Preschool: Celebrate Jesus’ Birth: Session 3–Jesus Was Born (December 15)

1s & 2s— Hear and See Jingle Bells

Bible Story: Jesus Was Born Luke 2:1-20
Life Point: Jesus was born as God planned.
Weekly Verse: Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1

Materials: Teaching Picture 3, several clean plastic bottles, jingle bells, glue, narrow Christmas ribbon, Christmas confetti

• Place a few bells in each bottle. Add a few pieces of ribbon or confetti. Attach each lid with glue.
• Place the bottles on the floor with the Teaching Picture. Shake a bottle and sing a song about Jesus to get a child’s attention.
• Point to the picture and talk about the Bible story. Thank God that Jesus was born as God planned.

3–Pre-K— Make a Christmas Card

Bible Story: Jesus Was Born Luke 2:1-20
Life Point: Jesus was born as God planned.
Weekly Verse: Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1

Materials: Teaching Picture 3, white cardstock, yellow raffia, glue sticks,  markers, labels printed with the Weekly Verse

• Cut the raffia into short pieces, like hay. Fold the cardstock in half to make cards. Print Merry Christmas onto the front of each card.
• Give each child a card and a verse label. Encourage him to place the label on the front of the card. On the inside, guide each child to draw a picture of Baby Jesus in the center of the page. Then children can glue the raffia around the picture.
• Talk about the Bible story as the children work on their cards. Comment that Mary laid Jesus in a manger filled with hay. Thank God that Jesus was born just as God planned.

Kindergarten— Explore Christmas Pictures

Bible Story: Jesus Was Born Luke 2:1-20
Life Point: Jesus was born as God planned.
Weekly Verse: Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Matthew 2:1

Materials: Bible; Teaching Picture 3; several gift bags; pictures or Christmas cards depicting Christmas objects and scenes, such as Christmas tree, candles, manger scene, ornament, stocking, wreath (Avoid pictures or cards with fantasy characters.); fine-point marker; white paper; crayons or washable markers

• Place the Bible in a gift bag and the Teaching Picture in another gift bag. Place the pictures in several other gift bags. Arrange the bags on a table or the floor.
• Guide kindergartners to remove pictures from the gift bags and sort them. They may choose to sort them in different ways; allow the kids to choose the way the pictures should be sorted.
• Help a child open the Bible to Luke 2. Talk about the Bible story and say the Bible verse.
• Show the Teaching Picture and talk about Jesus’ birth. Say that Jesus was born just as God planned.