Use this list of free printable Christmas plays and programs for your Sunday school or children’s church, from a pageant with no rehearsals to a narrator-led skit to a play for a small cast. It’s time to start planning your Christmas program for kids. Browse our 100% free printable Christmas plays and download the one that’s right for your church.
Need a script today? Print our Stories of the Savior Christmas play, free.
You can get some excellent Christmas programs on Amazon.com, but we know many churches want to create something original. For children’s Christmas songs for church we recommend this CD from Amazon. “Christmas Carols by Cedarmont Kids. It has 15 of the classics and split-track too.
Printable Christmas Programs for Children
The No Rehearsal Christmas Pageant (Christmas Light Show, free from The Sunday School Store)
The Christmas Light Show needs no rehearsals. The performers are chosen at the time of the program, so adults and children can take part on stage or from their seats. Before the day, read the script through, gather a few props, copy the script for the narrators and volunteers. Then set up the two music videos that come in the download, “Light It Up” and “Shine Your Light.” The store page calls it the perfect addition to its Christmas Lights Show 4-week children’s ministry curriculum.
Christmas Skit for Kids: The Birth of Jesus (narrator-led script, free from The Sunday School Store)
A narrator carries the story, so the children have very little to memorize. About 99 percent of the words come from Scripture (New International Reader’s Version). The cast is a narrator and a parent narrator, Mary, Joseph, three angels, Caesar Augustus, three innkeepers, a stablekeeper, shepherds and stage hands, with sheep for your preschoolers. Double up parts or add more shepherds and sheep to fit the children you have. This is a different script from the Birth of Jesus pageant below. Add it to your cart and check out for the free printable PDF. No payment is needed.
The Birth of Jesus (simple traditional pageant)
This is a traditional Christmas play script that’s easy to use and simple for small churches to perform. It’s mixed classic Christmas carols and some light narration. This pageant has been used with a cast of preschool ages 1-5 year olds as well as a children’s church ages 2 – 5th grade. The speaking is done by a narrator (which could be played by one or divided among older children or youth). It’s a simple way to celebrate the story of Christmas.
Christmas Hope (play script for small churches)
This is another great Christmas option for your children. It has a traditional manger scene mixed with modern day family life set. There are only a handful of actors needed in the cast, but they each have substantial speaking parts. Adding additional scripture readings is one simple way to accommodate more participants. You could pair this simple play script with a children, youth, or adult choir to have a full-length Christmas Pageant.
A Super Christmas (modern & funny Christmas play for youth)
This Christmas play script is perfect to cast with the youth ministry or older children’s group. This story of this skit is about a group of famous super heroes who discover that while Baby Jesus did come to save the world, he won’t be stealing their jobs! It was performed by a cast of teenagers and adults at our 5 pm Family Christmas Eve Worship in lieu of a sermon. It’s something creative if you want to try something more than the traditional Christmas pageants listed above.
Popular Plays for Christmas
“The 12 Symbols of Christmas” Program
This play script is based off our free “12 Symbols of Christmas” book. The scene is set as follows: A mom is decorating her home with her children for Christmas. As they add different items to their home, they discuss the meaning behind each item and how they all lead to Jesus. Think of it as a Christmas object lesson turned into a full performance for the church. It’s a traditional set and your church will enjoy the Christmas story in a new creative way.
Stories of a Savior (Free Christmas Play)
This is a play about 2 scientists giving a presentation about the birth of Jesus. These scientists don’t just tell the story starting with Mary. They go all the way back to Creation and tie it all together through the story of Simeon and Anna. It’s more than a play, it’s a whole Bible history in a Christmas play setting. You can expand the cast to include more parts in this play.
In just a few weeks, we’ll be starting our Christmas Children’s choir to prepare for the annual Christmas pageant. The holiday season is a coming soon and having the kids perform is one of our church’s favorite Christmas activities. But first, we need to find the right Christmas program for our smaller church. The first several we list below are traditional Christmas nativity scripts, after that we have several creative options.
