Advent wreaths do not have to be perfect, beautiful artistic creations by the adults. Four candles and a few things from the outside–leaves, stones, greens, rosemary OR from inside–ribbon, paper clips, rubber bands, buttons, stickers… can make a seasonally perfect-imperfect Advent wreath. Some Advent wreaths are especially child/kid friendly.

• Place four votive candles on a piece of butcher paper or 11×17 card stock. Give your children snippets of purple (or blue ribbon) and let them scatter the pieces around the paper. Each day let them draw something associated with the season or even just a nebulous doodle. If a child is old enough, let them choose from a grab bag of Advent words to write on the page: darkness, light, hope, wait, watch, listen, patience, hope, savior…. It’s a great opportunity to expand their vocabulary. As the weeks pass, the page will be covered with their designs and form a progressive Advent calendar.

• Battery-operated candles are a great way to give a child permission to relight the candle or candles each day. I have found purple and blue ones at the Dollar Tree, but also used a colored marker to turn white ones into either color. My new favorite ones are floating battery-operated candles from a company called 100Candles. They are about $1.19 each. Flickering ones are a little more expensive.

Check out the berries and plants that come from outside. Toddlers might think they look pretty appetizing.