Creative ways to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful season.  However, during the hustle and bustle, it is easy to loose sight of the real reason our family celebrates Christmas.  I am participating in a collaborative blog hop where the focus is on the Nativity! I’m so excited to see what everyone comes up with!  I decided to share a few creative ways to teach kids the true meaning of Christmas.  We are focusing on spending time together as a family and while being reminded of the Nativity story.

We love to play games in our house so I decided to revamp a few of our old favorites.  I ended up making a Christmas version of the game Guess Who, Hedbanz and creating a glow in the dark Nativity hunt.  These ideas are a perfect way to spend a fun family night together, while being reminded of the Nativity story.

Guess Who – Nativity Style!

Our version is played the same as the regular Guess Who game, just with the characters from the Nativity.  We have an older style Guess Who board that we bought at the thrift store a number of years ago.  We removed all the regular Guess Who cards from our game and replaced them with the Nativity cards that I created.

I drew 24 characters from the Nativity and scaled them down to fit into the Guess Who board.  I then printed the cards off in black and white, colored them and backed them on either red or blue paper (so we could tell which cards went with which boards).  Once all the cutting pasting was done, we had a blast playing our new game.  There was lots of giggles as the kids were asking questions to figure out which of the Nativity characters the other one had.  Some of the questions were hilarious!

This simple game was a great way for us to connect as a family, and focus on the Nativity.  I love when we can “sneak” teachable moments into everyday life!

Sorry there is no PDF for the Guess Who - Nativity Style yet, but I’m working on it.  If you are interested just leave me a comment and can hopefully get one to you soon.

Nativity HedBanz 

Kids love the fast paced silly HedBanz Game.  It is a fun game where you try to guess the card that you have in your head band.  It is fast paced since you are racing to guess who you are before the 1 min timer beeps.

Again we changed out the cards that came with the game with the Nativity cards I created.  We spent the evening giggling and laughing as we each tried to figure out which of the Nativity characters we were wearing on our head.  This was a silly way to focus on the Nativity and while having fun together.

You could also draw the cards yourself, or make cards with only the name of the characters printed on them.  You could also just use a stretchy head band or tie fabric around your head to keep the card on.  No need to be fancy, just have fun!

Sorry there is no PDF for the Nativity Hedbanz yet, but I’m working on it.  If you are interested just leave me a comment and can hopefully get one to you soon.

Glow in the Dark Nativity Hunt

My kids think that any game played in the dark is way better!  They love to play family Hide ‘n Seek in the dark and they always request it to be added to our family activities in our advent calendar each year.

I found a Nativity set at the thrift store for really cheap.  It did not have to be pretty, but I needed it to have as many of the nativity characters as possible.  I then painted each of the pieces with glow in the dark paint.  I know, it seems funny to be painting them, but I promise your kids will have a blast hunting for the glowing baby Jesus!  Like a regular hunt, hide the pieces throughout the designated space.  You can do this indoors, or outside depending on the weather.

As the kids find the pieces have them tell you who they are and what roll they played in the Christmas story.  Have them re-tell the story for you.  You might be surprised at what they know and remember.

This little nativity set will not be placed on my mantel, but it will be a treasured part of your Christmas Advent!  I’m sure like the family hide ‘n seek game, this glowing Nativity hunt will become a part of our yearly advent activities calendar!

Each of these fun games will get packed away along with the Christmas decorations each year.  I hope that they become a fun Christmas tradition that my kids look forward to playing.

Here are some more great ideas on how to play together as a family while focusing on the nativity:

• Try out this fun group game at your next Christmas party. The Right Left Christmas Game Based on the Nativity from Diva Girl Parties and Stuff.  This is a fun way to do a gift exchange.  You will need the right left story (which is printable from their site) and a gift to pass during the game.
• Have a family Lego night and try out The Christmas Story: The Brick Bible for Kids.  We don’t own it, but I know that it would be a hit in our house.  What kids (or adults!) wouldn’t love to recreate the Christmas story in Lego’s?!
• Why not have a fun movie night!  The Very First Noel is my all time favorite Christmas movie!  I know it is geared at the kids, but I love it.  This story is told from the 3 Wise Men’s perspective and their journey to find the new born King.
• The Truth in the Tinsel is also a wonderful resource!  They have a wonderful advent calendar that you can purchase, plus their site is packed full of wonderful ideas on how to make the holidays meaningful!

We also made this adorable Stained Glass Nativity craft.  It is so easy to make and perfect for creating with toddlers and preschoolers.  For full instructions on how to make your own stained glass nativity, click on the link or the picture.

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Here is a list of all the blogs that are collaborating in the Nativity Blog Hop.  They all have wonderful ideas to share, so hop on over that check out how they are celebrating the Nativity with their kids!  Now onto the Blog Hop!

The Imagination Tree Living Montessori Now Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers My Nearest And Dearest Life At The Zoo Creative Connection for Kids This Reading Mama Adventures in Mommydom Train up A Child Rainy Day Mum 3 Dinosaurs Crafty Mom Share The Magic Of Play Sun Hats and Wellieboots The Fairy and The Frog Housing a Forest The Iowa Farmers Wife Preschool Book Club Craft o Art The Golden Gleam Here Come The Girls Mamas Like Me In Lieu Of Preschool Kids Creative Chaos My Small Potatoes Love Play And Learn Kids World Citizen