At Christmas, you will see excited young visitors, many of which won’t be accustomed to sitting still for long periods. Prepare for the fidgety crowds and short attention spans with Christmas activities for kids’ church. Entertaining activities are a good way to supplement a lesson or build on a Bible truth.
Peruse our list of Christmas activities to find the one that is right for your teaching style. Feel free to put your unique slant on these ideas. Click here to add your own ideas to our list.
Christmas Cards for Seniors
Christmas is a lonely time for the inbound and those that live in a nursing home. Show your children that one person can make a difference, just like Jesus. Provide the children of your church with a card making session or ask them to bring cards from home. Give the nursing home a call to found out how many residents there are. You want to make sure that each senior gets a card. Take a field trip to the facility you have chosen and allow the kids to hand out cards. You’ll need volunteers and a good working relationship with the facility manager but the hard work will be worth it. For fun, lead the children in a few Christmas songs like “Away in a Manger” or “Silent Night.”
Christmas Scavenger Night
Scavenger hunts aren’t just for summer fun. Gather some tiny Christmas ornaments like an angel, the baby Jesus and a Christmas star. Hide them around your children’s church and create a scavenger hunt for kids to use. The object of the hunt is to find all the goodies in a certain amount of time. Write the scavenger hunt clues using Christmas themed hints. For example, you could write, “They followed the star; will you? Head east and find these star seekers.”
Toy and Can Collection
Wrap a box or bin with Christmas wrapping paper and collect food or toys for kids in the community. Send home a list of canned goods that the food pantry needs to accommodate the community.
You could visit a local Angel Tree and claim some angels for your class. With your class, set up a tree for your angels and hang their information on the tree. Place the gifts under the tree until collection day.
Christmas Chain
Kids spend a lot of time “wishing” during Christmas. This is a good time to teach kids about the difference between wishing and praying. Cut green and red slips of construction paper out and give kids pens. Every Sunday, or whenever they attend your class, allow them to write their name on a slip of construction paper to represent prayers they prayed that week. They shouldn’t write their prayers, those may be personal. Add links to the chain every week when you gather together. Allow kids to add a chain every day that they prayed. To keep anyone from being embarrassed, give seven slips to each child. By the end of the month, you should have long Christmas chain that goes around the room. Hang the chain up using pushpins so other children will be inspired and do the same.
Editors Note: Many of these same ideas would be great Christmas activities for Sunday School. You might also like our printable coloring pages and other Christmas ideas.