The Christmas Story
I know I say all my topics are my favourite teaching, but you cannot beat the Christmas Story. We have the opportunity to introduce the children to an angel, and if that wasn’t enough we have donkeys, journeys, shepherds, kings, camels, all of that plus a baby. What an important baby this is, that’s the message we want to get across to the children, this baby was no ordinary baby, it was the son of God, it was Jesus who would be God walking on the earth that we now walk on.
It’s vital that we are able to translate the baby, (yes cute and yes every girl in the class wants to be play Mary in the Nativity) but we must be ale to explain that this baby, is Jesus. There is not much teaching for children, let alone adults of Jesus as a child, apart from the one where he gets lost, which isn’t the most positive for three to six year olds. Jesus stays in the synagogue to speak with the Elders of the Church and his parents lose him, it’s a worrying story for a child. The next stories children hear about Jesus are as an adult who is healing people and turning 5 loaves and 2 fish into many. So, for them to relate to this man that they will grow to love, to worship and to walk their life with, this story is their first introduction to Him.
No pressure then! Seriously though, we need to teach about the baby, but we must keep reflecting back to how this baby grew up to be Jesus, and that is easily done throughout your teaching of this wonderful story.
For the month of November and creeping into December I read them the Book - The First Christmas which is a lovely original from the Ladybird Series it is retold by Lynee Bradbury and illustrated by Lynn N Grundy.
I split the book up so that the children get part of it each week, which relates to their craft. To cement the story I like to have the children make themselves a Christmas Book, see the craft section for this, each week after the story they will colour in the relevant pages to the story and stick/glue and rewrite (for the older ones) so that at the end of a month they have their very own Christmas Book to share with their family and possibly read together.
Week One
“A long time ago Mary and Joseph had to leave their home in Nazareth an travel to Bethlemhem.
It was a long, hard journey and Mary rode on a donkey while Joseph walked beside her. Mary was going to have a baby. An angel had come to her and told her that she would have a baby boy and that she should name him Jesus. Mary knew that her baby would be born soon.”
Why the Journey?
We stop there (around 3 pages of the book) as we have to cover so much there, first of all why did Mary and joseph have to leave their home in Nazareth and travel to Bethlehem. Lets help this children understand that the government of that time wanted all the people in the land to travel back to their place of birth for a census. What is a census, a census in those days was where the government needed to count everybody. Keep it simple, but explain why they were on a journey. Over the weeks, ask this question back to the children so that they have a good understanding of it.
It’s all about the donkey?
This is a perfect opportunity to keep it light with the children and ask them why Mary and Joseph didn’t travel in a car to Bethlehem. They will all be screaming at you that there were no cars, spend some time talking about donkeys and how special they were and how Jesus would later on when he was grown up travel again on a donkey at Easter time.
Also I use this time to tell the children somthing they may not know, if you download a picture of a donkey from the internet you will see that from above a cross can clearly be seen in the markings on a donkey, its beautiful! If this is new to you go google it - it’s lovely!
Angle Gabriel
I love telling the children about Angel Gabriel, he was one cool and super angel. Just so that you grow to love Gabrile like I do, here are some facts about this good, good Angel. Gabriel appeared to Daniel to help him understand his visions, that was kind. The bible tells us that Gabriel stood in the presence of God, now that is awesome “I’m Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and he sent me to tell you this good news”. (Luke 1.19). Gabriel came with the good news to Zechariah about the upcoming birth of John the Baptist, although when Zechariah didn’t quite believe our lovely Gabriel, he ended up mute for some nine months. Then he appeared to both Mary and Joseph (back on topic) and each and every time he said the words “do not be afraid.” So let’s take time to tell the children the great message that Angel Gabriel had from God for Mary;
“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favour with God. You will become pregnant, give birth to a son, and name him Jesus. He will be a great man and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
See the craft section for this lesson plan to continue with the childrens creation of their very own Christmas Story Book.
Week Two
There is a lot to week two - lets see what we should cover here in our teaching -
No room
Why was there no space in Bethlemhem for Mary and Joseph to use a motel or a hotel? - Answer because of the census, remind them about the census and how everybody had to return to their place of birth. I often ask the children where they were born, the older ones will tell you all different place which puts some perspective to it all. I tell the children that althought I live in Australia I was born in England.
Kindness
Let’s talk about how kind the Inn keeper was, he had an Inn, which we would call a motel or a hotel, but his Inn was full but he had a stable where he kept the animals and he let them stay there. Gently here we want to get across to the children that Jesus who would become a great man and our Saviour (our special friend) was born in a very lowly place. Kings are born in palaces and great houses, however our King was born in a stable.
