Make the Christmas story come alive with this nativity story puppet craft.
Each year I try to be intentional about what we do at Christmas time. The holiday season seems to fly right by every year and before I know it, it’s January 2nd and I feel like we haven’t done anything memorable or meaningful.
And while I also try not to fill up every single day on our calendar with activities so that we don’t end up being stressed, I do like to have a list handy of fun things that we can do as a family, or that I can do with the kids, for those times when we have a free day or a free evening.
Ideally, I like the family activities that we do at Christmas time to be Christ-centered, something that would bless another, or something that will help us to create lasting memories and bonds.
Below is a fun craft that your family can do together. You can then use the puppets as you read the nativity story together to help your kids stay focused and to help them comprehend the story that much better. You can also use the puppets to have them ‘act out’ or recall the nativity story to you. They would also make a nice homemade Christmas gift.
List of Supplies:
- Colored craft papers
- Colored cardstock papers
- White embossed paper
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Popsicle sticks
- Craft glue
- Sharpie or black gel pen
- Printable template
Instructions:
First thing you’ll want to do is print and cut out all of the patterns from the provided template.
Use cardstock paper for the base of each puppet and use colored craft papers for the clothes, hair, beard and other accessories.
Angel
Select papers to make the angel and trace the angel pattern on the selected papers. Cut out the traced patterns. I’m traced the wings on white embossed paper.
Attach the dress on the lower part of the Angel base cutout and then attach the upper part of the dress. Attach the hair on the top side of the head.
Now attach the ring on the back side of the top and the wings on the back side, below the head of the Angel. Draw a face on the angel with a black gel pen. Allow the glue to dry and meanwhile craft the other characters.
Animals
Trace the camel pattern on brown colored cardstock and the lamb body pattern on black colored cardstock. Trace the other parts of the lamb on white embossed paper. Cut out the traced patterns.
Use a black gel pen to draw the eyes of the animals. Stick the white embossed patterns on the lamb body cutout to complete the lamb craft.
Baby Jesus
Trace the small round shape from the same colored cardstock used for the other characters’ base pattern. Trace the crib pattern and the oval shaped (clothe) from any colored cardstocks you prefer.
Attach the round shape on the oval shape and draw the face of Baby Jesus on the round shape. Attach the crib cutouts to complete the pattern.
Mary
Trace and cut out the patterns for Mary. Attach the clothe cutouts on the body part of Mary like we did for the Angel.
Take the head scarf pattern and cut a straight slit on it horizontally. The slit should be big enough to insert the head through it.
Apply glue on the back side of the head part of Mary and insert the top end of the head through the slit of the head scarf. Attach the thin strip on the top part of the scarf horizontally.
Wisemen, Joseph, & Shepherd
Follow similar instructions as the Angel and Mary craft to make the wisemen, Joseph, and the shepherd.
Once all the characters are ready, attach a popsicle stick on the back side of each character to complete the puppet craft.
If you don’t have time to be crafty and make the nativity story stick puppets above, consider downloading these printable ones instead; simply print, cut out, laminate (if you’d like extra durability), and glue to stick.