The Saviour is here! – Christmas 3

The Saviour is here is our third Christmas Story in a series of three. We began with Isaiah foretelling the birth of Jesus, The Saviour is Promised and then we told the story of Angel Gabriel visiting Mary, The Saviour is on his way.

The story is based on Luke 2:1-20

The Saviour is here! Bible Story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – Jesus is the Saviour

In the story bag you need – Mary, Joseph, a donkey, the baby, a manger,shepherds, sheep and angels. Take them out as you need them.

‘Say hello to Mary and Joseph! They had to go on a long, long journey. All the way back to Joseph’s home town of Bethlehem. It wasn’t a good time to travel, Mary was soon to have her baby that the Angel Gabriel had told her about. But they had to go. Maybe they had a donkey.. Off they went..

Down the road, over the hills.. Are we nearly there yet? No! On and on they went. Are we nearly there yet? Almost!

But oh no, Bethlehem was so busy. So many people. Where could Mary and Joseph stay. They asked at the hotel. ‘No room here’, the man said. But you can stay in the stable with the animals.

And that’s where the special baby, sent from God, was born. Mary wrapped him up and put him in the manger – all safe and snuggled up.

That same night, out on the hills outside the town there were shepherds looking after their sheep. It was dark! When all of a sudden there was a bright light, the brightest light they had ever seen and there was an angel! The shepherds were scared. ‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘I bring you good news! Today a Saviour has been born for you. You will find him in a manger and all wrapped up.’ And then there were loads of angels filling the sky and singing. Then they were gone and it was dark again.

The shepherds looked at one another. ‘Let’s go and find this baby, the Saviour who has been born,’ they said. So off they went..down the hill, through the town, are they nearly there? Not yet! Looking here, looking there, are they nearly there? Almost! – until they found Jesus. They found the Saviour.

Jesus is the Saviour, he is the Saviour God sent for everyone everywhere.

Christmas craft idea

To make the stained glass nativity you need

  • Paper plates – I used a brown plate
  • Yellow tissue paper – this can be shredded like straw. This is quite messy so if you prefer less mess use torn tissue paper.
  • Crayons
  • Christmas wrapping paper odds and ends
  • Nativity picture printed on card – see download. This needs to be cut out beforehand. Older children could do this themselves – just cut the page in half for them.

To make – decorate the nativity first then fold and glue to plate. Cover the plate with tissue paper straw and add any other decorations to the rim of the plate.

The Saviour is on his way – Christmas 2

The Saviour is on his way is our second Christmas story in a series of three. We began with, The Saviour is Promised – a Story all about Isaiah and now we meet Mary and the Angel Gabriel. The Bible Story is from Luke 1:26-38 and includes the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.

If you have told the first story in the series include the four things Isaiah said about the special baby to be born and have an action for each sentence

  • A child will be born – rock a pretend baby in your arms
  • A Son will be given – point up to heaven and then bring hands down
  • He will be King forever – put a pretend crown on your head
  • He will bring peace – clasp your hands together

The Saviour is on his way – Bible story idea

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God keeps his promises

Do you remember Isaiah? He told people what God wanted them to know. He had written down a promise that God had made – God was going to send someone – Isaiah told everyone that…

  • A child will be born – rock a pretend baby in your arms
  • A Son will be given – point up to heaven and then bring hands down
  • He will be King forever – put a pretend crown on your head
  • He will bring peace – clasp your hands together

But a long, long time had passed. Days, weeks, months and years and years and years went by. Had God forgotten his promise? No! God never forgets anything!

One day a young woman called Mary was at home. (Say hello to Mary!)It was just an ordinary day. Mary was cleaning the house (some actions here – maybe dusting or sweeping).

But then something extraordinary happened! An angel came to see her! Now angels are not like fairies. Angels are big and strong! (actions here too – make a big shape with your arms and then flex muscles). The angel that came to see Mary was called Gabriel (ask everyone to repeat the name). He had a message from God.

