Bible Verses For Advent Calendar – Paper Chain Advent Readings For Kids

Advent activities for kids can be a fun part of building their anticipation for Christmas! There are lots of Christmas countdown ideas out there, but I wanted to come up with something that really helped my children to understand what the Christmas celebration is all about. As I thought through different types of advent calendar activities I also decided that I wanted to make their activity one that they had high participation with.

Our oldest daughter just turned 3 so we didn’t implemented any advent activities in past years since she was still too young to understand any of them. However, this year it seemed time to build something into our traditions to help her anticipate the season! As I mentioned above, I wanted to implement an advent tradition that really helped her to understand that we celebrate Christmas to celebrate the fact that God became man through the birth of Jesus. When I was a child we used an advent calendar that narrated the biblical Christmas story and my siblings and I had much of it memorized simply from reading through the story from the start to the newly added portion each day throughout the month of December each year.

Since I love creating printables, I started to think about what kind of advent printable I could make to tell the Biblical Christmas story and involve our daughter to build up her anticipation for the holiday. When making a paper chain popped into my mind it seemed the perfect fit! Our daughter could help construct the chain as well as deconstruct it to countdown to Christmas and each link of the chain could include actual Biblical text. 

So this year, we will be counting down to Christmas with advent calendar verses from Luke 2:1-21 (ESV) in the form of a paper Christmas countdown chain!

How To Use The Scripture Advent Calendar Chain

Using the advent chain is quite simple. Prior to December 1st, simply print out the paper chain template download. Cut each strip out and then tape them around each other to form a paper chain. (You can do this with white paper for a “snow” like look or print it to red and green paper for a more “Christmasy” appearance.) Make sure you put them in reverse order from 25-1 if you want to rip them off in order from the right side.

Starting on December 1st, have your child rip off the right hand (or bottom) link near the tape (so the text is not ripped through). Read the verse on the paper strip with them. Each day read all of the previously torn strips together first and then rip off the next strip to add to the story. This will allow you to repeat the biblical Christmas story with your child over and over again each day. 

As you tear off multiple strips you can store them together with a clip, hang them on a bulletin board or magnetic white board, or have your child tape them up on a window, roll of paper, or a wall. 

If you choose, you can also take an opposite approach and have your child construct the chain with each passing day in December. (So on December 1st they would create the first link of the chain and then add a link for each consecutive day.) This makes for a fun full chain by the time Christmas day arrives. However, it is a bit more difficult to repeatedly read the story this way. Instead of reading the Christmas story off of the strips you could read it directly from the Bible each day and be sure to stop where the last chain left off to add on the additional portion of the story.

However you choose to use it, the chain can serve as a free and easy way to help your child absorb the biblical account of Jesus’ birth throughout the holiday season.

Download the Advent Paper Chain

You can download the template for this paper chain Christmas countdown craft to print below. The download includes 5 pages of strips to cut and tape together. It will print to standard computer paper. 

Printer note: make sure you select “fit” on your printer settings before printing unless your printer has borderless printing. Printing at “actual size” will cut off a portion of the top and bottom strips on each page.

Download your paper chain advent calendar pattern here.

advent calendar activity ideas

Christmas Countdown Activities – DIY Paper Chain Biblical Advent Calendar