Our Lego Christmas Countdown Tradition (+ Giveaway!)

Christmas can get busy fast, and it’s easy for the meaning of the season to get lost in the noise. Over the years, one of our favorite ways to stay focused on Christ has been through simple, hands-on countdown traditions. A Lego Christmas Countdown has become a real hit in our home, and it’s an easy, joy-filled way to help your kids anticipate the celebration of Jesus’ birth.

*** HEY! There’s a BIG Christmas Giveaway at the end of this post! Don’t miss it. 🙂 ***

What Is a LEGO Christmas Countdown?

Simply put, a LEGO Christmas Countdown is doing a Lego build each day (when possible) in the days leading up to Christmas. Every year at Christmas time my kids can’t wait to drag out their buckets of Legos and get started building as a family. We’re building shepherds, angels, donkeys, wise men, and more. We’re sharing pieces and wondering what it might have looked like, talking about the story and the details. We’re enjoying our Lego Christmas countdown tradition!

This tradition started a few years ago as I began to incorporate more and more Lego learning into our homeschooling. I realized that my hands-on learners were really benefiting academically by building based on whatever we were learning. Not only would they hear and retain the information better, but they would be developing several other skills as they did it!

Why not use this approach to learn the Bible? 

How to Set Up Your LEGO Christmas Countdown (Step-by-Step)

So we started using several Lego challenges to help my children learn the Word of God and hide it in their hearts. When Christmas rolled around, it just made sense to build through the Christmas story! 

Here’s how you do it: 

• Decide How Many Days – You could do one for the whole month of December or starting from the first day of advent, but we usually pick 7 or 12 days up through Christmas.
  
• Choose the Challenge Builds – Sketch out points from the story of Christmas until you have enough for all the days of your Lego Christmas countdown. 
  
• Include a Scripture Reading Plan – For each point in the story you’ve chosen to build, write down the verses or passage in scripture to read as a family. 
  
• Provide Alternate Activities – We have a large family with a range of ages, so there will always be one or two kids who don’t want to build. Provide supplies and prompts for drawing, other materials such as playdoh, and coloring sheets so that they can follow along in a way more suited to them or at least keep busy as the rest of you build. 
  
• Share Their Creations – Find ways to capture and share their creations! Display them on a mantle, take photos and create a photo book, or share on Instagram (tag @tauna_phomemaker so I can see them too!) or Facebook. My husband likes to set up a camera and record each build project! Then he uses video a editing program to speed it up and watch a time lapse of all the builds when they’re finished. So fun!

Why This Christ-Centered Activity Works for All Ages

One of the things I love about this LEGO Christmas Countdown is how naturally it invites kids of every age into the story of Christ’s birth. It’s simple, it’s hands-on, and it helps settle everyone’s hearts on Jesus during a busy season.

Here’s why it works so well for mixed ages:

• Little ones jump right in. Younger kids are eager to build anything you put in front of them, and the daily Scripture helps them connect the story of Jesus’ birth with something they can touch and see.
• Older kids enjoy the challenge. Give them a prompt and they’ll gladly design, experiment, and build something creative that reflects the day’s passage.
• It keeps hands busy and hearts attentive. The building time helps everyone focus while the Scripture reading draws their thoughts back to the Lord.
• It adapts easily to your routine. Whether you’re reading a short verse with a wiggly preschooler or digging deeper with older kids, it fits smoothly into whatever rhythm your family already has.
• It grows with your family. As your children get older, their understanding—and their creations—grow right along with them. It becomes a tradition that gently keeps your family centered on the true meaning of Christmas.

Ideas to Extend the Activity for Your LEGO Christmas Countdown

Want to dig a little deeper for your LEGO Christmas countdown? Here are some ideas!

• Build the Nativity Over Time: Assign each day a different part of the nativity (Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, animals, stable, star, manger, etc.). By Christmas, you’ll have a full LEGO nativity scene to display.
• Create a Mini Devotional Moment: After the kids finish building, ask one guiding question such as, “What does today’s passage show us about who Jesus is?” or “How can we worship God this week?”
• Add a Service Challenge: Tie a small act of kindness to each day’s story—baking cookies for a neighbor, writing an encouragement note, donating toys, etc.
• Do Spontaneous Bonus Challenges: Give them a challenge like “recreate the scene from Luke 2,” “build something only using 25 bricks,” or “design a stable using a new technique.”
• Make It a Shared Tradition: Let siblings take turns choosing the passage or presenting their creation. This gives everyone a sense of ownership and joy.

Fun Christmas Lego Resources

You can set up your own Lego Christmas countdown yourself or use some great tools to make it a quick and memorable activity for your family. Here are some ideas! 

Christmas Brick Challenge – The Christmas Brick Challenge has 12 days of the Christmas story with build challenges, scripture readings, poem to read along with them, coloring pages, and more!

Jesse Tree Brick Challenge – For a full month of activities (or you can double up or pick and choose for a shorter plan) try the Jesse Tree Brick Challenge, which starts from Genesis to tell a wider view of the Christmas story and how all of the Bible is about Christ. 

Lego Advent Calendar – Our kids did a Lego advent calendar this last year and had so much fun! It is secular, but we did it in addition to our other advent actuates and enjoyed it. 

Lego Christmas Project Instructions – We prefer doing Lego challenges without detailed build instructions because we believe it fosters creativity and helps it to be a multi-age activity (and prevents that big problem when you don’t have a particular piece). But we often browse Pinterest or fun Lego sites for inspiration as we build! Try Brain Power Boy or Little Bins for Little Hands for some ideas. 

How could you incorporate Lego challenges into your Christmas activities and learning this year? 

 

2025 Christmas Blessings Giveaway

The Christmas season is here! It’s a time for joy, generosity, and celebrating the blessings in our lives. And what better way to spread a little cheer than with a special giveaway just for you?

I’ve partnered with a wonderful group of bloggers to bring you the Christmas Blessings Giveaway. We know the holiday season can be full of both joy and stress, and our hope is to ease that burden just a bit for a few families. We are giving away FOUR $250 gift cards, and the best part is that each winner will get to choose where the gift card is from. Whether it helps with presents, groceries, or something special for you, we pray it brings encouragement and peace this Christmas. 

The giveaway runs November 19 through November 28, so be sure to get your entries in before it ends!

To enter, simply use the entry form below. We know it’s a long one, but each blogger personally contributed to make this giveaway happen, and your support means so much. Plus, the more entries you complete, the better your chances of winning one of the $250 prizes!

Wishing you a season full of peace, joy, and blessings!

Giveaway ends November 28th at 11:59pm ET.  Winners will be drawn and emailed the following day. The winners will have 48 hours to respond to email to claim the prize.  By entering this giveaway you will be added to the email lists of the participating bloggers. You must live in the United States or Canada to be eligible to win.

NOTE: We are trying a new giveaway system! Some folks are having trouble entering because it’s flagging their email as spam. If that’s you, please do the following:

• Turn off your VPN, if you are using one.
• Try a different browser.
• Try later when you get home, if you are trying on a work network. 
• Try a different email address, if you have one.
• If none of these seem to work, send your email address to [email protected] and we’ll manually go in and mark you as not spam and then you should be able to enter.