Simple Advent Prayers

This Advent when we light our Advent wreath we are saying this simple prayer from Faith and Life 1. We used it for a few years when my older girls were small:

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for coming down from Heaven to save us.
Thank you for Christmas time.
Help us to get ready for your coming this year.
Amen

Here I found another prayer suitable for younger children:

O God,
as light comes from this candle,
may the blessing of Jesus Christ come to us,
warming our hearts and
brightening our way.
May Christ our Savior bring life
into the darkness of this world,
and to us, as we wait for his coming.

Advent Boxes

Last year I put together an Advent Box for my Little Cherub, full of things that she could take out and explore.

This picture shows the contents of the box ...

• Nativity figures - I have a set of squishy plastic figures for toddlers bought when my eldest daughter was tiny.
• A wooden Santa figure that looks fairly St.Nicholas-ish.
• Various small board books telling the Christmas story.
• Pictures of the Five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary
• Pictures of St.Nicholas, St.Lucy, the journey to Bethlehem and the Immaculate Conception
• Board book about Hannukah and a dreidl (I include these as my husband is Jewish)

Little Cherub loved her box, and played with it regularly throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons. Here she is enjoying herself with the Santa figure ...


This year, at two-and-a-half, I think she will enjoy it even more.

Advent Ideas

Advent is a wonderful season to focus on with toddlers as there are so many elements that appeal to little ones - advent calendars, candles, Nativity figures that they can handle, and so on. Whether you are starting to build family Advent traditions from scratch, or wanting to make some changes, you can find a great starting point in this series of posts by Karen Edmisten:

• No Panic Advent: Part 1 - the Jesus Stocking
• No Panic Advent: Part 2 - dates for your calendar
• No Panic Advent: Part 3 - O Night Divine blog
• No Panic Advent: Part 4 - keep an Advent file
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 5 - the Jesse Tree
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 6 - including secular traditions
  
• No Panic Advent: Part 7 - Advent Wreath, Advent Calendars, prayers and other traditions

There are lots of ideas here, but as Karen says " do not -- I repeat, do not -- feel pressure to do it all. No one does it all. You might want to pick one or two new things on which to focus -- and then, have fun with them." And remember, nothing engages a toddler more than fun!