This Christmastime, I wanted to give my home & micro-school kids a shepherd experience. I knew we had a fun day coming up, so that would make the perfect opportunity. Of course, I had more time to fill, so I started thinking, what else would go good with the story of the shepherds? This is what I came up with.
Christmas Story Fun Day
To start our Christmastime fun day, I read them the story of Jesus’ birth in a beautifully illustrated book titled “For Unto You” by Liz Lemon Swindle. After we talked about that one for a minute, we jumped into our next story, this time a video of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” I had made them a treat ahead of time to go with that one, some Grinch popcorn.
To get some grammar practice in there, the next story we did was a Christmas themed madlib. Madlibs are such a fun way to practice our parts of speech!
After that was when we had our main event – the Shepherd experience. First we talked about the role of shepherds, how they know each of their sheep, and their sheep know their voice and follow them. Then I helped each of them put on a simple shepherd hood that I had made ahead of time. Next, I took them into the living room where I had set up some carboard sheep and turned on a little video about sheep for them to watch. The video was key for me to have time to make magic happen, because that’s when I ran to our pantry and transformed it into a manger scene.
When I went back for my little shepherds, their video was just finishing. I read them the verses about the shepherds in the New Testament and played them hymns that went along with the story – “While Shepherds Watched their Flock by Night,” “Hark, the Harold Angels Sing.” I had them follow me to the manger scene while we listened to “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem,” and after I read the verse about them “making known abroad” what they’d seen and heard, we listened to “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful.” (The story of the shepherds is in Luke 2.)
A Souvenir and More Christmas Stories
I wanted to give them something to remember this experience, so I designed an ornament and bought and prepared materials for it ahead of time. It had a cardstock Jesus, a craft foam sheep, and a pipecleaner shepherd’s crook on a wooden ornament. On the back it said, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
When I gave them the ornament, the first step was to write their name on the back. Then they had green, blue and white paint to color the front. While that dried they colored in Jesus and glued on a red robe. Next they measured and cut 3 inches of red and white pipe cleaners to twist together and form the shepherd’s crook. I wanted them to remember that candy canes are made to remind us of Jesus and the shepherds.
As they worked on their ornaments I read them a story that was new to me this year. I found it as I was thinking about this shepherd experience I wanted for my kiddos. It is a beautiful story about a shepherd boy who wanted to find the special baby his grandfather had seen and give him a special gift. It’s called “The Shepherd’s Coat” by Caryll Houselander and Jess Mason, and you can find it at Word on Fire Bookstore.
After a break for lunch we watched Disney’s “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.” “A Christmas Carol” is one of my favorite stories, and I’ve enjoyed many retellings of it. I chose the Disney version because our time was short and it’s kid friendly.
To finish off our fun day, we needed a wiggle game. I put a twist on a classic and had the kids play “shepherd hide-and-seek.” The seeker is the shepherd looking for the sheep. If you can’t find the sheep you call out, “Lost sheep!” and they answer with a, “Baa!” Once a sheep is found they have to follow the shepherd around till all the sheep are found.
Thanks for reading my post! I hope you have a merry Christmas and that you’re enjoying your parenting adventure!
