Christmas Ideas
Christmas is the celebration of God coming to earth as a baby! What a glorious occasion! Our earthly minds will never fully know the extent of the sacrifice Jesus made to come to earth, especially in the way He did. The Christmas season provides us with many opportunities to focus on His great love for us and the miracle of His birth.
Fun Activities
Christmas Bingo: This is a regular Christmas Bingo game with 23 unique game boards. (It is in 2 separate files. You need both files to play the game.)
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Christmas Bingo Nativity Edition: This bingo game as pictures of things related to the birth of Jesus. It has 25 unique game boards. (To make this harder for older children, give a clue to what the target item is before saying it. For example, "This appeared to the shepherds in the fields and told them about Jesus. What is it? An angel.) You can choose the game that is most appropriate for your class/family.
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Use these small cards to call out the items for the Christmas Bingo Nativity Edition game.
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Manger Games: Use this deck of cards (printed double-sided) in multiple ways. Use one of each card (remove Horrible Herod) to call out items for Christmas Bingo Nativity Edition (instead of the Nativity Bingo Cards to Call file). Use the deck (remove Horrible Herod) to play Go Fish or Concentration/Memory. Include the Horrible Herod card with the rest of the deck to play Old Maid. (Don't be the player left with Horrible Herod when all the matches have been made.)
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Away in a Manger Game: Go around this board game and be the first player to collect all the pieces of the nativity scene.
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Match It Christmas Nativity Edition: In this matching game, distribute 1 card face-up in front of each player. The rest of the cards are placed face down in the middle of the group. One person turns the top card in the stack over so it is face-up in the middle of the group. Players look on their own cards and identify the item that is on their own card and the card in the middle. The first player to call out the item that is the same takes the card from the middle and places it on top of his/her own card. Turn the next card in the stack face-up and continue playing until all the cards stacked in the middle of the group are gone. The player with the most cards wins.
*Players who do not know what an item is (like the bottle of myrrh) can call out a description of the item (jar/glass container) instead of the name of the item (myrrh).
*Players who do not know what an item is (like the bottle of myrrh) can call out a description of the item (jar/glass container) instead of the name of the item (myrrh).
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*Print the first 2 pages front/back and see how the card backs line up. If your printer settings are too different, you might need to only print one side of the cards.
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Here is a coloring page with Luke 2:11. Check back soon for another coloring page.
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A Beginning Reader
Here is the Christmas story as a beginning reader. Print the reader below, or click on the .epub file and open it in iBooks on an iPad!
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Activity Pages
Fun activity pages that will help develop reading skills while increasing understanding of the stories.
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Keeping Christ the Focus of Christmas
Jesse Tree
Advent is a time of anticipating the coming of God to earth as man. Although the number of days of Advent varies depending on the year, it can have up to 28 days. With the Jesse Tree, you go through the Bible to see God's plan for salvation, which was in place from the beginning of the world. Each day you read a Scripture and reflect on an idea from the Bible that points to Jesus or to God's plan for man. Then you put an ornament on your Jesse Tree that corresponds with the Scripture of the day.
To make a Jesse Tree: There are many ways to make a Jesse Tree.
- You can tie sticks together to make a branch tree and put it in a plant pot with stones.
- You can make a tree from felt just by buying a large piece of felt and cutting it in the shape of a tree and attaching it to a wall.
- You can buy a small table-top Christmas tree.
- You can use whatever tree you want to use.
To make the ornaments: There are also many ways to make the ornaments. The ornaments are symbols that correspond with the Scriptures read each day.
- You can use the templates below and print them on paper or cardstock. Print the ornaments in color, or print them in black and white if you have small children who would enjoy coloring them. If you have a felt tree, glue strips of felt to the back of the ornaments. If you are using a different tree, punch a hole in the top of the ornament and use string or ribbons to make loops for hanging the ornaments on the tree.
- You can make felt ornaments in the shapes of the symbols that correspond with the Scriptures.
- You can buy plain ornament balls from Hobby Lobby and decorate them with the symbols.
- You can use any other ornament idea you have.
*The symbols and Scriptures are not right or wrong. You can vary them if you desire. Just make sure the symbol reminds you of the Scripture to which it corresponds. Also, since some years have more days of Advent than other days, you will need more ornaments some years than others.
To make a Jesse Tree: There are many ways to make a Jesse Tree.
- You can tie sticks together to make a branch tree and put it in a plant pot with stones.
- You can make a tree from felt just by buying a large piece of felt and cutting it in the shape of a tree and attaching it to a wall.
- You can buy a small table-top Christmas tree.
- You can use whatever tree you want to use.
To make the ornaments: There are also many ways to make the ornaments. The ornaments are symbols that correspond with the Scriptures read each day.
- You can use the templates below and print them on paper or cardstock. Print the ornaments in color, or print them in black and white if you have small children who would enjoy coloring them. If you have a felt tree, glue strips of felt to the back of the ornaments. If you are using a different tree, punch a hole in the top of the ornament and use string or ribbons to make loops for hanging the ornaments on the tree.
