Bethlehem — Bible Story & Sunday School Lesson for Kids New

• Provide supplies and allow students to make their own manger scene.
• Encourage students to use their creativity

• Glue popsicle sticks in the shape of a stable onto a piece of card stock.
• Attach a small star above the stable.
• Color and glue the picture of Joseph, Mary and Jesus in the stable

• Print a copy of Mary, Joseph and Jesus for each student.
• Have students color the pictures.
• Cut out each picture separately.
• Glue each picture to a small wooden block.
• Use Mod Podge to seal the pictures to the blocks.
• Your students have their own manger!
• You can also print pictures of donkeys, camels, shepherds and wise men to complete the manger.

• Print donkey pattern on card stock.
• Cut out donkey (including cutting out the legs).
• Color with gray crayon.
• Glue small pieces of black yarn for the donkey's mane.
• Clip clothespins to bottom as legs.

• Build a wooden manger

• Give each child a piece of paper and markers
• Follow the step by step instructions to have them draw a cartoon version of Baby Jesus

• Open a small paper bag.
• Roll the bag like a snake. Attach the ends with tape to make a circle.
• Glue the Baby Jesus clipart to the bottom of the wreath.
• Glue a star to the top.
• Add ribbon to make an ornament

• Play the traditional "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" game, but instead try and pin Mary on the donkey.
• (Note: while the Bible doesn't explicitly say that Mary rode a donkey, the traditional understanding of Mary riding a donkey from Nazareth to Bethlehem is certainly probable)

• Pretend that your class needs more crayons and markers, but you're not sure what colors to choose or how many to buy.
• Write your name and favorite color on a piece of paper.
• Fold the paper. Draw a stamp. Put the paper in the mailbox.
• We'll count the mail to find out how many students are in our class and which art supplies we should get.
• On the board, tally up the responses. Is anyone absent today? What would happen if some students did not get counted?
• In our country, we count people, too. This way we get the workers, places, and services we need such as firefighters, police, schools, and hospitals.
• Knowing how many people there are helps us decide what each place needs.
• What happens if all the people in the state do not get counted?
• We call this process of counting all of the people in all of the states, the census.
• Grown-ups mail in answers to questions.

• Walk a mile together!
• Mary and Joseph traveled about 80 miles on their journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
• Imagine together if you had to walk 79 more times.
• Observe nature as you walk.
• Pray for the people you pass or that live near your route.

• We couldn't get a hold of the manger smells, so we got creative and looked up the sounds of the manger. 
• Each animal sound was played for the kids and they were asked to guess the manger sounds.

• Allow students to experience smells that would have been present in the stable.
• hay
• donkey poop (definitely for the boys' classes!)
• feed for animals
• dirt

Gift wrap each character 

• Mary
• Joseph
• Jesus
• Donkey
• Chicken
• Ox
• Shepherd
• Sheep

Invite a child to unwrap one of the gifts.

Whatever person or animal they unwrap, they must act out that part for the rest of the story time. 

Provide props to help them. (Mary- head covering, Shepherd- staff, etc)

• Read book My Birthday, Jesus' Birthday by Holly Davis.
• This book contrasts student birthdays with Jesus' birthday.

Allow students to practice swaddling the baby dolls.

Or

Provide wooden peg people.

Wrap wooden pegs in a square of felt to swaddle. 

Attach with a small bit of glue

• Ask the students about their names and nicknames. Where did their names come from? Do they know the meaning of their name? 
• Talk about how our names tell something about us.
• Jesus has over 200 names and they all tell us about who He is and how He works in our lives. 
• Introduce a few of His names and what they mean. 
• Let the kids decorate the names of God. 
•  You can use these to decorate the classroom throughout the Christmas season.

• Cut crescent roll triangles into smaller pieces.
• Wrap L'il smokies in crescent rolls, leaving one end open. (This is baby Jesus wrapped in a blanket).
• Bake as directed.
• Place pretzels on plate in the shape of a stable.
• Cut a star out of cheese slices and place on top of stable.
• Place shoe string snacks as hay in the stable.
• Put Jesus on top of the hay.

• Mix up and bake a cake.
• Decorate with words, "Happy Birthday, Jesus"
• Add candles and sing happy birthday.

• Give each child a map as appropriate (US or world map)
• Have them write their name and make two dots on the map: one where they were born and one where they live now.
• If they are old enough, they can write the name of each town on the map.
• Collect them and discuss with the class.
• Use Google Maps to see how far away they would have to go if they had to go back to where they were born for a census. (Hint: Google Maps allows you to choose different modes of transportation when you get directions between two points. You can choose walking to see how long it would take them to walk back to where they were born)
• Compare that to how long it would have taken Joseph and Mary to walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem.