Christmas story Archives - Let their light shine!

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

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

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.

Paper Plate Nativity

Angels, Mary, Joseph, shepherds and the manger with the baby. Great for a nativity decoration and for telling the Christmas story.

Links to ‘how to make’ the characters (specifically the angels but the same basic idea is used for Mary, Joseph and the shepherds too) and the manger

The stable is a cardboard box covered in tissue paper. If you cover the inside of the box with yellow paint or tissue paper the characters will show up better. You can add battery powered tea lights too!

You could make this over several weeks in toddler group or Sunday School or make at home.

Journey to Bethlehem – week 6 – The Shepherds

So far we have had stories about Creation, the Fall, Abraham, the angel visiting Mary and the birth of Jesus. Our last story in our journey to Bethlehem series is all about the shepherds. Luke 2:8-20

Bible Story from Luke 2:8-20

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus is the Saviour

‘The baby sent from God was tucked up in the manger. Mary and Joseph were there to look after him. Do you remember his name? He was called Jesus. There they were that night – just the three of them.

Meanwhile, out of the town, in the hills, there were shepherds. Shepherds look after sheep. What sound does a sheep make?

It was dark – the shepherds were making sure that all the sheep were safe.

Then suddenly something happened that made the shepherds really scared! There was an angel – and the angel was surrounded by bright light.

‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘I bring you good news of great joy that is for everyone, everywhere. Today, a Saviour has been born. You will find him lying in a manger.’

Then lots of angels were there singing. And then they were gone and it was dark again.

The shepherds looked at each other, ‘Let’s go and see this thing that’s happened that God has told us about.’

So off they went – down the hill, through the town, looking here, looking there – until they found Jesus. They found the Saviour.

We can find Jesus too. He is still the Saviour sent from God for everyone, everywhere. We won’t find him in a manger – but we can know him as our Saviour.‘

Another paper plate…to add

All the paper plates from our Journey to Bethlehem

Days of creation paper plates — Week One – Creation https://lettheirlightshine.com/2015/11/04/journey-to-bethlehem/

Week Two – The Fall https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/14/journey-to-bethlehem-week-2/

Week Three – Abraham https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/23/journey-to-bethlehem-week-3/

Week Four – The Angel visits Mary https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/28/journey-to-bethlehem-week-4/

Jesus is born paper plate picture — Week Five – Jesus is born https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/12/05/journey-to-bethlehem-week-5/

The Shepherds and the angels paper plate picture — Week Six – The Shepherds find Jesus

The angels and shepherds – Christmas

Christmas is almost here!

The story of the first Christmas is a lovely story to tell. Children can also act out what happened and dress up as the different characters.

There are different ways to tell the story-

– use a nativity set and a story bag. Place all the figures inside and take them out when you need them.

– use objects to represent the different people in the story – a toy sheep, a shepherd’s crook, the cloths to wrap the baby in. Add other items- straw for the stable, stars,

– adults could dress up for the different parts and either one person narrate the story or people have speaking parts.

When you tell the story it’s good to remind the audience that it comes from the Bible – so have a Bible to show. The events of the first Christmas are recorded in Luke 2:1-21.

The magi (wise men, kings) don’t visit the stable but arrive some time later. Their visit is recorded in Matthew 2:1-12.

Mary and the angel Gabriel

The visit of the angel Gabriel to mary is recorded in Luke 1:26 -36.

This is an important part of the christmas story but can be difficult to tell to young children. I opt for sticking to the main points of the story. There is a craft at the end opf this post.

To tell the story

A story bag with Mary and the angel inside. Or you could have them in a box wrapped like a present.

A long time ago there was a woman called Mary (Take mary from the bag/present). She was looking forward to getting married. One day she was busy at home when someone came to see her.

Was it her mum? No

Was it Joseph who she was going to marry? No

lets find out – (take the angel from the bag/present). An angel had been sent from God to tell mary some news. The angels name was Gabriel. He was a big, strong messenger from God.

‘God is pleased with you.’ The angel said. ‘Don’t be afraid. God has chosen you to have a special baby. He will be God’s son. He will rule over a Kingdom’

How is this possible? Mary asked

God will make this happen. God can do anyhing he wants’. The angel said.

What an amazing message! Mary agreed to be the mum of this special baby.

Angel craft – you need – white paper for the body, circle head and pens to draw on features, sparkly pip cleaner, wool, silver heart shapes (at least two per angel but you can use more to make the wigs larger), glue, A4 paper or card.

J is for Jesus

J is for Jesus is part of the Bible Alphabet series. I decided on the annunciation story for the letter J because we were so close to Christmas. It followed on from ‘I is for Immanuel’ really well.

The story is found in Lukes Gospel 1:26-33.

To tell the story : Before you begin tell the children that there is something for them to say part way through the story. Get them to repeat ‘don’t be afraid’ a couple of times.

Long, long ago in a town that looked like this…

In a house that looked like this…

there lived a lady who was having a busy day. She was cleaning, she was dusting ..(do the actions for these tasks and ask the children to join in) when she had a big surprise (look surprised) . A big, strong messenger from God had been sent to speak to her. We call God’s big, strong messengers angels. The lady was frightened. She had never seen an angel before.

What did he say? (Are you ready? remember the words we practiced at the beginning) He said, ‘Don’t be afraid’. ‘You have been chosen by God to have a very special baby. He will be a king forever and you will give him the name Jesus.’

The lady’s name was Mary. She was going to have a special baby and call him Jesus.

J is for Jesus, the special King sent by God.

For the figures of Mary and the angel I used items from an old Early Learning Nativity. (This is similar from Happy Land ) and introduced them from a story bag at the appropriate time in the story. The pictures of Nazareth and the house are flannelgraph backgrounds. These were on a board one over the other. After using the first, flip over to the second.

I is for Immanuel

I is for Immanuel is part of our Bible Alphabet series of stories for young children’

I just couldn’t think of what to do for the letter i in our Bible alphabet series at toddler group. I looked through Young’s concordance and decided on Immanuel. It fitted so well as we are approaching Christmas.

Bible references – Immanuel is mentioned three times in the Bible – Isaiah 7:14; 8:8 and Matt 1:23.

I is for Immanuel story –

In the story bag I had Isaiah (a knitted doll) and a scroll made out of sugar paper.

‘A long. long’ long time ago there lived a man called Isaiah (ask children to say the name and take Isaiah out of the story bag).

He was given a message from God to tell to the king. It was a promise. Isaiah wrote it down. What could the promise be? Let’s find out? (Take the scroll out of the bag and read what is says on the outside). Lets open the scroll and find out what God promised. (Open the scroll and read the words inside).

God promised to send a baby who would be called Immanuel (ask children to repeat the name). The name Immanuel means ‘God with us’. The baby to be born would be ‘God with us’.

Items for the story bag

Scroll

Message inside the scroll

You could of course use this for ‘i is for Isaiah’ but if you were teaching the children the sounds of the letters in English (phonics) it would not fit.