How We Celebrate Advent with our Children
Growing up, we never did Elf on the Shelf in my house. For my oldest’s first Christmas, she was only four months old, but I wanted to be prepared for the Christmases to come, so I began thinking about what traditions I wanted to celebrate as a family. Specifically, I wanted to be intentional on keeping both our children’s and my husband and I’s focus on what Christmas is about as a believer in Christ.
But how do you explain the Christmas Story to a child in a way that is easy to understand, keeps their attention and lasts the whole season?
Well that’s where the Shepherd comes in!
I knew from the get go, I never wanted to do Elf on the Shelf, nothing against those that do, but just the look of him kind of freaks me out. Lol
Also, it seemed like a lot of work to brainstorm new ideas every year/every day, even though Pinterest is loaded with them.
So, what is the Shepherd?
Similar to Elf on the Shelf, the Shepherd on the Search is a little plush shepherd. He begins his 29 day search for Baby Jesus at the beginning of the Advent season.
Thanks to this site though, all 29 days of the Shepherd’s ADVENTures are already planned out for you with FREE printable cards and activities.
Also, like Elf on the Shelf, you can set the Shepherd up the the night before with the supplies for the activity and watch your child’s excitement when they wake up the next day to see where the Shepherd will be and what he will be doing on his ADVENTure to search for Baby Jesus.
The best part is, these daily ADVENTures are super simple, but tons of fun, all while teaching/ reminding your child about the true meaning of Christmas in a way that they can understand.
Each Sunday of Advent, instead of an activity, there is a memory verse card that you/they read and can color.
We started this with Kinsley when she turned two and she adores it! Even as adults, my husband and I thoroughly enjoy this tradition, as well.
The fun part is, you can make this as simple as you want, or you can add to it. Last year, since Kinsley was 3, we added in the matching plush sheep and camel, the matching coloring book, and I bought the matching daily encouragement cards that I reuse each year.
The Shepherd set comes with the Shepherd, the story book that tells the Christmas story, and the “nativity scene” which is actually the box he comes in, but you set it up and it will be where baby Jesus is, so the shepherd should end up back at this scene on Christmas morning.
You can find all of these things and more at Dayspring.
