Once Upon a Book ~ Who is Coming to Our House?

Who Is Coming To Our House

by Joseph Slate

Summary:  See the stable where Jesus was born through the eyes of the animals.  Just as the animals make room and clean the stable, so must we make room and clean up our hearts so that their is room in the stable of our heart. 

Bible Verse

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

Much of our preparation for this book has involved our Advent Activities, which you can read about here, and I will feature a little bit below.

Coloring

Bible Story Printables is a great resource for Christmas coloring pages.  Each morning, I have been giving Gabe (Smiley) a coloring page to complete after he is finished with his breakfast.  Now does he color within the lines or even with multiple colors?  No.  BUT it is great exposure for him to work with crayons and do it alongside his older brothers who model semi-proper to “proper” coloring.  Yes.

Create a Jesse Tree

There are many resources to create a Jesse Tree, which I listed here previously.  Gabe colors his symbol and listens to our daily Jesse Tree reading.  After this morning December ritual, we hang his ornament on our Jesse Tree (a dead branch).



Christmas Sensory Bin

You can find all sorts of ideas online regarding Sensory Bins.  The bulk of my ideas for our Sensory Bin came from Counting Coconuts.  Delight your Tot by hiding nativity figurines in his Sensory Bin!



We took a trip to to Michaels Craft Store to fill Gabe’s bin.  Suggestions for your bin might include cotton balls or colored rice, bows, tiny packages, colored bells, glitter pompom balls, a spoon, and a bowl in which to ladle above sensory items. 


Find a Baby

If possible allow your Tot to hold a baby.  I realize that this is a little be easier for some.  I was able to do this with relative ease since Naomi was born several weeks ago.  But you could even look at baby pictures and talk about how Jesus came to earth as a little baby.

Craft:  Make an Angel

Supplies:

• heart (for body)
  
• circle with face (I know . . . our face looks sad.  The angel is supposed to be singing.)
  
• glitter
  
• glue
  
• scissors
  
• chenille wire
  
• paper to trace your child’s hand on
  
• tiny pink circles for angel’s cheeks
  
• extra piece of paper to trace your child’s hand
  
• tape

Directions:  

I recommend that you have everything cut out ahead of time . . . it just makes it easier.  So have a heart, circular face, and cheeks cut out, as seen in the picture above.  Fold your chenille wire in half and create a loop at the top for the angel’s halo.  Tape the wire to the back of the angel’s head.  Fold construction paper in half and trace your child’s hand.  Cut his hand out.  These will be the angel’s wings. 

For the next part, I placed glue in the appropriate places and had Gabe “pound” the paper into place and sprinkle the glitter wherever he wanted! 

Magnetic Nativity Scene

Using the printables from Making Friends and my laminator, I created magnets. 



I shared the story of the birth of Jesus with Gabe.  With each new character, Gabe placed the magnets on the dishwasher (you can use any magnetic surface!)



Then, I threw in our wooden Nativity figurines and had him make pairs with the magnet and the wood figure.

  
Next, you can create a caravan with Nativity figures . . . though not all the cast would have walked to Bethlehem.







Finally, if we didn’t have enough Nativity figures . . . we got out What God Wants for Christmas.


Gabe practiced opening boxes.  (This is a fine motor skill that I hadn’t realized that Gabe didn’t know how to do . . . until this activity.)
 

Once again, we matched the personalities.
 

Gabe was most surprised to find that he was a part of this Nativity Scene . . . because God wants him.  (And YOU!)

 
Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!