The Nativity for Kids
Lesson Planning Resources for the “Nativity”
The Nativity for Kids blog is one of three blog posts exploring Christmas activities for kids. This blog includes online books, videos and free downloadable lesson planning activities that explore the story of the birth of Jesus. The Santa Clause Connection includes lots Free resources exploring Santa, and the Christmas Countdown post includes even more FREE resources exploring other fun Christmas books and activities.
This post is for educators and parents to use as a starting point when lesson planning the nativity. Teaching in a private school there is more freedom to share the birth of Jesus, so whether you are a teacher or a parent I hope you enjoy these resources. As an Amazon Associate I can earn a small commission from links in this blog. Thank you, and happy teaching!
Read Alouds
There are so many read alouds published on YouTube. To keep this post short here are my top five picks for kids. In no particular order.
The Birds of Bethlehem
Tomie dePaola is one of my favorite children’s book authors. I had never heard of this book before I did research for this post. What a beautiful story told from the birds perspective of the nativity, and Kid Story Time does a beautiful job reading the book online.
God Gave Us Christmas
Grumpy, happy mean or kind God gave us all Christmas. This is a beautiful book shared from a polar bears perspective on the wonderful presents from God.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Next, is A Charlie Brown Christmas. In this classic book Linus shares the Bible verse in Luke and shares the true meaning of Christmas with the Peanuts Gang.
They Followed the Star
This read aloud is based on the movie The Star (see clip in videos below). Depending on kids ages, perhaps you could do a comparison of the book and the movie clip. Fun!
No Room at the Inn: The Nativity Story
Kids will enjoy this reading of the book “No Room at the Inn: The Nativity Story. If you have a copy of the book in your reading library, kids will re-read over and over. It is also a beautiful book to read to children at night.
Videos
It is really important to watch videos before sharing with young children. Some content creators are well meaning, yet don’t have the understanding of early childhood development. These videos are some of my favorites to share about the nativity.
The Beginner Bible – The Nativity
The Beginner Bible series has been around for more than 25 years. I have shared the entire series over the course of a school year with my students and children.
The Christmas Story
This one starts a little slow as it is probably intended for English language learners. T-Series Kids Hut does a nice job of telling the story.
The Star (Clip)
Love this clip of the Nativity from the movie. Animals witnessing the birth of baby Jesus.
Christmas Songs for Kids
Listener Kids are one of my favorite singers and YouTube creators for Christian music. This is a playlist for a few of their Christmas songs; Silent Night, There is a Star and Joy to the World.
Animated Nativity Story
“This animated nativity story was created just for children. It’s meant to help a child easily follow and understand the events surrounding Christ’s birth. This presentation takes a reverent approach with the aim of helping children to recognize the importance if the events in the story and to invite the spirit to testify of Jesus Christ.” – Excerpt Latter Day Kids
How To Draw Baby Jesus In A Manger
Rob from Art for Kids Hub shows us how to draw baby Jesus in a manger. Depending on the age of the young learner, I have periodically paused the video to allow all students to catch up.
Printable Resources
The last few resources are from some of my peers at Teacher Pay Teacher. Even if you are not a traditional classroom teacher, any caregiver can download free and/or purchase these teachers created resources from the TpT website.
Stand-Up Nativity Set
“Set includes Mary, Joseph, Jesus, Angel, Shepherd, Wise man and stable in both color and black and white. Figures are approximately 4.5-5″ tall. (Stable is taller.) …Color version is ready to go for a quick nativity scene. Black and white version is a ready project to color for all ages.” – Excerpt Ms Kara
I Spy Nativity
“Students have fun as they find similar objects. Count them and record the total. This is a quick activity that can be done independently or as teams.” – Excerpt Grace Place
The Nativity Game
“This engaging build a Nativity game is perfect for Christmas fun. Play it to review and retell the story of Jesus birth. Turn it into a craft by using the black and white version as a color and paste activity after playing the game for double fun. Create craft stick puppets for retelling and extend the game into a writing activity for older students.” – Excerpt Tammy’s Toolbox
Nativity Christmas Play
“This is a short one page Christmas Play we wrote for first graders using parts of popular holiday songs (e.g. Away in the Manger). It retells the story behind the First Christmas.” – Excerpt Griffin Heights
If you like these free resources please consider following these teacher creators. They are always developing new and cool things, for you and I, to share with young learners.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope these resources were helpful as you lesson plan the Nativity. Merry Christmas!
