Before we know it, Advent will be upon us. I’m one who likes to browse through possible resources and choose something new at my leisure. Here is a short list of some books and DVDs that are currently available at Christianbook.com.

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas, be sure your children remember why we celebrate Christmas. This Advent family devotion starts on December 1 and concludes on December 24. Each day has a devotion of how a symbol of Christmas reminds us of Jesus as well as a saying and a verse. All ages will enjoy these stories of the symbols of Christmas, especially children ages 4 to 12.

The Christmas Shoppe is an event where your Children’s Ministry children from Preschool to 6th Grade will hear the Christmas story, create Christmas gifts, and prepare their hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The gifts created can be sold to support a missions or given as gifts. In six “departments” or “shops”, children hear part of the Christmas story and make items for sale or gift-giving (Angel, Manger, Candy Cane, Star, Card and Bakery.) Each shop’s craft activity offers easy, medium and advanced levels of creative difficulty to match all age-groups.
Choose a program format that best fits your church’s needs:
1. A large one-day event from 9:00am – 3:00pm that culminates in a closing worship service and sale of the crafts for missions support.
2. A weekend event on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning with children involved with or leading the worship service.
3. A four-week Advent study in Children’s Ministry on Sundays, mid-week services or kid’s club group. Content includes lighting of the Advent Wreath for use each week.
An enclosed CD-Rom provides music, PowerPoints, Bible story scripts, scripts for use during worship, and patterns for crafts. (Note: Craft patterns are also in reproducible format in the book.)

Show your 5- to 8-year-olds how to pray about family, friends, hopefulness, peacefulness, and more! Each of these 31 easy-to-understand Advent devotions also features a fun illustration. 192 pages, softcover.

Beginning with God helps parents with young children explore the real Christmas story together during the holiday season. Each day you will read a part of the Bible together; answer some simple questions; pray together; then use the free color stickers to remember what you have read and talked about. Note: Page numbers are given for The Beginner’s Bible but many of the stories can be found in other infant and toddler Bibles as well. Ages 2-5.

Beth and her brother Digger can hardly wait for the Christmas celebration to come. They are thrilled to learn that the church has a special season of waiting and preparation in expectation of the coming Savior, the season of Advent. Beth and Digger eagerly hear God’s plan of salvation as they light the candles of their Advent wreath and mark the days until the coming of Emmanuel, “God With Us”. This delightful program uses a combination of live-action puppets, illustrations and 3-D computer animation. Running time: Approximately 27 minutes. Recommended for ages 5 to 10.

Under Wraps is an all-church Advent experience that explores the character of God described in the Old Testament and then revealed through Jesus Christ. Through small group resources for all ages, teaching video, worship ideas and visuals, sermon lead-in videos, and preaching guides, all areas of church life weave together for an exciting, new Advent celebration.

The DVD contains four video segments of approximately 10-15 minutes each for use during the group sessions featuring each author/pastor teaching. Sessions include: faithful, dangerous, expectant, and jealous. All video sessions are closed captioned. (Available soon.)