Prepare Him Room by Marty Machowski

This Advent devotional has three parts per week of Advent, plus one section of a story to read each week. 16 total devotions with a 17th for Christmas Day. Each day has a “Supplies Needed” section so you have everything you need. This is followed by a “Warm-Up” section that has a brief activity to get your family in the right mindset. Next, is “Read the Bible” where the scripture is written in the book itself. This is followed by the “Picture It” section with thoughts from the author.

The “Talk About It” section has questions to ask your family with answers included. Then, there is a “Pray Together” section with a short prayer, a “Sing Together” section where you can sing a new song written for this devotional or a traditional carol, and sometimes an “Activity” section to do together. If you did all of the sections, it would take you approximately 30 minutes.

Ages: Best for children 5+, but see Mom Thoughts below.

This devotional is structured very differently than most Advent devotionals. Only having 16 days of reading and activities gives you a little more flexibility. If 30 minutes seems like a lot of time to invest in one evening, you could certainly split it between two nights or omit things that are above your child’s head for that year.

This is probably best understood by school-age children and up, but if you wanted to do this with younger children, you could tailor it in any way to fit your family by omitting sections you feel they wouldn’t understand, although I recommend keeping scripture in each time! I have heard success using this with toddlers through middle schoolers when you are flexible with the structure (and omit much for toddlers). Do be aware that the short story you can read each week has very strong orphan/adoption themes in it, if that is something that is sensitive to your family. I highly recommend this for your family!

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