Extra storytelling ideas for Day 4
Showstoppers showcase
All together
Christmas runaround
This game can be played using a parachute, or with players sat in a circle or long line.
Allocate a character name to each player or pair of players (there will be duplications). When the character’s name is called, the children run under the parachute and find a new place. If you are not using a parachute, they can run around the circle and back to their place, or to the other side of the room and back. Ensure you pause while reading the story to give the children time to run! This version of the story is adapted from the Good News Bible. The characters the children must listen out for are highlighted in bold.
Luke 2:8–20
There were some shepherds in that part of the country who were spending the night in the fields, taking care of their flocks. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord appeared over them. They were terribly afraid, but the angel said to, “Don’t be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people. This very day in David’s town your Saviour was born – Christ the Lord! And this is what will prove it to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.”
Suddenly a great army of heaven’s angels appeared with the angel, singing praises to God:
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to those with
whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away from them back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us,”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and saw the baby lying in the manger. When the shepherds saw him, they told them what the angel had said about the child. All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said.
Mary remembered all these things and thought deeply about them. The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.
Christmas crackers
Before the session, make up some Christmas crackers. Inside each cracker place an object which represents a detail of the Christmas story. As you tell the Christmas story, pull a cracker at the appropriate point to reveal each object as an illustration.
The Grumpy Shepherd
A lovely retelling of the Christmas story is found in The Grumpy Shepherd by Paddie Devon (Scripture Union, 978 185999 326 2). Read the story aloud, or tell it to the children showing them the pictures and asking them how they would feel, at certain points in the story. You can also watch The Grumpy Shepherd on video (Scripture Union, 978 185999 017 9).
Rehearsals
Small groups
Treasure hunt
Using the Christmas story text as written in Luke’s and Matthew’s Gospels, send the children on a Christmas treasure hunt. Arrows mark the way around the course (you might want to give each group a different starting point) and at various places along the way, written clues give the locations of each object to collect. The objects should represent details of the story, such as an angel, a plastic sheep, a star, a strip of cloth and small gifts. When all the objects have been collected, use them in the telling of the story among the small group.