Christmas craft Archives - Let their light shine!

Is Jesus the forever king?

Is Jesus the forever king? Is the final part of our story series, ‘Who is the forever King?’ We began with King David and God’s promise to David,

Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ 2 Samuel 7:16.

We have told simple stories about David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah. These kings are all mentioned in Matthew 1 in the genealogy of Jesus, the son of David.

Now we have arrived at the birth of the forever king – the Lord Jesus.

All of the previous puppets can be displayed – then add the Manger picture at the end.

To tell the story – you need

Mary
Angel Gabriel
Joseph
Donkey – optional as it isn’t mentioned in the bible
Baby
Manger
Shepherds

Here’s link to how to make a paper plate nativity – angels, manger with baby, shepherds

OR you could use dolls –

Is Jesus the forever king?

Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-16

We are still looking for the forever King! The king that will be on the throne of David forever. Lets see if we find him today.

A long time ago there was a woman called Mary. One day she had a very surprising visitor with a very surprising message!

It was an angel, a big strong messenger sent from God who said to Mary, ‘ You are going to have a very special baby. You must give him the name Jesus. He will be God the son and God will give him the throne of David. His kingdom will never, ever end.’

The forever king was going to be born! He was going to be the very best king and the most powerful king in the whole world.

Mary listened to the angel and she was willing to be the bay’s mum.

But then just before the baby was going to be born Mary and Joseph had to go on a long journey to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was their home town (and it had also been King Davids home town). They might have taken a donkey to carry their bags. It took quite a while.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ No not quite. They carried on. Are we nearly there yet? Almost. They carried on. Are we nearly there yet? Yes we’re here! But oh no there’s no where to stay.

Mary and Joseph ended up staying where the animals were. And that night the Lord Jesus was born. He was an ordinary baby – with fingers and toes and a nose and mouth and eyes. But he was God’s forever king too.

Outside Bethlehem there were shepherds looking after their sheep. It was really dark with stars shining in the sky. Suddenly an angel was there with them. They were terrified.

‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘today in the city of David, a Saviour has been born. You will find him all wrapped up and lying in a manger.’ Then lots of angels filled the sky singing. And then they were gone and it was dark again.

‘Let’s go and find him’ the shepherds said to one another. So the rushed down the hill, through the town and they looked for the forever king who is the Saviour – and they found him.

Jesus is the Saviour sent for you and me. Is he the forever King? Yes! The shepherds found him and we can find him too.

Jesus is the forever king craft ideas

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.

Nativitiy-Scene-paper-plate Download

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.

Make a gingerbread house paper craft scene

Make a gingerbread house inspired scene with bits and pieces of paper and wrapping. Making a real gingerbread house is lovely but sometimes it’s good to just have a rummage through odds and ends of paper and card and create something festive.

I always keep wrapping paper scraps and christmas card pictures as they make great almost free craft materials.

Here’s some inspiration for your pictures..

Here’s my finished gingerbread house street scene

Gingerbread house street scene made with paper and craft materials

This would be a great activity to make at home in those days between Christmas and New Year or on Christmas Eve!

All you need to make a gingerbread house inspired scene

Paper for the background – I put two A4 pieces together with tape. (Have the tape on the back of your picture)
Paper to cut into house shapes and trees. I went with simple shapes.
Wrapping paper and Christmas cards cut into shapes
Small hearts, snow flakes, circles
Optional – glitter, sequins, tinsel
Glue

Use whatever you like – and whatever you have.

If you want to do this with very young children prepare the shapes of paper beforehand and make them slightly bigger so they are easier to hold and stick. Children’s interests vary so if children love making they will spend a bit longer creating a paper picture. If you are doing this at home make your own version alongside your child or create a street scene together.

Older children can be encouraged to make the shapes for the trees and houses themselves and create their own gingerbread paper art from scratch. Give them lots of choice of materials.

There’s an idea in this post for making a mini ‘gingerbread’ house using biscuits. It’s very easy to do and lots of fun!

If you would like to make an edible gingerbread house here’s a link to a Mary Berry recipe.

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

The Saviour is Promised – Christmas 1

The Saviour is promised is the first of three Christmas stories. We begin seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus with Isaiah and the prophecy of Jesus’ coming into the world.

Why tell this part of the Christmas Story? It helps to put Christmas into context. It reminds us and helps us to see that this was God’s plan and that Jesus’ coming as a baby was a fulfillment of God’s promise.

Tell the story simply – there is a story idea below.

The Saviour is Promised – Bible Story

Bible reference – Isaiah 9:6-7

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God promised to send The Saviour

In the story bag we have Isaiah and a scroll with some key sentences (these remind the storyteller of key sentences!)

‘Today someone who lived a long, long time ago has come to see us. His name is Isaiah. Are you ready to say hello? Hello Isaiah! (Take him out of the story bag).

Isaiah was God’s prophet – he told people the things that God wanted them to know.

Now God’s people were in trouble. Everything was getting worse and worse. People were sad and frightened. God knew all about the trouble they were in. God sent Isaiah to talk to them and give them a message

I wonder what that message was? Isaiah wrote it down so we can read it too!

Take your scroll from the story bag and read it out. God says..a baby will be born, a Son will be given, he will be King forever, he will bring peace.

Wow – what an amazing promise from God. A real baby will be born who will be just like you and me and yet also different from you and me because this baby will be God’s Son given to us. He will be the king and he will bring peace between people and God and people and each other!

The people heard what Isaiah said but not everyone believed the promise. But God always keeps his promises. Next time we find out more about this promised baby.’

Puppet representing Isaiah to use in storytelling

If you’d like to do some background reading about Isaiah 9 have a look at this article from Desiring God

The Saviour is Promised craft ideas

You could make scrolls but as this story is part of a Christmas series you could make a Christmas Collage using pictures cut from wrapping paper and Christmas cards. Add sequins, shiny stars – anything you fancy that is seasonal.

Here’s a link to a similar idea Christmas Star to make

Celebrate Epiphany

Celebrate Epiphany with some lovely crafts and tell the Bible Story of the Visit of the Magi. The visit of The Magi (also known as Wise Men or kings) is found in Matthew 2.

Celebrate Epiphany Bible Story

Celebrate Epiphany story Wise Men knitted dolls

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.

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.

Celebrate Epiphany Craft Ideas

Decorate crown shapes made from air- drying dough. Make crowns from card of buy crowns to decorate with circle stickers. The King is make from a Pringle Container.

Decorate wooden stars with paint and/or sequins. Put the decorated star on named envelope to dry and then put in the envelope to take home. The sequins stick best with PVA glue.

Use a square black paper plate to make these star stained glass windows. Cut out the star shape and then glue brightly coloured tissue paper over the gap on the reverse side. To make this even easier for young children use some clear sticky back plastic in the gap and then add small pieces if tissue paper (it won’t be as neat but it is easier)

A similar craft to celebrate Epiphany using a paper plate – take a look here for instructions!

Enjoy celebrating Epiphany!

Tag: Christmas craft