Best Christmas Plays for Small Churches
A small church does best with a short cast list. Three scripts above fit that need: Christmas Hope, The Birth of Jesus, and Easy Christmas Plays below.
Christmas Hope needs only a handful of actors, and each part has real lines to speak. The Birth of Jesus works with one narrator and a few costumed kids. Add a scripture reading or two if you want more children to take part.
Two free scripts from The Sunday School Store also fit a small church. The Christmas skit for kids is read by a narrator, and the No Rehearsal Christmas pageant lets you pick the performers on the day.
Short Christmas Plays for a Quick Program
Need a short program? The Birth of Jesus is built around one narrator, so it moves quickly. Easy Christmas Plays (linked below) is written for churches with very few kids, which keeps the whole script short and simple.
For the least preparation, the No Rehearsal Christmas pageant asks for no rehearsals, a few props and two music videos. The Christmas skit for kids has a narrator, so the children have very little to memorize.
More Free Printable Christmas Play Scripts
Every script below is free to print. Grab one today and you can start rehearsals with your cast this week.
- Christmas in Genesis? – free program for Christmas
- Faith Baptist Church shared their Christmas plays online (Doc version or PDF)
- “Who’s This All About” Christmas Play Script & Family Experience
- Easy Christmas Plays for churches with very few kids
- The Christmas Window from a reader’s blog
- 7 Free Christmas Programs for Children’s Ministry, seven free programs side by side, three of them from The Sunday School Store
Need more help? Use these Bible verses about Christmas to make your own play.
I started my research on Google, and soon discovered there were very few free Christmas plays for kids choirs. It looks like many churches simply mix together Christmas poems, Bible verses and Christmas songs music to create a short 30-minute Kids Christmas program. This is what we’ve done in past years, but this year we’re going for something a little larger than a Children’s Christmas skit. I’m looking for music and drama that features Christmas stories. Some biblical costumes would be fun too, and it must come with a complete play script.
Don’t miss our pdf Christmas coloring pages to print.
Professionally Published Christmas Programs & Plays
- I searched Christmas play on Amazon.com
I love these because all the customer reviews available for each program for Christmas. You can also listen to some of the Christmas songs online. LifeWay sells hundreds of musical programs, you can browse or search to find a Christmas pageant for children. They specialize in religious Christmas programs that would work well for a kids musical at church.
Independent Plays & Christmas Pageants For Kids
- Cathy’s Music offers several Christmas Musicals for children. This site has over 15 plays for Christmas. You should be able to find the right program for small children’s choirs here.
- Taylor Made Productions has Christmas plays. One major benefit of using an independently published church musical is you can contact the people who wrote the program. This website has pictures from their pageant for Christmas, and hints from the original director.
- Guiding Light Video sells complete kits to host a kids Christmas play
- Pioneer Drama Services also sells a large selection of Children’s Christmas programs. This site sells a large selection of kids musicals for Christmas.
I have downloaded 3 of the plays you have shown on this site and am excited to introduce them to our church kids so that they can have a part in deciding which one(s) to present this year. Do I need to obtain special permission in order to live stream or videotape any of these programs? Thank you.
No permission needed, but we’d love to see the finished product and share it with other readers.
Is it okay to make changes to the script if needed?
absolutely ! Make it work for your church and ministry!
I am from Africa, Namibia. I am so excited that I came across this website and already used some materials for our recent Sunday school camp. I can’t wait to introduce the Christmas plays I downloaded to my Church kids.
Thank you very much
The 12 symbols of Christmas play link goes to another play. Is it possible to fix the link so I can print it or email it to me?
Thanks for letting me know – I just made the update and here are the links
https://ministry-to-children.com/12-symbols-of-christmas-play/
https://ministry-to-children.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ministry-to-children.com-12-Symbols-of-Christmas-Church-Play-for-Kids.pdf
Do you have a service for decorating the church and nativity to involve the congregation for a small church?
I am trying to print “The Christmas Story” bible skit but can only get page 1 to print.
Can you send me the URL address of that resource?
Do you have anything that can be done on ZOOM, small Church, gap in kids from very young to a couple of teens.