Here is a free pack of Advent and Christmas worksheets for kids: puzzles, activity sheets and Bible story coloring pages, with answer keys, all in one PDF. There is nothing to sign up for. Print the whole pack or just the pages you need for Sunday school, children’s church, a Christmas Eve busy bag or an Advent countdown at home. Every page points kids to the Christmas story in the Bible, from Isaiah’s promise of a great light to the wise men bowing before Jesus.
Ages 3 to 12 · 44 pages, US letter size · free for church, school and home use
What’s in the free Advent and Christmas worksheets PDF
- Advent puzzles and coloring pages for kids (ages 6 to 12): 5 coloring pages and 10 puzzle pages at two levels
- Answer keys for every Advent puzzle
- Advent coloring and activity pages for preschool (ages 3 to 5): 5 coloring pages and 5 activity sheets
- Christmas coloring pages and word searches for kids: 4 Nativity story coloring pages and 4 word searches
- What to print: ready-made lists for the Sundays of Advent, a Christmas Eve busy bag and a family Advent countdown
These pages come from two of our Sunday school series at the Sunday School Store: Advent for Kids and Silent Night. Before we shared them, Lily on our team printed the puzzles and worked them with a red pencil. That’s her hands in the photos.
Advent worksheets for kids: puzzles and coloring pages (ages 6 to 12)
The first part of the pack follows the five weeks of Advent for Kids. Weeks 1 to 4 follow the four Advent candles, hope, peace, joy and love, and Week 5 lights the Christ candle. Each week has a Bible story coloring page and one puzzle printed at two levels. Level 1 works for younger kids and early readers. Challenge is for older kids who know the story. Kids at the same table can work the same puzzle at their own level.
Week 1, Hope: connect the dots (Isaiah 9:2-7)
The coloring page shows Isaiah telling God’s people about a promised Child: “Jesus is the promised Savior.” In the connect-the-dots puzzle, Level 1 counts from 1 to 20 and Challenge skip-counts by 4s up to 140. The finished picture is a candle with its flame, a great light shining in the dark.
Week 2, Peace: crossword puzzle (John 3:1-17)
Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, and the coloring page shows them talking by lamplight: “Jesus brings peace with God.” The Level 1 crossword uses picture clues and a word bank (cross, heart, night, wind, world), so kids can copy the words. The Challenge crossword has written clues from John 3 and no word bank.
Week 3, Joy: color by code (Luke 1:57-79)
Zechariah holds up his writing tablet and sings for joy, and the coloring page shows him with Elizabeth and baby John. In the Level 1 color-by-code puzzle, kids color every square with a star or a heart to find a hidden picture. The Challenge puzzle asks five story questions, and coloring the answer letters spells a hidden name.
Week 4, Love: find the differences (Luke 2:1-16)
The Nativity coloring page says “Christmas is God’s greatest gift of love,” with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger. The find-the-differences puzzle shows the manger scene twice. Kids find 5 differences at Level 1 and 8 in the Challenge version.
Week 5, Christ candle: maze (Matthew 2:1-12)
The wise men follow the star, and the coloring page says “Jesus is the Light for all nations.” In the maze, kids help the wise men follow the star to the house where Jesus was. The Challenge maze has many more wrong turns.
Answer keys for the Advent puzzles
Five answer key pages come right after Week 5, one for each puzzle, with both levels and the answers marked in red. Teachers can check work quickly, and a parent at home doesn’t have to solve a Challenge crossword before bedtime.
Advent coloring pages and activity sheets for preschool (ages 3 to 5)
The preschool pages tell the same five Bible stories more simply. Each week has a coloring page with a short title sentence and a full-color activity sheet that needs no reading. Each activity sheet ends with an “Ask me” question, so a parent can talk about the story on the way home.
- Week 1: “I Can Trust God’s Promise!” coloring page, and a trace-the-lines sheet to make the great light shine (Isaiah 9:2-7)
- Week 2: “Jesus Brings Me Peace!” coloring page, and a find-5-hearts sheet with children around the world (John 3:1-17)
- Week 3: “I Can Praise God with Joy!” coloring page, and a draw-a-line matching sheet (Luke 1:57-79)
- Week 4: “God Loves Me So Much!” Nativity coloring page, and a count-the-sheep sheet (Luke 2:1-16)
- Week 5: “I Can Worship Jesus!” wise men coloring page, and a put-the-story-in-order sheet (Matthew 2:1-12)
Christmas worksheets for kids: Nativity coloring pages and word searches
The Christmas pages come from Silent Night, our 4-week Christmas Sunday school series. For kids ages 6 to 12, each Bible story has a coloring page and a 13-word Christmas word search, with the Bible reference printed at the bottom. The word searches fit older kids best, about 8 and up.