You are going to have a very special baby,’ he said to Mary. ‘This baby will be God’s Son and he will be King forever.’

The Baby was going to be born! rock a pretend baby in your arms

The Son was going to be given! point up to heaven and then bring hands down

He was going to be King forever! put a pretend crown on your head

The Saviour God promised was on his way. God always keeps his promises.

Craft Ideas – make Angel Gabriel

Joseph and the Angel

Joseph and the Angel is from Matthew 1:18-25. In Luke’s Gospel we hear about the Angel visiting Mary and in Matthew’s Gospel we find out how Joseph knew that the baby was from God. In this story we have the special name – Immanuel, a name that only appears a couple of times in the Bible, here in Matthew and Isaiah 7:14. Matthew is telling us that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.

We also read that Joseph is to name the baby Jesus.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1: 21

In Luke’s account we read that Mary has also been told to name the child Jesus.

..you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Luke 1: 31b-33

To tell the story – if you are tellling a series of Christmas stories you will probably want to focus on the message the angel gave to Joseph.

In the story bag – Joseph doll or puppet, some carpenters tools, Mary puppet, an angel,

Actions to include – sleeping!

Joseph and the Angel story

Mary (take her from the story bag) knew that she was going to have a very special baby. An angel had been sent from God to tell her!

But someone was very sad that she was having a baby. He didn’t really understand. He didn’t really know what to do. His name is Joseph. Are you ready to say hello to Joseph – ‘Hello Joseph’ (take him out of the story bag)

Joseph was all ready to marry Mary but then he found out she was having a baby. He wasn’t the father. He didn’t know what had happened but he decided that he couldn’t marry Mary. He was sad. Oh dear!

Joseph was a carpenter – he spent the day making things with wood, hammering, sawing.. and then he went home and went to bed. Soon he was fast asleep. (Pretend to be sleeping)

Now that was when something extraordinary happened. An angel appeared in his dream (this isn’t something that happens when you or I go to sleep). But it happened to Joseph. The angel had a really important message from God.

‘Joseph, you can marry Mary. Her baby is sent from God. He will be Immanuel, which means God with us. He is the one that God promised to send. When he is born you must name him Jesus because he is the Saviour’.

The next morning Joseph woke up. He got up. What was he going to do? He did what God had told him to do. He believed that this baby was God with us, the one who is the only Saviour. He married Mary and he cared for her.

You could finish with a question for the adults – ‘who do you believe Jesus is?’

angel craft

Make a rocking angel.

All you need

  • Paper plate folded in half
  • Circles for faces
  • Wool for hair
  • Shiny paper to decorate
  • Paper doilies cut into 1/8’s (depending on size). They just need to be a right fit for wings.
  • Glue
  • Crayons to decorate faces of angels

Here’s a link to the Bible story – The Angel visits Mary

Let’s meet Anna and Simeon!

Let’s meet Anna and Simeon who saw Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. We read about them in Luke 2:22-38. This story isn’t always told at Christmas time but it fits in between the visit of the Shepherds and the arrival of the Wise men. (When Herod starts to anxiously look for Jesus in Matthew 2 – the new King, Jesus has already been in Jerusalem.) Most people didn’t see anything special about this visit but Simeon and Anna recognised who Jesus is. Simeon knew that Jesus was God’s salvation and Anna saw that Jesus was the one bringing redemption.

Let’s meet Anna and Simeon Bible Story Idea

In the story bag have the main characters to show at the right time in the story – Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Simeon and Anna.

Jesus had been born! Mary and Joseph gave him his special name – Jesus – which means ‘The Lord saves’. Then some days later they needed to go to the big city of Jerusalem to the Temple. The temple was a very special place. People went there to worship God. Mary and Joseph needed to go there to say thank you to God for the new baby.

