Looking for some simple advent calendar ideas. This Free printable advent calendar is a quick and fun way to add some holiday cheer to your advent season without breaking the bank with expensive advent traditions.
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Free Printable Advent Calendar
What is a coloring advent calendar? It is a simple and effective way to do an advent tradition with your children that is as simple as printing, cutting, gluing, and hanging!
Advent means “coming” and the simplest definition for it is a season of preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas and the second coming of Christ.
I like to think of it as a tangible reminder during the holidays to preach the gospel to myself and my family daily! It should be a practice that we do every day of the year, but Christmas is a time we can make it extra special. This season has the potential to speak to our children’s hearts in ways that the other times of the year don’t.
It can be a very confusing time of the year with consumerism at its peak, but it also can be a beautiful opportunity to present the gospel to your children amidst the season of advent.
I encourage you to do some type of advent tradition, even if it’s not this one.
There are two pages to the free printable advent calendar and 28 pages in the upgraded version!
How to Use the Coloring Advent Calendar
There are many ways that you could use a coloring advent calendar. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Set up a coloring station for your children to color the advent square each day. Read the Bible verse together once they have finished
- Display the advent squares or pages (in upgrade) over your fireplace on a string. It makes a lovely Christmas decoration.
- Hole punch the advent square (it’s best if you use cardstock to print in this case) and hang it on a children’s Christmas tree after coloring the advent square each day.
- Keep the entire page whole and just let the children color at will throughout the Advent season.
- Use your imagination, the options are endless!
These are not just for children though! Feel free to print out multiple copies for each child or adult in your family. You can make it quite the tradition.
If you want to make the calendar so there is an open square that children can open each day, here are the steps you need to take:
- Print the two pages in the free option.
- Using a razor blade or straight edge, cut around the top, bottom, and right side of each square.
- Fold over to create a box to open.
- Glue around the grey areas on the Bible reading page. Place the two pages together to create one.
- Now every day your child can color a box and open it to reveal the advent reading for that day!
I love pairing multiple advent ideas together. One fun way you could use this is with a Jesse tree and the book Unwrapping the Greatest Treasure. Although these do not necessarily coordinate with the daily readings of the book, you could use them as a fun pairing.
Our absolute favorite advent tradition is The Shepherd’s Treasure! Over the years we have mixed up what the shepherd brings each morning and these advent squares would be perfect! The Shepherd’s Treasure is the perfect way to kick the Elf on the Shelf tradition to the curb and focus on a better way to anticipate the holiday season.
Want to upgrade?
Our upgraded version of the free printable advent calendar comes with both a coloring and full-color version. In addition, you get full pages of each day’s advent reading and corresponding coloring graphic! 28 pages total!
More Advent and Christmas Printables for Kids
Best Advent Calendar Traditions
Alternatives to Elf on the Shelf
20 Christian Christmas Kids Books
25 Christmas Advent Calendar Bible Verses with Printable Advent Cards
Free Printable Candy Cane Poem
Free Printable Advent Calendar
Printing the Free Printable Advent Calendar
Are you ready to download the coloring advent calendar? I would love for you to have it. You can get it by diving into the FREE printables library for kids where you will get not just this freebie, but dozens more. Or just click the button below to grab the advent calendar PDF.
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