Help your children keep track of the arrival of advent with a calendar he has made himself. The advent calendar can be as simple as 24 loops hooked together into a chain. The child will remove one loop each day and count the remaining loops. Another options would be to use six long strands of ribbon that are knotted at the top. Tie on 24 candy canes and eat one each day. A third option would be to number 24 coin envelopes and fill them with little gifts like chocolates, coins, or other trinkets. Open one envelope each day.
Children enjoy dressing up and performing plays. Provide children with appropriate dress-up clothes like robes and shawls. Make a manger out of a box. Let a group of children use the dress-up clothes and act out the advent story for everyone. If the children don't know the story or have trouble with the order of advent events, slowly read the story from the Bible or a storybook as the children act out the story.
Create a nativity scene for the refrigerator. Using old Christmas cards, cut out pictures of Jesus in the manger, Mary, Joseph, farm animals, and a manger. Include shepherds and sheep, wise men and their camels and a star. Glue a small magnet to each of the cut-outs. For larger cut outs, add two magnets, one at the top and one at the bottom. Cover the cut-outs, both front and back, with clear contact paper. Cut them out and put them on the refrigerator.
Cut out the main characters in the advent story. Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, the shepherds, and the inn keeper individually. Place a line of glue up the middle of enough craft sticks to have one per character cut-out. Place them on a piece of wax paper. Lay one person cut-out on each stick, centering the cut-out. Place another piece of wax paper over the top of the characters and cover them with a heavy book. Once they are dry, use the puppets to retell the advent story.