The Manger
Talk to the children about Jesus (pointing to the brilliant illustrations in this book or the book you have) about how the manager, which was usually used to put grain/food in for the animals was used as a little bed/cot for Jesus and it was lined with soft hay to keep him warm.
Once again the craft for this week will follow the story as the children work to complete their own book of the Story of Christmas. Also it is never too early to introduce the Christmas songs that you may want to perform in Big Church (see songs and music) I use one for this part of the story by the brilliant “Out of the Ark - It’s a Baby CD” the song is called “Knock, Knock, Knock on the door” never met a child who doesn’t love it!
Week Three
Once again, read the last two weeks of the story, this is for repetition, but also for any children that have missed the previous weeks that may have been away. Then continue with this weeks part of the story;
“On a hillside near Bethlehem some shepherds were watching over their sheep through the night. Suddenly there was a bright light and angels came to them. One angel said “Don’t be afraid. Jesus has been born and you will find Him in a stable in Bethlemhem.”
The shepherds were very happy at the good news and went to Bethlemhem to find the stable. When they got there they saw the baby Jesus ling in the manger. Joseph and Mary were watching over Him.
The Shepherds
So week three is all about the shepherds, but we can expand it and I like to get some real biblical scripture in here. Use the lovely illustrations to show how the Shepherds were in their fields, and they had a fire and it was night time, and suddenly the skies were filled will many angels. Often our nativity scene will just have a one very proud Angel Gabrile, however you can use this opportunity to teach everyone that “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God” it must have been such a sight.
Such an important baby
Explain to the children that these shepherds wanted to see the new baby because he was very important, why was He so important, He would grow up to save the Us, to save the World for all those who believe in Him. Explain that the World was waiting for a new King, for all those people who believed in God, they had been promised a Mesiah a Saviour and Jesus, this little baby was that person.
Presents
I like to tell the children how the Shepherds didn’t have any money but they wanted to bring Joseph and Mary and the new baby a gift, so they brought Him a little lamb.
See the craft section to continue making the children’s book, which only goes home at the end of the story, ( a difficult concept for some ), and for those who have missed a week, I always work on their books during the week so that they have the story in full.
Tell them the whole brilliant story
I love to tell the children the actual words the angels said to the Shepherds, why? Why NOT I say.
Angel Gabriel said, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manager.”
Imagine seeing an Angel tell you this, surrounded by loads of other shining angels, that would make you want to go and visit the baby wouldn’t it?
Week Four
Once again, read the book out in full until you get to this week’s final part;
“Far away in the East, a bright new star appeared in the sky. Three Wise Men saw the star and they knew that it was to tell them that a new baby King had been born. Night after nigh they rode on their camels and followed the star, until it finally stoped over the stable where Jesus had been born. The three Wise Men went into the stable and saw their baby king. They gave Him presents of gold, frankincenses and myrrh before they left to go back to their own land.”
The Kings
Explaining to the children that the Kings themselves were very important people (they didn’t have donkeys, they had camels!!) and they were waiting for a King, who would be their King. Showing the children that Jesus the baby was wanted by everyone shepherds and kings. The Kings were far away from where baby Jesus was born, but God sent them a star to follow and they followed it for miles and miles until they found the stable where he was born.
Presents
Children always like talking about this subject, at this point I ask them what christmas is about - when they answer presents, I say YES, but isn’t the baby Jesus the best present that we ever got. It’s a little over their heads but it’s important to glorify Jesus at all times and at every opportunity. I spend a little time here listening to the kinds of presents they are looking forward to. Then I move onto the presents that the Kings brought to baby Jesus - Frankincense and Myrrh. These words are big for children, but they will soon add them to their vocabulary if you keep using them and asking them what the Kings brought to Jesus for presents. Tell them that these two things were like purfume, however in the days of Jesus birth Frankincense and Myrrh had great antiseptic healing properties and would have been hard to come across. They would have been a huge luxury.
This is the end of this lovely little book, so this is the final craft week where the children will be able to fill in and complete their book. Be creative with the book add things as you want to compound the teaching - I add pages in their book so that those that can write, write something and others draw their own pictures of the shepherds, sheep, kings, crowns etc. This craft makes for a lovely keepsake that may be put away with the christmas things every year and brought out again as the child grows.
See the craft section for help with this part of the Christmas Story.
So this is the first 4 weeks of introducing the children to Christmas. See the next teaching - Creating a Memory for Christmas for the rest of this term running up to Christmas.