Christmas Sunday School Activities

This is a 3 week Christmas Sunday School program for children of approximately the ages 6-11yrs. The aim is to rediscover the surprise of the Christmas story by listening to accounts from the characters put in a way that they may not have heard before. 

The stories are told from the perspective of Mary and  two unnamed friends. The word surprise is used a lot and the idea is to get the children to shout out surprise every time they hear you say it in the story. It is therefore highlighted for you in the text. The final part of the story i.e. the birth, is not told here as it is felt that this part of the story will be told during the normal Sunday service when the children will hopefully discover some of the surprise for themselves as they get to grips with the events that led up to the birth.

Week 1 A Surprise Visit. (Mary's Story)
Word Format
Week 2 A Surprise Journey (Joseph's Story)
Word Format 
Week 3 Surprises at Bethlehem (A travelers Story)
Word Format

  



Click to enlarge

The Chair

As an opportunity to get more people involved in the work of the Sunday school we invited three people to come in read a part of the story. We often chose older people who are not normally associated with children's work so that the children heard the story as if coming from their gran or granddad. To show the importance of the story we constructed a special story tellers chair. This was an idea gained from the Art Attack website (which has many good craft ideas). Look at the project called the Fantasy Throne. The chair was an ordinary upright stacking arm chair, like those often used in church meeting rooms. Two sides were created from MDF board which could then be attached to the chair and painted to look like a throne. The chair then had some extra cloths placed on it to make it look more like a throne. A special place was given to the story tellers chair in the room so that all of the children could see. Behind the chair on the wall was a poster that announced "God of Surprises".

A rap has also been composed with the intention that it is said each week with an extra verse that tells the next stage of the story. By the end of the three weeks the children would have said it enough times to be able to perform it during the church service.

Week 1 Mary at home                                                Word Format
Week 2 Joseph was a carpenter                                  Word Format
Week 3 Joseph and Mary set off for Bethlehem             Word Format

Craft Activities

After each weeks story, rap and prayer there was an opportunity to do some craft related to the theme. We used the following ideas you can easily add your own.

Colouring of appropriate pictures for the week. You can find colouring pages on the web or provide you own from activity books that allow photocopying for Sunday schools.
Constructing a landscape of the town of Nazareth. Using PVA glue, tissue paper and empty boxes to create the landscape and buildings. Again check the Art Attack web site, look at the project called "Create a City" for ideas that can be adapted to suit.