The Christmas season is a wonderful time to teach your students about the true meaning of Christmas and the birth of Jesus. These preschool Nativity craft projects will bring the Nativity story to life for your students.Your class will enjoy doing one or both of these projects.
Use these preschool Nativity craft projects to teach your students about the birth of Jesus. These crafts go great with a Christmas unit, or they can be used on their own. You can even read a book to go along with this craft. An excellent book choice would be The Nativity Story by DK Publishing.
Shoe Box Nativities
Materials
Shoe boxes—one per student
Yellow construction paper (9x12)
Copies of Nativity characters copied on cardstock—one per student
Crayons/markers
Scissors
Glue or glue sticks
Brown construction paper (optional)
Cardstock scraps (optional)
Procedure
Have students bring in a shoe box from home. You can start collecting the week before to make sure that you will have enough. This will be the stable. If you want to, have students cover the shoe box with brown construction paper. Pass out a sheet of yellow construction paper to your students. Have them cut the paper into strips. This will be the straw. Have them glue the straw into their shoe boxes.
Pass out the Nativity characters. Have students color them. When students are finished, have them cut the characters out. If you want to make the characters stand up, use the cardstock scraps. Cut out half circle or rectangular shapes to use as a stand in advance. Cut a slit in top of the stand and show students how to slide it onto the bottom of the character.
Nativity Puppets
Materials
Copies of Nativity characters—one per student
Craft sticks—one per puppet
Crayons/markers
Scissors
Glue or glue sticks
Table
Green or brown tablecloth
Butcher paper
Overhead projector (optional)
Procedure
Before doing this craft, create a stable to use a stage. An easy way to do this is to use a table you have in your classroom. Cover it with a green or brown tablecloth. Use an overhead projector to create an easy backdrop. Shine a picture of a stable onto the butcher paper and trace it. Then, all you have to do is color it. You can also freehand draw a stable.
Pass out Nativity characters to your students. Have them color the characters and cut them out. Pass out craft sticks. Students will need one craft stick for each character. Have students glue the craft sticks to the back of the characters at the bottom.
Have students take turns acting out the Christmas story with their puppets. You can even place students in groups and have them practice acting out the story. Then, have them perform for parents and other classrooms.