Advent Wreath Craft for Kids

I've been crafting Advent wreaths with my preschool co-op, my own children, and, well, pretty much every Catholic child that I come in contact with! :-)

As I'm sure you can instantly tell, this advent wreath is child sized, and crafted with pink and purple birthday candles. This is a great way to have fun with kids for advent!

These wreaths can be made for about a dollar a piece. The Styrofoam circles I got 2/$1 at the Dollar Tree, along with the "wired pine". I cut the center of the circles out ahead of time with a seraded steak knife to make it a wreath shape. (Use caution when you do this please!) You can buy small pre-made Styrofoam wreaths at AC Moore for $1.50 each, but I needed several for my preschool co-op class. I also got enough red berries at the Dollar Tree for all the wreaths for just $1. The birthday candles came from my local grocery store for .99/box. Obviously, you need pink and purple, so you will need 2 boxes.

Have the children paint the wreaths green. They love this! I know you could start with floral foam which is already green, but that stuff is super crumbly and will make a big mess with small kids. It also won't be durable. It doesn't matter if they don't paint it perfectly, but try to encourage them to paint the inside and outside of the circle as well as the top. As you can see, we used foam brushes. I think foam brushes are especially handy for small children.

After painting, allow to dry.

The wired pine we used as kind of a lacing exercise. It's not glued at all, just wound around the wreaths and twisted together at the ends.

We let the kids squeeze on their own glue and stick on the clusters of berries. It's ok if they use a lot of glue - it will dry eventually! :-)

Because the regular Styrofoam is stiffer than floral foam, you can't stick the candles right in. First, poke the holes with a Philips head screw driver, and have the kids insert the candles themselves.

Here's one that I made where the pine stuff was all glued on top of the wreath with a glue gun. We're going to be using this as my class's advent wreath on our prayer table.

The kids in my class had such a great time making these! :-)

Here's Julian's. He is so proud of it!

You can substitute other Christmas greenary for the wired pine.
Just attach with glue.

Yes, these are working advent wreaths, so they can be lit. But please use caution and don't burn your children... or you teddy bear. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'll see you back here on Monday with a very special (and unprecedented) Cyber Monday post!!! :-D Don't do any of your Catholic holiday shopping before then!!!

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Make Pink and Purple Advent Candles

As anyone who follows my facebook page knows, I've had trouble finding pink and purple candles for Advent this year. But really, this is nothing new- it's hard every year. Sure, I could order them, but crafting them for super cheap is more my style ;-)

I started with regular white pillar candles from the Dollar Tree. See? (For the record, this green wreath is also from the Dollar Tree. I embellished it with this awesome glittery stuff I got on clearance after last Christmas and attached them with a glue gun. It cost me $3 to make the wreath, so with the candles it cost a total of $7).

Then I "painted" the candles with pink and purple crayons. I know a lot of people are into beeswax, but I hear crayola is on it's way in. If your house is anything like mine, you probably have a bucket of broken crayon bits somewhere. Just peel them and discard the papers. (This is a great job for the 4 year old in your life.)

Painting with wax is actually called encaustic painting, and I did a little of it in college. That's how I knew it wasn't going to be the big pain-in-the-booty you might be thinking it is. All you do is put your wax in a shallow can (like a tuna can) and set it on you griddle on low. By the way, totally leave it to me to find craft uses for all of your kitchen stuff. It's soooo much more fun that way!

It doesn't take long for the wax to start melting this way, and you just leave it on the heat while you work. Little disclaimer to say this is really not a craft for small kids, and please don't burn anyone.

You can stir it a little as it melts with a metal spoon. Don't worry, all the wax will chip right off the spoon when it hardens, which won't take long. Begin painting the wax onto your candles, but don't use your favorite paint brush. 

Don't try and make it look perfect, because you can't. Just enjoy that home-crafted look. It's fancy to have a hand crafted feel, like hand made soap or something, and I love it the personality it adds!

It covered very nicely for me in one coat, and it was very fast and easy to do. I would suggest painting your pink candle first so that you can use the same brush without attempting to clean it. A little bit of pink on your brush won't contaminate your purple paint. 

Here's my wreath with my newly painted pink and purple candles!

I'm aware that I'm posting a lot of pictures, but I'm really in love with my advent wreath this year! We're traveling for Thanksgiving, so I wanted it to be ready to go as soon as we get back. I got the pink place mat under the wreath also at the Dollar Tree. I love that store!!!

For the pink one I painted the wick and everything, but I don't like the look as well as leaving the wick white. And yes, I did try coloring with the candles, and yes- it totally worked! ;-)

I hope you guys aren't advented-out yet because I have another advent wreath craft coming your way soon! And anyone who missed yesterday's edible advent wreath should go check it out!

*Updated to Say* Here's how they're burning:

 

The candle had a little trouble burning through the layer of crayon. I absorbed a little of the melted wax away from the wick with a paper towel, and now it's burning beautifully! Other readers say that theirs are burning fine although the crayon seems to burn slower than the rest of the candle. I guess it depends on what kind of candle you start with. Mine are just super cheap candles from the Dollar Tree. Hope this answers your questions! :-)

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Edible Advent Wreath for Kids

As advent approaches, you might try making this super fast and easy Advent snack to learn about advent wreaths. All you need is store bought doughnuts (or if you're really awesome make them from scratch), birthday candles in pink and purple, sugar, and green food coloring. I highly suggest Krispy Kreme doughnuts, the best doughnuts in the whole wide world, but I can't get theme where I live.

