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Advent

2012

Saturday

1st

DecemberMake an Advent wreath

The Advent wreath is a very special symbol. The evergreen leaves mean everlasting life, the circle of the wreath with no beginning and no end reminds us of the eternity of God and the four candles are the four weeks of Advent.

1. Cut a hole in the middle of a paper plate.2. Draw around your hands on green recycled paper and ask all the members of your family to do the same.3. Stick the cut-out hands around the outside of the paper plate to make the leaves.4. Make four candles by rolling paper into tubes (3 purple and 1 pink)5. Attach a paper flame to one candle on each Sunday of Advent.

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Sunday

2nd

DecemberA birthday gift!

The word Advent means coming. The season of Advent is a time when we wait and get ready for the birth of Jesus.

What birthday gift will you give Jesus this year?

Many of you, like the children at St Monica’s, took our Thirst for Change action earlier this year, to ask for clean water and safe sanitation for people everywhere.

Now many people are joining Hungry for change . To find out how to join our campaign and take action for everyone to have enough food to eat, go to

...................

Jesus doesn’t need the latest video game for his birthday! This Advent think about how your actions can be the perfect birthday

gift!

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Monday

3rd

DecemberIt’s time to decorate!

Make some eco friendly decorations.

Recycle old magazines to make colourful paper chains. Start by cutting the pages into strips. Write the names of all your friends and family on strips of paper and make them into a chain.

Next think about all the people around the world that need love and prayers this Christmas. Write names or countries on to strips of paper

and add them to your chain to remind you to pray for them during Advent.

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Today is the second Sunday of Advent

Let’s think about PEACE

Mary and Joseph journeyed to

Bethlehem. Some people are forced to make journeys because there is fighting where they live and it is too dangerous for them to stay. Today, when you light

the candle on your Advent

wreath pray for peace and remember all those people who have had to leave their homes in search of safety.

Tuesday

4th

December

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Christmas angel

Remember always to welcome strangers, for Remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this some people have entertained by doing this some people have entertained angels without even knowing it. angels without even knowing it.

(Hebrews 13:2)

The girls in the photo are called Mary-Jane and Grace, they live in Kenya. Grace had to move away from her home because it wasn’t safe. When she arrived at her new school she didn’t know anyone or have a school uniform. Mary-Jane could see that Grace was lonely and nervous. She made friends with her and gave her a spare school uniform.

Today make a Christmas angel to give to someone that you think has been very kind.

Wednesday

5th

December

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Thursday

6th

DecemberToday is the feast of St. Nicholas – the patron saint of children.

Legend says that when St. Nicholas became an orphan he chose to give away all his money to the poor and dedicate his life to Christ. It is said that he would toss little pouches of coins through the windows of the poor. Sometimes the pouches would land in

stockings that had been washed and hung out to dry.

Today in lots of countries around the world children celebrate the feast of St. Nicholas by hanging up a stocking or leaving out a boot. If they have been good they wake up to find their boot is filled with gifts!

As you get ready for Christmas, think about what it is like to walk in somebody else’s shoes, to have somebody else’s hopes and fears.

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Friday

7th

DecemberToday is the feast of St. Ambrose – the patron saint of learning.

As you look forward to your school holidays think about other children around the world who never have the chance to go to school. Pens, pencils, books, a uniform… may seem really ordinary but in developing countries, where many families can’t

afford to send their children to school – they’re life changing!

Make the most of your day at school! Learn something new, appreciate the books and resources you have and remember that education can help you reach your full potential!

To find out how CAFOD helps children go to school visit Picture my World or click on the photo of Reahou and Sila

at school in Cambodia.

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Saturday

8th

DecemberToday is the feast of the Immaculate Conception

Today is a special feast day for Mary, Jesus’ mother. In many countries around the world this is the day when people celebrate Mother’s Day.

CAFOD works with mums (and dads) all over the world. We help lots of mums when they are expecting babies to stay healthy! We also help babies and children with malnutrition to receive food supplements, like the baby in the picture, who is with her mum at a feeding centre in Niger.

Today think about Mary, Jesus’ mother and all the mums around the world. Remind your mum and all your family that you love them.

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Sunday

9th

DecemberChristmas shopping!

When you go shopping for Christmas with your family remember to take bags with you to reuse! In Rwanda plastic bags have been completely banned since 2006!

Don’t forget to look out for gifts with the Fairtrade mark too. When you see the Fairtrade mark it means that the people who have made the gift or farmed the food are being paid a fair wage for their work.

Make sure you recognise the Fairtrade mark when you see it! Click on the trolley to play the

Fairtrade shopper game.

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Monday

10th

DecemberBlessed are the peacemakers;

they shall be called children of God(Matthew 5:9)

Today in 1901 the first Nobel prizes were given. Every year prizes are awarded to people who have done

something really special – one of the prizes is for working for PEACE.

In some parts of our world there is fighting. People have to leave their homes and all their things to find safety. CAFOD works with people in

Darfur in Sudan. We help to provide food, shelter, clean water, medicine and schools for the families who have fled to the camps.

Today make peace with someone you have fallen out with and pray for peace around the world.

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Today is the third Sunday of Advent

Let’s think about HOPE

The inn keeper told Mary and

Joseph there was no room.

