During Advent, Christians prepare their hearts for Christmas by stopping to think about the Christmas story and making room for Jesus. We wanted to share some of our favourite Advent themed prayer activities to inspire you and your prayer spaces! 

The Preparing Hearts prayer activity encourages pupils to use pictures and objects to help them think about the Christmas Story. 

Mary and Joseph travelled at least 110 kilometres from Nazareth to Bethlehem on a donkey. Life is a bit like a long journey, and we have lots of experiences along the way. The Christmas Journey prayer activity encourages pupils to think about moments over the last year. Pupils can write or draw about these moments on cut out footprints and they can leave them behind as they begin their journey into the new year.

God chose to share the news of Jesus’ birth with shepherds who were looking after their sheep. Shepherds were the least important in society, but they were the first people God chose to tell. The Christmas: Shepherds on the Hill prayer activity helps pupils to write a thought or a prayer for people who may be considered unimportant and stick it onto a world map.

God put a star in the sky to guide the Wise Men to help them find Jesus. The Wise Men’s Star: Asking For Guidance prayer activity encourages pupils to think about where they need guidance in their lives. Pupils can write a thought or prayer for help or guidance onto a Post-it Note and stick it onto the night sky image.

When the Wise Men found Jesus, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The Jesus’ Gifts: Being Thankful prayer activity encourages pupils to think about what gifts they have. Not just things, but people skills, memories, and many other things. Pupils can use the play dough to create something they would like to say thank you for. 

The Christmas: Giving My Gift prayer activity helps pupils to think about the gifts they have. For example, empathy, sports ability, creative writing, leadership, listening, organising, peace-making etc. Pupils can write or draw their gifts onto a Christmas box to symbolise them using their gifts to help others. 

The Christmas story is full of joy and rejoicing because of the birth of Jesus. The Christmas: Rejoice prayer activity encourages pupils to think about something that makes them joyful and to decorate a star. 

Rev’s Susan Crothers-Robertson from St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School in Australia has shared some helpful top tips for running Advent Christmas prayer spaces. You can read the full article here.

For our last Prayer Spaces Session before Christmas, we’re going to get festive! Join us online on Monday 29th November from 7.30-8.30pm as we explore how to host our best Advent prayer spaces. Packed with lots of seasonal-themed suggestions and breakout rooms to swap our best prayer activity ideas. Book your free ticket here.

We hope your advent prayer spaces go really well and we look forward to hearing about them!