It wasn’t too far to travel. Let’s walk with them. (make the sound of walking by tapping hands on knees)

They arrived at the temple and went inside. It was a very special place. Lots of people were there. One of them was an old man called Simeon. (Say hello to Simeon) Simeon had been looking forward to seeing someone. He was looking forward to seeing the Saviour that God had promised to send. And today was the day! Simeon saw Jesus. And even though he was a baby Simeon knew he was the saviour sent from God. Simeon held Jesus in his arms and said thank you to God for sending the Saviour.

And then a woman saw Jesus. Her name was Anna. (Say hello to Anna) She was very old and came to the temple everyday. And on this day she saw Jesus and she knew that he was the Saviour! She began to tell everyone and she said thank you to God for sending the Saviour.

We can say thank you to God for sending Jesus – the Saviour.

Anna and Simeon to make

This is a variation of the Yarn wrapped candle. You need cardboard tubes – you can purchase these or use a halved kitchen roll. Add a face, hair or beard and wrap yarn around the tube for clothing. Take a look at the Yarn wrapped candle post for instructions about that. You don’t need to glue the yarn! Add a headdress and secure with a pipe cleaner.

Simeon and Anna made from cardboard tubes and wool

Birth of Jesus Story Video

The Birth of Jesus story video for young children to enjoy. Jesus’ birth is the heart of Christmas. This story video begins with the journey to Bethlehem and ends with the Shepherds visit.

Feel free to use and share.

A lovely craft idea to do – make a Christmas collage using wrapping paper and Christmas cards. If making with young children cut the shapes beforehand. If making with your own child at home you could have a go at teaching some cutting skills using child friendly scissors. Always take care!

Birth of Jesus Story video craft idea to do.

Here’s a link to a pinterest board with lots of Christmas craft ideas

The Wise Men find The King

This story is from Matthew 2:1-18

To tell the story you need – some Wise Men, toy camels and a star. You can add some actions too – stars with hands (like in twinkle, twinkle little star), running, looking, kneeling.

The story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – Jesus is King

Far away from where Jesus was born there were some Wise Men. They read books and knew a lot. They loved to look at the stars in the dark night’s sky. One night they saw a new star! They looked at the new star and they looked at each other. ‘Wow! they thought, ‘this new star means that a new king has been born in Israel. Let’s go and worship him’.

So they packed their things and set off for the important city of Jerusalem. They travelled for a long time. It took days and days to get there. When they arrived in Jerusalem they asked everyone they met, ‘Where is the new baby king?’

Now, there was a king in Jerusalem called King Herod but he wasn’t a baby; he was a grown up and he wasn’t at all happy. He didn’t want a new King! He heard that there were men from a far away place who were asking people, ‘Where is the new king?’ This upset him and it upset the people who were living in Jerusalem. He sent for the men from the temple. ‘Where is this new King to be born?’ he asked. The men from the temple knew the answer because it was written in the Bible. ‘In Bethlehem.’ they said.

Herod sent for the Wise Men and he told them to go to Bethlehem and find this new King and then come back and tell him where the new King was so he could go and worship him too.

So off the Wise Men went. It wasn’t too far to go now. As they got nearer something very special happened. The star was there again and this time it went before them and shone right over the house where Jesus was. The Wise men had found Jesus and they knelt down and worshiped him. They took their treasures out of their bags and gave them to Jesus. They gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were special gifts for a King.

The Wise Men never told Herod where Jesus was. God warned them not to in a dream and they travelled home.

Herod didn’t want to worship Jesus. He wanted to get rid of him. An angel told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and run away to a different country till it was safe to go back home.

Joseph did what the angel said and took Mary and Jesus to somewhere safe far away from Herod. When the danger was past they went to back home to Nazareth.

Some star craft ideas

For a star craft – decorate a star wreath shape and add some tissue paper for a stained glass window effect. Or use Christmas card pictures to decoarate a star.

Make a Wise Men stained glass window. For instructions see this blog post Christmas stained glass – paper plate!

Paint a star shape. This is a wooden star but card would be fine too.

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