Truth in The Tinsel and Fun FREE Supplemental Activities and Ideas

Every year for the last 3, my family has used the Truth in the Tinsel curriculum during Advent.  I prefer to guide my family’s focus toward the true reason for the season (as cliche as that sounds…) instead of Santa and Snowmen and Reindeer.  We do plenty of all that, too, but I want the kids to grow up seeing past the consumerism and see what we are truly celebrating.  

When I was searching for activities do with my kids initially, I was super overwhelmed with the amount of time and effort I was going to have to put forth while taking care of two toddlers and working full time (plus blogging and other side projects).  I didn’t want to screw it up and not get the point across and I definitely didn’t want them to be bored, but I didn’t think I had the time to devote to preparation, research, gathering materials AND doing the activities with the kids.

Truth in the Tinsel was literally and answer to my prayers.  Everything I needed to successfully relay the Christmas story to my kids with lessons and activities was all laid out step-by-step.  But the next best thing is the flexibility that the lessons offer!  You can follow the day by day Advent calendar with a lesson and craft for each day of December OR follow the abbreviated schedule that hits on all the major points (this is great for busy schedules!), OR leave out the crafts and work through the Printable Ornaments OR have you church Sunday School follow along together with the class curriculum!  There is something for every age and time commitment level.

I have also been following along with the author on social media and there is tons of collaboration among other bloggers so the ideas are endless.  I wanted to share some with you :)

Pink Paper Peppermints has created a Free Printable Ornament Album.  This is such an awesome idea, especially for those of us with some older kids or have done it for a few years.  We love to remake the ornaments and use them as our tree decorations, but this gives us one more option.

Educating Laytons has instruction on making LEGO Advent Pieces!

Mama Jenn has created Free Printable Advent Pieces to Coordinate with TitT.

I love this Musical Accompaniment Recommendation List from What Did We Do All Day?

How about a journaling page for your older ones?  (So awesome)  By Not Consumed

Advent Tracing Cards created by All Our Days

I highly recommend Truth in the Tinsel if you are looking for a fun way to celebrate Advent with your children!

Truth in The Tinsel: An Advent Experience for Little Hands

So, for the last 3 years (this year included) Truth in the Tinsel has been a staple at my house during the Christmas season.

In 2011, I went in search of an Advent curriculum for my then 3 and 4 year olds becuase I was seeing the signs of Santa taking over.  I had originally not wanted to have Santa be apart of our Christmas celebrations, but that's a different story...

I needed something that laid out the Christmas story for me in an easy to teach format with activities planned out.  I was a working mother of two young children with very little time to make up my own lessons and I didn't want that to be the excuse for just not doing anything.

Now I am a busy working mom of a 6,(4 days shy of) 5 and (very nearly) 2 year old with another on the way.  Life hasn't gotten less chaotic and my "free" time is non-existent.  Throw in first grader homework and preschool projects and the never ending volunteer opportunites in this season and I am truly, truly thankful that I purchased this ebook when I did.

The kids are already asking when the Advent calendar will make it's way out of storage and when we can start making our Christmas projects.  It doesn't matter that they have done the lessons before because every year they are at a new developmental stage.  Some lessons are easier for the older ones and sometimes it's perfect for all ages, but it works for all of them every year :)  I love that they love it!

Something that is also nice?  There are different lesson plans.  You can choose to do an activity each day of december or use the abbreviated version so that even busy, busy families can learn the story in it's entirety but not have to do a craft every day of the week.

We will most likely be using the abbriviated lesson plans and work on the weekends becuase getting through dinner, homeowork and bed time routines takes every second of our time after I get home from work.  And that is the beauty of it.

If you are intersted in finding an easy to use but highly effective tool in teaching your children about the true meaning of Christmas, I highly recommend Truth in the Tinsel, which also happens to be availalbe as a classroom curriculum!