Are you looking for a creative Advent activity for all ages? Over one thousand churches from around the world used our Advent Coloring Posters last year. It was an amazing experience for our team to follow everyone’s progress as they shared photos of their communities coloring the posters. There are so many different ways to use our coloring posters, and as we’ve mentioned before, there were children’s ministries, youth ministries, college groups, retirement homes, hospitals and entire churches that found ways to utilize these big coloring posters.
I had a chance to hear from some of the folks who used our posters, and I wanted you to hear from them in the short testimonials below. Take a few moments to read through some of these examples, share them with your friends and colleagues, and start dreaming about how your community might be able to use our Advent Coloring Posters as an Advent activity for all ages. You can find out all of the important details about our posters here, and they will be going on sale October 17!
The testimonials are below, followed by a small gallery of some more of our favorite photos from last year’s Advent Coloring Posters!
The Perfect Advent Activity for All Ages
Reflecting & Coloring
We used the Advent Coloring Posters as a time for all ages of our church to reflect and color together. They were then used as the backdrop for our Sunday School Christmas program and hung up for the Christmas season in the Church.
-Shanna VanderWel, Director of Youth and Family Ministry, Augustana Lutheran Church
Posters Also a Great Teaching Tool
We placed the posters each week on a large table in the center of our Fellowship Hall with colored pencils and invited people of all ages to participate in coloring the posters. We took one of the posters to our Youth Lock-In, and they joyfully colored it – and loved it! The posters were a great teaching tool. Looking at and explaining the different parts of scripture that each panel represented was a wonderful way to educate during Advent because the illustrations showed the depth of the story.
On the morning that we adorned the Nave and Sanctuary for Christmas, we put the posters together up on the east wall, and they were beautiful! They represented the beauty of community, which is what Jesus calls us to be. Thank you so much for these beautiful and thoughtful illustrations.
-Teresa Ryther, Christian Formation Coordinator, Good Shepherd Episcopal Church
Families Can Color Posters Too!
The children colored posters in the front of the sanctuary during worship, and we hung them in the sanctuary the following week. Sometimes a family would volunteer to take them home to finish since they’re kind of big! They are now on display in the main hallway of our church.
-Kristen Koch, Pastor, Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran (ELCA)
Community Collaboration
We started colouring the posters during our Advent Event and then had them out each week during Advent. After worship, people gathered around them during fellowship and coloured. We also took them to the school, so it became a community collaboration to decorate the church for Christmas.
-Nicole Hall, Child Youth and Household Ministry Coordinator, St. Paul Lutheran Church – Blair Athol, Australia
Coloring During Worship
We had a large open area in the back of the sanctuary (there used to be pews but they had been taken out several years ago) where we set up a table and chairs and the coloring posters. Children were invited to join the DCE at the table following the Children’s Sermon to work on the posters. Once we finished the posters, we hung them in Fellowship Hall.
-Laurie Fields, pastor, First Presbyterian, Harrisburg, Illinois
Bonding & Coloring
We placed our Advent Coloring Posters in the children’s area at the back of the church, and during the service children and their families coloured them. Also, others in our community colored during coffee after the service, and it helped to make bonds between the different generations.
-Sarah Jones, Sunday Club Volunteer, St. Mary’s Church, Gomersal, England
Service, Community, and Coloring
We hung our Advent Coloring Posters in the city soup kitchen where our church meets so that they could be enjoyed during the week. We colored them at the community center, and so many people participated. People LOVED the art and the other Bible stories and themes in the posters other than the Christmas narrative.
-Angela Moyer, Co-pastor, Ripple Church
Everyone Colours! An Advent Activity for All Ages
We distributed the Advent Coloring Posters to different groups in our congregation (seniors, children’s ministry, teens, parish council). Each group would then bring them to their allotted Sunday, lead the lighting of the wreath, and then put the poster up on the wall. The first year we put them up in black and white, and then swapped for the colour poster. The creep of colour around the walls was fantastic.
-Jemma Allen, Priest Associate for Children, Young People and Families, All Saints Anglican Church, Howick, Auckland, New Zealand
Coloring in Sunday School
We used them at our St. Nick Party and in our Sunday School program. We also gave the small versions to our families so they could also color them at home.
-Erica Jeglum, Director of Family and Youth Ministry, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis
We Can Color at Church AND at Home
Our church had larger posters printed and put them together in our sanctuary for Christmas. We also had 8.5×11 size pages in the worship bulletins for everyone and showed them how to put them together at home. People loved them!
-David Brown – Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, Akron Ohio
Additional Photos from Advent 2016
As you can see in the photos and stories from above, and the images below, our Advent Coloring Posters indeed do make a perfect Advent activity for all ages.
Meg Franks says
I was lucky to receive the free posters from last year’s contest for Advent. We didn’t get to use them because we had other stuff going on , and I’m very excited to see the many different ways that they can be used to enhance the service this year. My question is, what coloring medium have you found to be the best- crayons, markers (and if so, what type?) We have very young ones- how do you incorporate the “coloring outside the lines” children? Just asking folks who’ve used these with young children.
Thanks-
Meg Franks
Durham, Nc
Kelly Moore says
I’m wondering if you have smaller versions of the coloring sheets for smaller congregations. (Sorry if I’ve missed them). My congregation is so small it would take 5 years to get one complete.