- You can make felt ornaments in the shapes of the symbols that correspond with the Scriptures.
- You can buy plain ornament balls from Hobby Lobby and decorate them with the symbols.
- You can use any other ornament idea you have.
*The symbols and Scriptures are not right or wrong. You can vary them if you desire. Just make sure the symbol reminds you of the Scripture to which it corresponds. Also, since some years have more days of Advent than other days, you will need more ornaments some years than others.
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You can use the color ornaments just as they are, or color you own ornaments with the black and white file.
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You can use these reflection cards to help you remember which Scriptures to read each day and what the symbols represent. They also have a short prayer you can say to close your devotional time.
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Here are sets of ornaments and reflection cards with only 25 ornaments and devotions for anyone who wants to do it December 1-25 instead of for traditional Advent.
| jesse_tree_ornaments_25.pdf |
| jesse_tree_ornaments_blk_and_wht_25.pdf |
| jesse_tree_reflection_cards_december.pdf |
There are many ideas and patterns for Jesse Tree ornaments on the Internet. We have enjoyed coloring our own ornaments using the patterns above. We also decided to use the patterns as a guide to make some long-lasting felt ornaments. Here is a picture of a few of our felt ornaments.
Jesus' Birthday Party
Make Christmas day a birthday party for Jesus! Instead of waking up and having a mind just on presents, make it a day of celebrating Jesus' birth as a baby. Sing songs about His birth, read from Luke 2 about His birth, and even have a birthday cake! You can make a breakfast bread cake if you want to have your birthday party first thing Christmas morning. Make the day a party all about Jesus.
Limit Gifts
Why do we give gifts at Christmas? People give gifts for a variety of reasons. In the Bible, the first gift was Jesus Himself, when God gave Him to us as a baby on Christmas morning. The next gifts were the gifts the wise men took to Jesus to honor Him. Three gifts are recorded: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It can be fun to talk about how Jesus received three gifts and give only three gifts or three categories of gifts (several books could all be considered one "books" gift) to each person. This isn't meant to be a strict rule, but instead a way of minimzing the greed that can easily come with the Christmas season. Advertisements, store displays, and even strangers asking your child what he/she wants for Christmas all encourage selfish thought of "getting" instead of thinking about the incredible gift of Jesus, Who is really all we need, and Who freely gave Himself.
Give Gifts to Jesus
Usually the birthday boy gets the presents. Since Jesus is not physically present for His birthday party, most families give gifts to each other instead. But just because Jesus isn't physically present for His party, that doesn't mean we can't give Him gifts. What can we give the King? What would He want for a present? Look at the Bible. What does He say to do? Christmas is a charitable season with many opportunities to bring glory to God and to share His love with others. As a family, give gifts to Jesus. Here are some ideas of things your family can do together. Maybe some of them are possible for you, or will spark an idea of your own. See how much your family can give to Jesus. But try as you might, you can never out-give Him...He gave it all!
- Volunteer your time at a local organization, such as a food bank or orphanage.
- Rake a neighbor's leaves or shovel the snow off of their walkway.
- Choose a child you don't know to buy presents for (from an angel tree or similar program). Shop for the child as a family.
- Make treats (cookies, candy, bark) together and take them to a retirement home or to the widows from your church.
- Give financially to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, your church, or some other organization that has ministered to you. Look at your Christmas budget. How much will you spend on presents for your family? How much are you willing to give to help others and to share Christ?
- Make a point of talking with your children about serving others. Encourage them to be on the look-out for ways to serve. Maybe your small child sees an elderly person who needs a door held open. Maybe your teenager knows of a friend who needs their own Bible. Maybe you notice the package delivery person could use some encouragement which could be provided with a few home-made cookies and a thank-you note. When your family becomes service-hunters, you will find more and more ways to give to Jesus in celebration of the ultimate gift He gave.
- Volunteer your time at a local organization, such as a food bank or orphanage.
- Rake a neighbor's leaves or shovel the snow off of their walkway.
- Choose a child you don't know to buy presents for (from an angel tree or similar program). Shop for the child as a family.
- Make treats (cookies, candy, bark) together and take them to a retirement home or to the widows from your church.
- Give financially to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, your church, or some other organization that has ministered to you. Look at your Christmas budget. How much will you spend on presents for your family? How much are you willing to give to help others and to share Christ?
- Make a point of talking with your children about serving others. Encourage them to be on the look-out for ways to serve. Maybe your small child sees an elderly person who needs a door held open. Maybe your teenager knows of a friend who needs their own Bible. Maybe you notice the package delivery person could use some encouragement which could be provided with a few home-made cookies and a thank-you note. When your family becomes service-hunters, you will find more and more ways to give to Jesus in celebration of the ultimate gift He gave.