Aren’t those Baby Jesuses so cute? Or, wait…. Babies Jesus? Baby Jesii? Whatever.

Take home tactile Advent isn’t a new concept, for sure, and I chose not to reinvent the wheel with this project. I still wanted to share what I did so that others can easily replicate it.

I first saw this project here, and I adapted it somewhat.

Here is a link to the beautiful bags that I used for this: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B06XVWV5WV

Each week of Lent has been assigned a theme, and they are: Hope (I), Love (II), Joy (III), and Peace (IV).

“Hope: Hold the star in your hand. The wise men followed a star, hoping to find Jesus. What do you hope for? Say a prayer to God, asking for God to bring light and hope to everyone who is finding life to be hard.”

Wooden stars can be purchased here: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B01HC66RTM/

Note: I made my own wood treatment using a blend of coconut oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, and frankincense essential oil. You don’t necessarily need to do that, but it does give the wooden pieces a nice feel and smell, and guarantees them to last longer.

“Love: Hold the heart in your hand. Who do you love? Who loves you? Say thank you to God for the love in your life. Pray for people who feel unloved.”

Wooden hearts can be purchased here: https://amazon.com/gp/product/B00YWGA9AE

Note: I made my own wood treatment using a blend of coconut oil, beeswax, cocoa butter, and frankincense essential oil. You don’t necessarily need to do that, but it does give the wooden pieces a nice feel and smell, and guarantees them to last longer.

“Joy: Bend the pipe cleaner into the shape of something that brings you joy. Thank God for the things that make you happy. Pray for the people who are sad, that God’s joy might become theirs.”

Note: I ordered gold pipe cleaners in bulk on Amazon, but they were absolutely terrible quality so I wouldn’t recommend them. They shredded, some of them came with no fuzz on them, some were cut to irregular lengths.

“Peace: Make a special bed for the baby Jesus out of the clay. He’ll be nice and cozy there when it’s time for him to be born. Thank God for peace, and pray for people who are seeking peace.”

Note: I bought 10z. bags of Crayola Model Magic in white for this project, but they have since gone out of stock from the source I used. You can buy the individually wrapped ones like I did, or buy it in bulk bins and make your own plastic baggies of it. Each “bed” will require about 1 oz so you can get about 32 from a 2 lb bucket.

Note: I used washed river stones for this, which I picked up at a craft store. I made sure to find rocks that were mostly flat and with a very smooth surface. I like that they’re irregularly shaped. I used matte white acrylic paint and a brown acrylic paint in the color “nutmeg” for Jesus’s face. I painted the white blobs and brown circles or ovals so that they looked like fried eggs, then I sealed them with matte Mod Podge and drew the black outlines and face using Sharpie marker on top. Don’t try to draw with Sharpie first and then cover with Mod Podge, I ended up with a good deal of smearing on the first few samples by using that method.

Here’s the image from the top of the document:

Here is the document that was included in each bag: Using Advent Bags

Here is all of the text in the document, unformatted:

Every time you use the bag and light the candles, say these words: The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.  (Isaiah 9:2)

Dec 2, Advent I, Light one blue (or purple) candle on your advent wreath or light the tealight if you don’t have an advent wreath.

Hope: Hold the star in your hand. The wise men followed a star, hoping to find Jesus. What do you hope for? Say a prayer to God, asking for God to bring light and hope to everyone who is finding life to be hard.

Dec 9, Advent II, Light two blue candles or use your tealight.

Love: Hold the heart in your hand. Who do you love? Who loves you? Say thank you to God for the love in your life. Pray for people who feel unloved.

Dec 16, Advent III, Light two blue candles and the pink candle or use your tealight.

Joy: Bend the pipe cleaner into the shape of something that brings you joy. Thank God for the things that make you happy. Pray for the people who are sad, that God’s joy might become theirs.

Dec 23, Advent IV, Light three blue candles and the pink candle or use your tealight.

Peace: Make a special bed for the baby Jesus out of the clay. He’ll be nice and cozy there when it’s time for him to be born. Thank God for peace, and pray for people who are seeking peace.

Christmas Day: Light all of the candles on your advent wreath and light your tealight. Place the baby Jesus in the bed you built for him. Doesn’t he look comfy?

Thank God for the miracle of Jesus being born, to be a light in a world full of darkness and trouble, and pray that Jesus might be born again in our hearts.  Pray that you might be a light in a dark and troubled world, too.