SCRIPTURE: Matthew 1, Luke 1-2

CHRIST CONNECTION: God sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue people from their sins.

KEY PASSAGE PHRASE:  God loved the world, and gave His only Son, whoever believes in Him would have eternal life. (From John 3:16)

GOSPEL GEMS:

• God sent an angel to Mary and Joseph. The angel said Mary would have a baby and name Him Jesus. 
• Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. Jesus was born in a place where animals stayed. 
• That night, an angel came to shepherds and said, “Today a Savior was born for you!”

Directions:
You will have a nativity scene to let the kids play with during play time, this is a great time to explore the story and teach the kids the different people involved in Jesus’ birth.

Say:
-

Directions:
During playtime the felt nativity scene will be on one of the tables for the kids to interact with. This provides another opportunity for the kids to learn the characters in the story of Jesus’ birth. You can then use the felt nativity scene (or the plastic toy nativity scene) to retell the story.

Say:
-

Directions:
The kids played a version of this last week, so they may have some memory of how to do it. Have the kids sit on the rug. Lay out the 3 baskets in a row. Tell the kids you are going to place the baby Jesus (from either the felt nativity or plastic nativity) under one of the baskets and then you will have one child come and find the baby. Tell the kids “1,2,3 close your eyes!” And quickly hide baby Jesus under the basket. Then pick one child at a time to come up and look under the baskets.
 
Say:
The angel said that Mary would have a baby and she should name Him Jesus. You have a name that was chosen for you too! What did Mary name her baby? Mary named the baby Jesus.

Directions:
Give each child one half sheet of paper and one sticker sheet. Encourage them to make their own nativity scene with the stickers. The smaller stickers are a bit harder to remove from the sticker sheet, and the kids may need help with those. I had a hard time removing any of the tiny stars.

Say:
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a place where animals were kept. Mary laid Baby Jesus in a manger. A manger is a feeding box filled with food for animals to eat. Where was Jesus born? That’s right! Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Directions:
On your weekly walk with the donut rope, tell the kids they are going to “travel to Bethlehem” in between you reminding them to “hold onto the donut” try to retell pieces of the story.

Say:
Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to be counted. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown. While they were there, the time came for Jesus to be born. Where was Jesus born? That’s right. Jesus was born in a place where animals were kept.