- Gabriel visits Mary (Luke 1:26-38): words include ANGEL, GABRIEL, NAZARETH, PROMISE and SAVIOR
- Mary visits Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56): words include BLESSED, ELIZABETH, JOY, MIRACLE and WAITING
- Joseph’s dream (Matthew 1:18-25): words include DREAM, IMMANUEL, LISTEN, OBEY and BRAVE
- The shepherds visit Jesus (Luke 2:8-20): words include BETHLEHEM, MANGER, SHEPHERDS, GLORY and WORSHIP
What to print: Sundays, a Christmas Eve busy bag, or Advent at home
Page 4 of the PDF has the first three of these lists with page numbers, so you can print just what you need.
- Sundays of Advent: one Bible story a week. Advent 1 to 4 (November 29 to December 20) match Weeks 1 to 4, and Week 5, the wise men, fits Christmas Eve or December 27. Each week has a coloring page and a puzzle at two levels for ages 6 to 12, plus a coloring page and an activity sheet for ages 3 to 5.
- Christmas Eve busy bag: for kids who sit with their parents in the service. For ages 6 to 10: the Nativity coloring page, the candle dot-to-dot, find the differences, the maze, and the shepherds coloring page and word search. For ages 3 to 5: the Nativity coloring page, counting sheep, matching, the wise men and tracing. No scissors or glue. Add a pencil, three crayons and a clipboard or piece of cardboard. The preschool sheets are in color but still work on a black-and-white copier.
- Family Advent countdown: nine Bible stories, the Christmas story in order from Isaiah’s promise and Gabriel’s visit to the shepherds and the wise men, ending with why Jesus came (John 3). Read the passage from your Bible, then do the pages together. Younger kids color while older ones do the puzzle, and the Keep Talking question at the bottom of each Kids puzzle is for parents.
- Midweek clubs, homeschool and Christian school: the puzzles work as seatwork, early-finisher pages or a station at a Christmas party.
Printing tips: print on plain US letter paper, one side only. The five preschool activity sheets are in full color; everything else prints well in black and white on a church copier. The PDF is 44 pages including the welcome page, contents, print lists and answer keys.
Questions about these free Advent worksheets
Are these Advent worksheets really free?
Yes. Download the PDF and print as many copies as your church, classroom or family needs. Please don’t sell the pages or post the file on another site. Share a link to this page instead.
What are the four themes of Advent for kids?
Many churches name the four Advent candles hope, peace, joy and love, with a white Christ candle lit at Christmas. The Advent pages in this pack follow that order, one Bible story for each candle. If your church uses other names or another order, the pages still work: each one stands on its own Bible story.
What ages are these for?
The Kids pages are for ages 6 to 12, with two levels on every Advent puzzle. The Preschool pages are for ages 3 to 5 and need no reading. The Christmas word searches fit ages 8 and up. In a room with a wide age range, start with the Kids pages and give the youngest children the coloring pages.
Are there Advent lessons to go with these pages?
Yes. Week 1 is a free lesson: The Promise of a Great Light (Isaiah 9:2-7), with the Bible story script, a game, an object lesson and a craft. For a Sunday-by-Sunday plan, see our Advent and Christmas Sunday school lessons and our guide to Advent lessons for elementary students.
Do you have more Advent and Christmas coloring pages?
Yes. See our Advent coloring pages for kids, and get 73 free Christmas coloring pages drawn by our illustrator Mandy Groce, from the angel’s visit to the wise men.
Want the whole Advent series?
The Advent pages in this pack are the student handouts from Advent for Kids, our 5-week Advent Sunday school curriculum. If you’re teaching Advent this year, the full series adds what the teacher needs each Sunday: a ready-to-read Bible story script, a game and an object lesson, “Candle Talk” questions, a full-color teaching picture, a weekly craft and parent take-home pages. It comes in Kids and Preschool editions, plus a King James edition. Each edition is $65, or $40 with code NEW25 at checkout, and you can try Week 1 free first. The Christmas pages come from Silent Night, which is also part of our Holiday Bundle.
How will you use these pages this Christmas? Tell us in the comments. We read every one.