simple, some more involved) to connect Scriptural truths about Christ with hands-on learning, such as recipes, crafts, and Jesse Tree ornament making
- Coloring pages, Christmas cards, bookmarks, and other fun resources to decorate and share!
- Advent Calendar in the form of a pretty banner to display in your home
Even if you have as few as 10 minutes per day, you can cut through the busyness, capture the joy of the Advent season and connect the truths of Jesus’ birth with our lives today, showing your kids that Scripture is always relevant, useful, and life-changing.
Age Range: Most enjoyed by preschool / younger children through teens (ages 4-12), but your really little ones can listen in as well!
Find Comfort and Joy in our online shop!
Teaching our family about God’s plan and His great gift of Jesus Christ helps them to personalize the good news of great joy that was shared first with the shepherds over 2,000 years ago.
Enjoy choosing an Advent devotional this Christmas season to do with your whole family!
Blessings to you this Advent season!
Free Printable Advent Calendar Banner!
2 Comments on 9 Meaningful Advent Devotionals That Families Will Love (2022)
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Looking for some gift ideas this Christmas and these are perfect! I’ll definitely include these devotional books in my list. Thanks for the inspirations.
Thank you Robin!