The Nativity: the story of Jesus birth described in Matthew 1:18-2:12 and Luke 2:1-21.
I remember when I was a child, my mom had a porcelain nativity set that we set on top of the t.v. It was a fragile set so we couldn’t play with it, but it was one Christmas decoration that we put up year after year. I would carefully place each figure in place thinking about the night Jesus was born. Seeing it still brings back good memories.
Now there are so many nativity options available. They are more than cute Christmas decorations though. Use them to teach your children the true Christmas story. When you glance at your set around the house, think about the real meaning of the season. In this ultimate guide to nativity resources, you will find many nativity activities, nativity sets, nativity books, nativity printables and more.
Christmas Nativity Crafts
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Craft from Love and Lollipops: Create a simple town with paper towel tubes, markers, and imagination.
Candy Nativity Scene from KatherineMarie: Graham crackers, gum drops and more help create this tasty nativity scene.
Simple Shapes Nativity Craft from Purple Pocket: An adorable craft for younger children. Just need construction paper, craft sticks and glue!
Popsicle Stick Nativity Craft from What to Expect: A simple popsicle stick nativity made with only popsicle sticks and paint.
Handprint Nativity Animals from Planet of the Apels: These make wonderful keepsakes while also providing opportunity to share the true story of Christmas.
Super Simple Nativity Popsicle Stick Puppets from Like a Pretty Petunia: This adorable craft is a wonderful tool for retelling the Christmas story.
Bottle Cap Baby Jesus Craft from The Homeschool Village: Reuse your old plastic lids and create an adorable Christmas decoration.
Wooden Nativity Family Craft from Learning to Be Me: Using wood blocks, wooden balls and paint, create a very unique nativity set.
Felt Nativity Puppets (pattern included) from Bits of Everything: Simple yet cute felt nativity puppets.
Christmas Nativity Displays
There are so many different types and styles of nativity sets available. We have Christmas decorations around that my children won’t get in trouble for touching. I want my kids to be able to move and play with the nativity scenes. I want them to pretend and bring to life the nativity story in their minds. Here are a few that we have used over the years:

Simple wooden nativity in a sandbox.
Printable Nativity Sets
Printable Nativity Set from Life Your Way: Print the set in full color, or print a black and white set and color the pieces (individually or as a family).
Printable Nativity Finger Puppets from hart of the mountain studio: Print in either color or black and white. Adorable figures to help retell the story of Christmas.
Printable Nativity Scene and Paper Dolls from Making Friends:
Printable Nativity Set from Marloes de Vries: Another wonderful printable resource. Print in either color or black and white.
Printable Nativity Scene from Design Dazzle: Print on magnet paper and use as an interactive scene.
Printable Nativity Scene from Prepared Not Scared: Prints out in color. Modge Podge onto wood blocks for moveable figures or print on magnet paper for an interactive scene.
Printable Nativity Ornaments from Wild Olive: These are super cute printable ornaments for your tree! Could also be used as gift tags.
Printable Nativity Worksheets
Printable Nativity Pack for young children from 3 Dinosaurs: Great printables that go along with The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola.
Printable Nativity Unit for Toddlers & Preschoolers from 2 Teaching Mommies: Coloring book, nativity maze, letter recognition practice and more.
Nativity Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1: These Nativity printables will give your preschooler hours of fun and exposure to early learning skills like ABCs, counting, early reading, shapes, colors and more!
J is for Jesus Preschool Pack from Confessions of a Homeschooler: Nativity puzzles, magnet pages, letter learning and more.
Printable Nativity Puzzles from Christian Preschool Printables: Print out onto cardstock and cut. Let your children put the various nativity scences back together.
Nativity Coloring Sheets from Christian Preschool Printables: Several different designs to choose from.
Luke 2:11 Printable Bible Verse from Totally Tots: This goes along with the Songs for Sapling Christmas song
Nativity Photo Cards from Spell Outloud: Use as a sequence activity or retelling activity.
Christmas Nativity Activities
Nativity Small World Play: Bethlehem from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots: Make your own Bethlehem playset with everyday items. Great to encourage free-play in children.
Nativity Scene Small World Play from The Imagination Tree: Create a simple stable that children can play with during the Christmas season.
Clothes Pin Nativity Game from All Play on Sunday: A fine-motor activity for young children.
Decorating a Nativity Tree from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots: Use various nativity ornaments to set up a Nativity tree for children to use for retelling the story of Christmas
Felt Wall Nativity Set from My Crazy Blessed Life: Turn a wall into a felt nativity scene. A great way to encourage children to play and recount the story.

Spend December impressing God’s Word on your kids’ heart! You’ll get 24 days of Scripture reading, ornament crafts, talking points and extension activities. Plus fun printables and templates! This is the perfect book for kids of any age–from preschool to elementary!
Christmas Nativity Books
Over the past couple of years, we have been adding to our Christmas book collection. I recently compiled a list of Christ-focused Christmas books for toddlers and preschoolers.
Nativity Movies
This holiday season, may your family remember the reason for the season!
” The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us). Matthew 1:23″
If you liked this post, please and share! For even more Christmas ideas, check out my Birthday Party for Jesus Pinterest Board and my Christmas Pinterest Board.
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LOVE this! I can’t wait to use some of these ideas in my home. Thank you for this list!!! Pinning and sharing!
This is an amazing resource list! Thank you Maureen!
Thanks for including 3 Dinosaurs in your list!
A wonderful list for all time. Thank you!
Wow, what a wonderful list and resource – I will definitely be pinning it 🙂
Thank you too for sharing my Little Town of Bethlehem craft here – I’m tickled!
Georgia 🙂
Thanks for including a link to my nativity puppets! This collection of nativity helps is great!
Read and Share Bible by Gwen Ellis has a nativity dvd that’s really great! They have a Christmas one AND one that goes from the birth of Christ to the death and resurrection also! So you can stop at Mary, Joseph and Jesus heading off for Egypt OR you can watch all the way through to the resurrection! It’s really well put together. We LOVE it and have been making it a part of our holiday traditions since we got them a few years ago.
Thanks for sharing that resource!