Today when you light a candle

on your Advent wreath

pray for refugees

that they may find hope,

new homes and acceptance.

Tuesday

11th

December

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Make a Christmas carol singer!

1. Paint a cardboard tube and leave to dry.

2. Cut out an oval from coloured paper to make a face shape. Draw on eyes, a wide singing mouth

and some rosy cheeks! Stick it onto your painted tube.

3. Cut out two paper mittens.

4. Cut a small rectangle from an old sheet of music. Fold the paper in half to look like a tiny songbook.

5. Glue the songbook between the pair of mittens and glue the mittens to the tube.

6. Make a small hat by trimming the foot off an old child’s sock. Stretch the sock over the end of the tube and tie the end closed with some wool.

7. You can make lots of carol singers using different sized tubes. Perhaps you could make a whole choir!

Wednesday

12th

December

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Thursday

13th

December

Lend a hand

Many children around the world have jobs to do at home like collecting water, helping on the farm

or looking after younger brothers and sisters while their parents work.

Help your family get ready for Christmas by offering to lend a hand with some of the household chores. You could make the beds or do

the dishes. But remember, no complaining!

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Friday

14th

DecemberWants and needs!

When we are preparing for Christmas we sometimes get carried away thinking about all the things we WANT.

CAFOD works with people in over 40 countries around the world to make sure that they have the things they NEED, like food, clean water,

medicine, a safe place to live and the opportunity to go to school.

This Advent take time to reflect and pray for our global family.

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Make a Christmas tree from handprints.

Ask a few friends to help you with the activity.

Paint your hand green and make a handprint on paper or draw around your hand on green recycled paper and cut it out.

On the back of your handprint add a Christmas prayer of hope. Make lots of hand prints and stick them to card to make a Christmas tree.

Saturday

15th

December

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Sunday

16th

December

A Christmas star!

In the Christmas story, a star guides the shepherds and the kings to the stable where Jesus was born.

Draw or make a Christmas star using recycled paper. Write the name of someone in your class that you think has been a true

Christmas star and say something nice about them!

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Monday

17th

DecemberA gift that makes a difference!

What would you like for Christmas?

For Mani, a health worker in Nigeria the perfect gift is a bicycle. It means that he can go on longer journeys

to make sure more people have the right medicine, care and advice. Mani’s bicycle means that he can take vaccinations to remote villages to protect children from diseases like measles. His work saves lives.

Click on the bike to find our more about Mani’s work by playing

the game Mani’s healthy village

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Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent

Let’s think about LOVE

Today as you light a candle on your Advent wreath pray for a fairer world. Pray that we may be good

neighbours to all people near and far..

Tuesday

18th

December

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Make stained glass shortbread stars for your Christmas tree.

You need a grown-up to help you with this activity and two star-shaped cookie cutters (one big and one small).

1.First make up a biscuit mixture of your choice. (For shortbread: cream together 1 cup of butter with ½ cup of Fairtrade caster sugar. Then add 2 cups of flour and ¼ teaspoon of baking powder.)2. Roll out your biscuit mixture and cut out stars with the big cookie cutter and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper.3. Then using the small cookie cutter, make a star-shaped hole in the middle of each biscuit.4. Put some boiled sweets in a bag and break them into tiny pieces using a rolling pin. Sprinkle the crumbs into the holes to fill them up.5. Bake the biscuits. When you take them out of the oven make a small hole to thread a ribbon. 6. Carefully peel the biscuits off the paper and cool.

Wednesday

19th

December

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Thursday

20th

December

Make a Christmas card for someone who seems lonely to

show them that you care.

Give them an extra special smile by making it a pop-up card!

Download Christmas cards to colour in at….

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Friday

21st

DecemberBe a shining light!

How to make an Advent candle.

Get a cardboard tube and stand it on some newspaper.

Squirt blobs of white PVA glue right from the bottle around the top of your tube. Let the glue

run down thesides so that it looks like dripping wax.

Let the glue dry thoroughly – you’ll know when it is ready because the gluewill go clear. When it is completely dry paint your cardboard tube and all thegluey drips.

Cut a flame shape for your candle from a sheet of gold paper and attach it toyour candlestick by taping it in inside of the painted tube.

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Saturday

22nd

December

What does Christmas mean to you?

Ask each member of your family to finish the sentence:

“To me Christmas means…”

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Sunday

23rd

December

The Christmas story

Today, read the Christmas story with a friend. Imagine what it would be like to be each person in the story – how would you be feeling if you were

Mary or Joseph, or perhaps a shepherd or one of the wise men?

Draw pictures to illustrate each step of the story.

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Monday

24th

DecemberToday is Christmas Eve.

The wait is almost over, it’s Christmas Eve! Today is a really exciting day with lots of last minute things to prepare, presents to wrap and stockings to hang up.

The children in the picture are preparing for Christmas. They are practicing dance and music for a Nativity display they will do for their community in Brazil. As you settle down to sleep on this exciting evening remember children all over the world in your prayers.

As I turn off the light and get ready to sleep,I pray for all the children of the world that I may never meet.

Look after us all as we dream under the same stars this Christmas eve.

Goodnight, God.

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