Celebrate the countdown to Christmas with some fun, hands-on Bible-based Advent crafts and activities for the holiday season!
For many, many years, I wanted to celebrate Advent with my children. Unfortunately my planning efforts over the years hadn’t gone so well. I always had good intentions.
But nothing ever actually happened. That is until I got my hands on a $10 eBook that got me completely on track for our first every Advent celebration! Y’all, this was everything I wanted to my kiddos and more!
I received this product free of charge for review purposes and was compensated for my time. All opinions expressed in this post are my own and I was not required to post a positive review of the product.
Amanda, the author of Truth in the Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands has done ALL of my Advent planning for me! Truthfully, I think her plans are even better than what I would have tried to piece together on my own!
What’s Included in the Truth in the Tinsel eBook?
The 46 page eBook provides Advent activities for all 24 days leading up to the celebration of Christ’s birth! Each day consists of five parts:
1) The Clue – There are 24 picture and word clues available to download, print and insert into your own Advent calendar.
If you’re like I was and you’d done NO PLANNING and had nothing ready to use, Amanda also includes a printable Advent paper chain to use in lieu of a “fill-able” Advent Calendar.
SIDENOTE: I ended up creating an Advent Countdown calendar to use instead of the paper chains. It worked out great and my kids LOVED it! You can see a photo of it near the end of this blog post. Plus, there’s a link to download it as well! Yep, it’s FREE!
2) The Scripture – There are Bible verses included for each of the days of Advent. You can read from your own Bible or you can simply click on the hyperlinked scripture so that you can easily read it online!
3) The Ornament – Each day you will make a special ornament that is related to the clue. The ornaments are totally child-friendly…just like the title indicates: Advent Experience for Little Hands!
Amanda includes printable templates to be used for some of the ornaments as well as supply lists for the needed materials (many of which you probably already have)!
What I really appreciate is that there are color photographs of each of the ornaments and steps to make them, which is great for us visual folks!
PLUS: I share photos of our completed ornaments below! Just in case you want to see what ours look like! They are all so cute, but I definitely have some favorites!
4) The Talk – Amanda guides you in facilitating a discussion with your child about the verses read and the craft made. That means you don’t have to think about what to say at all! Amanda guides you through it!
5) More – Amanda even includes “extra” activities that you can do each day in addition to the suggested ~30 minutes! That way you already have suggested activities if you and your child(ren) want to dig a bit deeper!
Truth in the Tinsel: Everything you need to celebrate Advent with your kids!
Amanda has truly thought of it all! From supply lists to alternative schedules for hectic December agendas.
From hyperlinked Bible scriptures to colorful, easy to follow photographs and descriptions.
Printable templates to an alternative for those of us who don’t have a “fill-able” Advent calendar!
I am so very thankful for all of Amanda’s hard word!
December is always busy, but because of Truth in the Tinsel, I’m busy enjoying and experiencing Advent with my kids rather than busy spending tons of time planning and preparing for it!
“The little Baby is no longer in the manger but alive and sitting on a throne-waiting to have a relationship with you and your children. Help your children get to know Him this Christmas!”
-Amanda from Truth in the Tinsel
So, will you join moms around the world by taking 30 minutes a day for 24 days this December to find the truth in the tinsel by helping our children get to know Jesus?
You can purchase Truth in the Tinsel for ONLY $9.99, which is a steal for all that is packed into this eBook.
Our Truth in the Tinsel Ornaments!
My kids had a blast making all of the Truth in the Tinsel Advent crafts! Below is a showcase of all 24 ornaments! Since our tree is already full of ornaments made in years passed, we decorated our banisters with our Truth in the Tinsel ornaments!
Day 1 has to be my favorite craft of all! I just love the stain glass candle ornament
My next favorite ornament is Day 4, the angel, Gabriel!
If you’re like me, you’ve got tons of CDs you have no use for now that everything is streamed! Save them for your Day 7 ornament!
My kids loved looking for the faces in the jar for Day 12 – Census! Can you spy the face?
I think my kids’ favorite craft was make the manger for Day 15! What kid doesn’t love using salt dough?
And the sheep for Day 17! Isn’t it the cutest thing!
Day 21 is a great motor skills activity for little ones, wrapping the thread to for the star!
And the ornament for Day 23 had our house smelling so good! Of course, we added a little glitter! Because, glitter!
Now, take all of the ornaments above and multiply by five!!! (I’ve got 5 kiddos.) Our total number of Truth in the Tinsel ornaments is 120! So, as you could probably imagine, our banisters were quite full! Want to take a peek?
And, here’s a close up!
Don’t want to make handmade ornaments?
No problem at all! You can grab the Truth in the Tinsel printable ornaments. We’ve used them and they’re super fun and super easy! Read more about the printable Truth in the Tinsel ornaments HERE >>
Our CHIRSTmas Advent Countdown Calendar
Do you remember I mentioned that we didn’t have a “fill-able” Advent calendar? Well, here’s what I created in lieu of the paper chains.
Check out our completed CHRISTmas Advent Calendar! The back of Day 25 says Merry CHRISTmas!
If you’d like to use our countdown calendar, head on over to my Advent: CHRISTmas Countdown blog post! You can read instructions on how we used the printable to coordinate with Truth in the Tinsel. Plus, you can download the FREE printable!
Our Final Thoughts on Truth in the Tinsel
We thoroughly enjoyed using Truth in the Tinsel! I’m so glad that I finally got around to incorporating an Advent countdown into our holiday celebration!
It was such a special time for us as we celebrated Advent 2011! And Truth in the Tinsel made it so easy to accomplish!
I pray that as you celebrate this holiday season you will take time to reflect on the true meaning of CHRISTmas!
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:11
This post was originally published on December 24, 2011.
Cathy Riehl
I think this sounds like an amazing book. thanks!
Pamela
thanks for letting us know about Truth in the Tinsel. I bought the e-book and love it. Thanks also for the Advent Christmas countdown printables you made. We are using them along with some other advent activities.