This month, we are reconsidering how we view Christmas and how we can help children to experience a fully embodied Christmas. When we invite children to encounter the Nativity with their whole selves, we’re not just teaching them about Jesus’ birth; we’re helping them feel safe enough to bring their wonder, play, silliness, questions, and all that they are to the Lord.
Here are nine simple, play-based ways to share Christmas through little eyes:
- Let children hold, touch, and play with the nativity figures. Remove the “look but don’t touch” rule. Use wooden or plastic Nativity sets and let little hands explore each piece of the story without fear of breaking it.
- Sing lullabies to baby Jesus. Swaddle and rock baby dolls while singing “Away in a Manger,” “Silent Night,” or make up your own gentle songs for the newborn King. Use your children’s favorite blankets or scraps of fabric.
- Create Christmas sensory bins with safe materials. Fill containers with raffia or straw, gold coins (representing the wise men’s gifts), animals, and small Nativity figures for tactile exploration. My children love to add silly animals to the Nativity story and imagine what might have happened if giraffes, monkeys, and tigers showed up to worship Baby Jesus.
- Have a birthday party for Jesus. Bake a cake, sing “Happy Birthday,” and celebrate the guest of honor together. We do this on Christmas Eve after church each year. It is a playful, yet worshipful tradition we all enjoy.
- Create a child-sized manger scene for kids to play the story. Use a basket, blankets, and stuffed animals so children can reenact the Nativity at their own scale. Kids can create costumes or modernize the scene. What else might they add?
- Make Christmas playdough with seasonal scents. Add cinnamon, peppermint, frankincense, or myrrh essential oils to homemade playdough for a multisensory experience. Add plastic toys, playdough mats, or use your imagination to see what you can create.
- Practice movements for Christmas songs. Add hand motions, swaying, or simple choreography to familiar carols. You could even play Christmas carol charades.
- Create simple Christmas books with family photos. Create personalized board books or scrapbooks that showcase your family’s Advent traditions and Christmas celebrations.
- Light candles and talk about Jesus as the light. In age-appropriate ways, connect the warm glow of candlelight to Jesus coming into our dark world. Depending on your child’s age and your comfort level, you can use real candles or battery-operated ones.
When we meet children where they are—in their bodies, in their curiosity, in their play—we give them a Christmas they can truly experience, not just observe. They will learn that we want to meet them where they are, just as Jesus’ incarnation allowed Him to meet humanity where they were.