Talk to your kids about how advent wreaths are round (like the doughnut) and just like God- there is no beginning and no end. Then make some green sugar (I had some left over from Mardi Gras) and sprinkle the doughnuts. Evergreens are a symbol of eternal life.

 

Tell your kids that the purple candles stand for royalty because Jesus is our Prince of Peace. The pink candle is the color of a rose. Light the candles and tell them what each one stands for as you do. The first purple candle stands for hope, the second one for love, the pink candle joy, and the last purple candle stands for peace. We light the advent candles to remind us that Jesus is the light of the world and from the darkness he brings life. (Little disclaimer here to remind you not to burn your children).

What order should you light your advent candles in?

Light the purple candle across from the pink one first and then go around clockwise.

I love this "Jesus is the Gift" plate it's on! I got it at the blogging conference I went to, and I wish I had the whole set!

The Jesus is the Gift Snowflake Collectionis available from Dayspring. I really wish I had this platter and the pitcher. We might use our little plate for setting out Santa's cookies this year. :-)


I know some families give up sweets for Advent. If this is true for your family, maybe you could make round soft pretzels and green salt. Be creative, and happy waiting! :-)

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6 Ways to Kick Off Advent With a Religious Bang! And a Linky :-)

With all the crazy hussle and bustle of the holidays, it's important not to let this religious time get lost in the secular shuffle. Preparing for Advent early is a great way to make sure you start this season off on the right foot- one that walks towards Him. For kids, Santa can be a pretty tough guy for Jesus to compete with- but I assure you that there is much strength and fun to be found in our amazing Catholic culture! Now here are 6 ways to kick off your family's advent with a religious bang!

Get an Advent Wreath
This is a very popular tradition, and I'm willing to bet most of you already have an advent wreath of some kind. The basic idea is that it's a green wreath with 3 purple candles and one 'rose' colored candle. The candles are lit every night before dinner during prayers, and you light one additional candle each week until Christmas. I did a post last year on DIY Advent Wreaths that you should check out if you don't have one yet! Be sure to read up on the background of the Advent Wreath and also Blessings and Prayers for your Advent Wreath. At our house we also have this Fabric Children's Advent Wreath which is really cute! The candles Velcro on so you can add them as you go.



Use an Advent Calendar
There are soooo many different advent calendars out there! From paper chains to pinatas, there are infinite ways to count down the days to our savior's birth. If you craft one yourself, you can start on the first day of advent rather than the first day of December. An advent calendar can be as elaborate or as simple as you want it to be, but I would encourage you to find something religious to help your kids understand the meaning of Christmas. Resist society's ridiculous Sponge Bob Square Pants advent calendars. In stead, find or make something meaningful, like this Religious Advent Calendar from Story Time Felts. Each day Mary rides the donkey closer and closer to Bethlehem. How cute is that?! My friend, Katie Offsay, is the one who sent me this awesome link, so be sure to enter her as your 'consultant' if you order one :-)

Prepare a Manger for Baby Jesus
A great activity for kids to do during Advent is have a manger for Baby Jesus. Every time they do a good deed or make a sacrifice, they get to add a piece of straw to the manger. Hopefully by Christmas Baby Jesus has a nice soft bed to lay on! Find a round up of Manger Crafts Here.

Setting Up the Nativity
This year we're planning on setting up our nativity in an interactive way with the kids. This process will begin on Advent, and end on the Epiphany. Ruth from Just Another Day in Paradise has a great post about being Interactive with your Nativity Set. If you have little ones (like me) you might want to look into getting something like this Little People Nativity Set for Kids. I'm thinking about getting my kids one for St. Nicholas day! 

Have a Jesse Tree
The Jesse Tree is a great tradition to do, and it starts on December 1. You hang one symbol on your Jesse Tree each day of December until Christmas and read a coordinating passage from the bible. You can make your own Jesse Tree and craft your own symbols- you can even find places to print them for free! Check out more background on the Jesse Tree at Catholic Culture. If you don't have time this holiday season to make your own Jesse Tree, check out this Jesse Tree Activity Kit.



"O" Antiphons
These you can procrastinate on a little bit because they don't start until December 17. Each O Antiphon is a different title for the Messiah and once again, you go through them one per day. Man, by Christmas I'm going to have you guys doing like, 6 things every day! :-) Get directions for celebrating the O Antiphons at Catholic Culture and check out my post on O Antiphon Crafts from last year for ideas. Here's an O Antiphon CD with songs for each one!

Is it weird that I'm so anxious that I'm waiting to start a time of... well, waiting? Ok, now it's your turn! What does your family do for Advent?
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Advent Ideas

The First Sunday of Advent is tomorrow! Are you ready? Well, here are some ideas to help you and your family celebrate this season of waiting ;-)

I just love this kid's advent wreath craft project from
Catholic Mom using hand prints!

Here are some DIY Advent Wreath Instructions
from Catholic Culture.

Roots and Wings has a tutorial on how to make this beautiful paper-style advent chain out of fabric. Alternately, you could print an advent chain from Catholicmom.com.

Loved this DIY Advent Log from By Sun and Candlelight.
I also think this down-loadable
advent coloring sheetfrom Catholicmom.com
is fun and educational!


I Blog Therefore I Am has a great preschool-K
advent lesson page that is a must see! Everything from
Crafts & Music to vocabulary lessons!

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