General Advent Website
A wonderful website full of all kinds of Advent materials from Creighton University. It will take some time to look through it to find things you want.
Videos
“Arts & Faith: Advent.” A series of videos linking works of art to the Sunday readings. Scroll down and click on each week of Advent and on Christmas, choosing Cycle B for 2017. Approximately three minutes each. Suitable for adults and teenagers. From Loyola Press.
Advent in Two Minutes. Fast-paced, informative, and entertaining video on Advent from Busted Halo. Older children and young adults might especially appreciate this one. You have to be able to read the words as they fly across the screen, so it's not for children.
Advent: Waiting for Jesus. An Advent music video (slide show to music of Mumford & Sons) from the Dublin Roman Catholic Archdiocese. Again, you need to be able to read.
The Christmas Poem. This video for young children is based on a booklet published by the Bible Society (England and Wales) in 2015. What makes this retelling different is that it starts with creation, shows humankind’s need for a Savior, and ends with references to the adult Jesus, so that the nativity story is told in the context of salvation history.
Advent Calendars
One-page printable Advent calendar with suggestions of things to do and Bible verses to look up. Can be used by families and also by individual adults. Each year this calendar is published it includes a poem; look here for the poems on all the previous calendars https://thomasmousin.wordpress.com/advent-poems-2/.
Several templates for blank Advent calendars so that adults or children can color or doodle thoughts on each day of Advent. From Praying in Color, the website of an author who encourages drawing as prayer.
Jesse Trees
This Jesse tree project includes not just printable Jesse tree ornaments but also printable reflections to go with each day. The reflections and the number of ornaments are specifically for Advent 2017, beginning on 3 December. From the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Erie, Pennsylvania.
You can use this as a sort of “virtual” Jesse tree. For each day of Advent you can look at a picture, read a short reflection, and look up the Bible story or stories listed. The days are given as Monday in the first week of Advent, etc., so it can be used any year. The last week is a full seven days, however, so if you want to finish it on time you will need to double up on the third week. From the Loyola Press website.
Advent Prayers, Advent Wreaths, Advent Devotions
A family Advent prayer, an Advent wreath blessing, and a prayer for each week of Advent, from Loyola Press. The printer-friendly versions have extremely small print, so printing directly from the website may be better.
One-page printable sheet (pdf) with instructions for making an Advent wreath and prayers to use with the wreath. From the website of a Disciples of Christ pastor.
Celebrating Advent in the Home. From the website of King of Peace Episcopal Church in Kingsland, Georgia: “This 8-page brochureis designed for families to use in celebrating the season of Advent. It may be reproduced free of charge as long as the copyright notice is included. The .PDF file contains four 8.5 x 11 pages to create the 8-page booklet. Pages one and two create a service booklet for use with the Advent wreath. Pages three and four create a booklet with additional Advent information and suggestions. This information is also available in web page form [with colored pictures].” (Best suited for families whose children are above a very young age.)
Make a paper Advent wreath for children. Read the instructions, scrolling down past the photos to find the printable pages. From the website of a Catholic school teacher.
Scroll down to find two thoughtful Advent prayers, printable either as one-page colored posters or as small cards (four to a page). From Jesuitresource.org at Xavier University. Nice for giving away. (You may also like some other prayers available for printing here!)
Four Gifts for You This Advent. Weekly Advent devotional readings from Loyola Press. You can read them online or print them.
Weekly devotions from the American Bible Society, based on the Gospel of Mark. Suggested craft activities are included.
Advent Music
It’s hard to find listening music specifically for Advent, not Christmas. Listen here to 90 minutes of choral music for Advent, much of it based on hymns. Great to play while doing Christmas preparations such as baking, wrapping presents, or decorating. From Concordia Publishing House.
Great O Antiphons
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
A video for each one of the Great O Antiphons, made by the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Episcopal monks) in Cambridge. Each video is about ten minutes, except for the short introduction on Dec. 16. For adults and young people.
Printable Nativity Scenes
Simple line drawings of figures that can be colored, cut out, and glued around toilet-paper rolls (or cut-up paper towel rolls) to stand up. For very young children this is probably the best one I have found. From Catholic Icing, a website maintained by an individual Roman Catholic mother.
Stable and figures to cut out. A bit sturdier if printed on stiff paper but will work fine on regular paper and will look good even without coloring. For all ages. From Made by Joel, a paper craft website maintained by Joel Henriques.
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