Showstoppers Under 5s Day 4
Story
An angel visits Mary
Tell the following three stories of Jesus’ birth which are taken from The Jesus Bible Storybook. If you have a copy show the pictures as you tell the stories.
Use a sturdy nativity scene as you tell the story. Move the various figures around as the story suggests. You may like to set up different scenes with a doll’s house for Mary’s home, straw and a box for the stable and green material for the hillside.
A message for Mary
Mary was busy at her house. Suddenly, she saw an angel.
“Mary, I have a message for you from God,” the angel said.
“You are going to have a baby boy. He will be God’s Son.”
Mary was amazed. God’s Son would soon be born and she was going to be his mother. How wonderful!
Jesus is born
Mary’s baby would soon be born.
Joseph and Mary went on a long journey to a town called Bethlehem. But lots of other people were in Bethlehem too. There was nowhere for Joseph and Mary to stay.
A kind hotel-keeper let them rest in his animal shed. And that is where Jesus, God’s Son, was born.
The shepherds see Jesus
Some shepherds saw an angel.
The angel said, “God’s Son has been born!”
The shepherds said, “Let’s find this special baby.” SO they ran to Bethlehem. They found baby Jesus. The shepherds told Mary and Josehp what the angel had said to them. The shepherds were so excited, they told everyone, “God’s Son has been born!”
Prayer
Paper-chain prayer
1 Cut up strips of Christmas wrapping paper to make paper chains. Loop some together and glue the ends to start the chain.
2 Tell the children that you are going to use the paper chain to say thank you to God for Jesus. Give each child a paper strip and ask them to hold on to it and then bring it forward to add to the chain, when you say their name.
3 As you say each child’s name, help them to fix their strip of paper to the chain. Pray:
Thank you, God, that you sent your Son Jesus here.
Thank you that Jesus was born.
Thank you that the shepherds went to see him.
We all want to say thank you.
Matthew wants to say thank you.
Amira wants to say thank you…
4 Hold the chain up high and all shout: ‘Thank you!’
(Adapted from a Bubbles activity)
Activity
Nativity sets
To remind the children about Christmas, provide them with nativity sets to play with. As they play, help them to remember the story together.
Craft
Handprint angels
You will need: yellow paint, paint tray, dark blue/black paper, silver foil cut into circles, tissues, pink/brown paper cut into small circles, round-ended scissors, glue sticks, felt-tip pens, glitter pens.
Mix yellow paint and put it in a paint tray (food packaging trays are ideal!). Ask the children to place their hands flat in the paint until their palms are coated. Help the children to make two handprints and leave them to dry; these are the ‘wings’. Older children may wish to cut their handprints out themselves; otherwise, have adults on hand to cut the prints out and help the children stick them onto dark blue/black paper.
Cut a disk of silver foil for the halo and stick it between the wings. Stick the smaller circles of pink/brown paper on top of the silver foil. This is the angel’s head – so don’t forget to draw a face!
Fold the tissue into a triangle shape and stick it on the paper to make a robe.
Encourage the children to make blobs on the wings with glitter pens.
(Adapted from Tiddlywinks:The Big Red Book)