Advent Angels - Helping Children Explore Gratitude

Share a little love this Advent Season with these adorable Advent Angels. Not only do these angels make beautiful gifts, but they also offer children an opportunity to explore gratitude & giving.

How often do we thank people, or let them know how special they are to us? Advent is the perfect season to take some timeout to do just that, & these angels are an ideal way to say thank you to those 'angels' in our life. 


This activity is a lovely way for young children to explore appreciation & thankfulness as they think about those who make a difference in their own lives. They could choose who they would like to make an angel for & why.
What are the qualities that make a person special?
How do those people make a difference & how do they make people feel?  

To make our Advent Angels we used a pack of airdrying white clay (like this), rolling pin, small 5cm angel cookie cutter (similar to this one), a small heart-shaped cutter, & paper drinking straws.

We rolled a small section of clay onto a baking sheet making sure the clay was fairly thin & even, then using the cookie-cutter we cut out our angel shapes. To decorate the centre of some of our angels we used our little heart cutter, but most of our angels we left plain.

To create a hole to hang the ribbon we pushed a drinking straw into the clay & then left the clay to dry overnight on the baking sheet.


Once completely dry you can start to thread your chosen ribbon or string through the hole & your angels are ready to share! We used some paper ribbon we'd saved from last Christmas

Why not hang them on a neighbour's door as a surprise gift, or give them to special people as Advent decorations or blessings. Minnie tied tiny labels to her angels with a little 'thank you' note that she'd written. Alternatively, you could attach an Advent blessing.


This is an ideal activity for Advent & we found it offered Minnie space to reflect & think about those special people in her life, whether they be family or people in our wider community.

In the busy run up to Christmas these little angles have offered us a moment to pause & reflect on those things that really matter, & have given us an opportunity to show our appreciation & love to those who make a difference in our lives.