As I have finished up decorating my house with my usual Christmas decorations I have, I am looking around and realizing that sure, these snowmen and Santas are adorable and definitely bring a wonderful festive spirit, but I want there to be more focus on Christ and the whole reason for the season. I want there to be things my kids can actively see and play with that can teach them about Jesus Christ and Christmas. When I was growing up, my mom had several very beautiful porcelain and ceramic nativity sets around our house, and while those were fun to look and marvel at, I think I am going to try and make a few things that are a little more toddler and small child friendly so my kids can touch them and play with them. There are of course many ideas out there for these kinds of ideas. Many of these have printables and you can click on the link at the bottom of the article if you are interested in printing any of these out.

Felt Wall Nativity

I have seen many times over the years the cute felt Christmas tree on the wall with all the different colored ornaments and I think it is so dang cute! I was actually going to go out and buy the felt to make it this weekend but then I saw this really cute felt nativity for the wall and I'm going to go that route instead. I really think kids could be entertained and play with this wall nativity many times and it gives the perfect opportunity to play and interact with them and tell them the nativity story and teach them about Jesus.

Magnetic Nativity

You can print out some cute nativity figures and put magnets on the back or even print them right onto magnet paper and your kids can play with them on the fridge or a cookie sheet. (Link to print out this magnetic nativity is in the sources at the bottom at designdazzle.com)

Popsicle Stick Nativity

Here is an adorable set of the nativity characters to put on popsicle sticks. (Link to print out this nativity activity is at the bottom at biblefunforkids.com)

Wooden Block Nativity

This particular nativity would be so fun for families because you can pull them out year after year and play with them again and again. And they would be so fun to have the kids help you make them too. It is just stickers on wooden blocks. Looks super easy!

Healthy Nativity Snack

You can get creative with your snack times or lunches for your kids and think of different ways to teach the story. Here is a fun healthy nativity snack idea to really drive the story of Jesus' birth home. First read Luke 2:8-16 and Matthew 2:1-2. Then if you really want to make them work for their snack you can ask them questions about what you read and after each question they get part of their snack.

Ingredients for a Nativity Snack:

• Gram Crackers for the stable

· Peanut Butter for "hay" and to help things stick together

• Thinly Sliced Apples for Jesus' bed
• Almonds or Mini Marshmallows for baby Jesus

· Grapes cut in half lengthwise for bodies and some ends cut for heads

• Popcorn for sheep
• Pineapple or star fruit for the star

Coloring and Games Activities

· There are a ton of different coloring pages you can find of baby Jesus and the nativity among many other things.

· You can play a roll the dice game where each part of your nativity is number, so when you roll each number, a different part of the nativity gets to go to the stable.

I am so thankful Jesus Christ was born on that amazing night and cannot wait to share about his birth and life this Christmas season with my own children. I am going to do my best to keep CHRIST the focus of this Christmas season!