Catholic Advent activities for kids, by age and setting

Advent 2026 runs from Sunday, November 29 through the afternoon of December 24. That gives you four Sundays and 26 days, which is more than most families and classrooms can fill, so it helps to pick one or two things and keep them going. The activities below are sorted by age first and then by where you will use them.

A good Catholic Advent activity helps a child wait for Jesus. That rules out a lot of what fills December, because Christmas has not started yet. If an activity could run unchanged on December 26, it probably belongs to Christmas.

Activities by age

Ages 4 to 6

Young children understand waiting through things they can see and count. Keep each activity short, and expect to repeat it.

• Color the Sunday Gospel. One large picture, colored while an adult tells the story in two or three sentences. The Advent coloring pages have a version for this age for each Sunday.
• Count the candles. Each Sunday, count how many candles are lit and how many are still waiting. Color one more candle on the wreath sheet.
• Say one line of prayer. "Come, Lord Jesus" is enough, and a four-year-old can lead it at dinner.

Ages 7 to 9

Most children this age can read the directions themselves and like having something to finish. They can also start connecting the Sunday Gospel to their own week.

• Put the Gospel in order. Number the events of the passage, then retell it to someone else without looking at the sheet.
• Do a word search after Mass. Finding "gatekeeper" or "Jordan" gives children a reason to remember the word they heard.
• Keep a kindness count. Write down one quiet thing done for someone each day, and bring the list to the wreath on Sunday.

Ages 10 to 12

Older children can handle a real question and will notice if an activity is too young for them. Give them some reading to do and a little resistance.

• Compare two Gospels. John the Baptist appears on both the second and third Sundays in 2026. Ask what Mark tells us about him and what John adds.
• Crack a code, then explain it. A secret-code phrase takes a few minutes to solve. Asking what the message means takes longer and is the better part.
• Choose a real act of preparation. Going to Confession, giving up something small, or helping with a parish collection all count, and a child this age can decide which one to do.

Activities by setting

At Mass

Anything used in the pew has to be quiet and hold up on a lap. A coloring sheet with a small cup of crayons works. Glue, scissors, and anything that rolls do not. Hand the sheet out before Mass if children color during the liturgy, or at the doors afterward if your parish prefers that they listen first. The children's bulletin guide covers how to set this up and check your copier.

In a CCD or religious education class

A class that meets before the Sunday can get ahead of the Gospel, which helps children recognize it when it is read. One 30-minute plan:

• Light the classroom wreath and pray together (3 minutes).
• Read the coming Sunday's Gospel aloud from a lectionary or Bible (2 minutes).
• Ask one question about it and take a few answers (5 minutes).
• Color or solve the sheet while you talk through the story (15 minutes).
• Name one thing to do this week, then close with a prayer (5 minutes).

The guide to the Advent 2026 Sunday Gospels has a question for each age group and notes on where children tend to get stuck.

At home

The family version can be very simple. Light the wreath at one meal a week, say a short prayer, and let a child blow out the candles. Printing the Sunday sheet on Saturday night means your child already knows the story when it is read at Mass, and it gives you something to talk about in the car.

Across a parish

A parish can do a lot with one shared link. Put the wreath sheet in the bulletin or the parish email, since it needs no account and prints on ordinary paper. Then set out a stack of that week's coloring sheets by the doors or in the children's area.

Free printables

The Catholic Advent coloring pages follow the Gospel for each of the four Sundays in three age versions, free with an account. The Advent wreath sheet needs no account. Premium adds an activity on the back of the coloring page and a leader answer key, and the Mass activities guide explains which puzzle suits which age.