Two Easy Preschool Nativity Craft Projects for Your Classroom

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 <em>The Nativity Story</em> 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.