Build Your Own Nativity Printables

I recently realized how a simple nativity could easily be made, even by a young child, using basic shapes.

To kick off the month of December, I set up our Jesse Tree, but I was eager to do a Christ-centered craft with my children.  With a bit of exhaustion recently, it needed to be no-fuss and no-mess.  I came up with a simple paper craft to show the holy family at the stable.

At first I was thinking it'd just be fun to use construction paper.  I will be the first to admit that you can create this nativity on your own using your own scissors and paper.  My goal was really to create a nativity template that could be put together by even a toddler, preschooler, or school-aged child.  An older child could even trace their own shapes and color them for fun and create their own animals and shepherds.

Adjust the size of the shapes to make a small card-sized nativity or paper ornament.

A confession: I do not prefer modern styles that are so "clean" looking.  But somehow, the simplicity adds to the fact that we do not really know what Joseph, Mary, and Jesus looked like.

Below I provide you the option of a pre-colored nativity printable or just the outlines for the nativity printable which the child can color.  

We used our printable nativities to review the basic story of Jesus' birth.  I had cut Brother's (age 4) shapes for him.  Big Sister (age 6) cut her own shapes, though I helped her a tad with cutting the star and Jesus' head.  They both chose to draw faces.  (If you right-click the image below, you will see how Big Sister drew Jesus' sleeping eyes-all on her own!)
I questioned the children as I showed them the pieces that would build their paper nativity to help them review and understand how the pieces go together.  (Who was the earthly father of Jesus?  Which would be his body?  Which head would go with the large body?)  Big Sister requested dark blue paper on which to build her nativity scene.  Brother agreed.  I encouraged them to talk about the story a bit as they glued their pieces to the paper.

Please direct all links, pins, and sharing directly to this post and not to the PDF pattern links.  Thank you!

Get your own nativity scene printables below!  These are for personal use or classroom use.  Not to be used for profit.



I'd love for you to leave a comment if you decide to use the printables or this idea as inspiration.

You may also be interested in our homemade Jesse Tree.  I will be posting more Christmas activities all month!   Also check out all of our children's crafts.

I'm linking up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, ABC and 123, and  Red Ted Art .

See all of the free PRINTABLES at This Simple Home. 
You may also be interested in our Christmas Letter Printable for children.

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}

6 comments

  1. I love the simplicity of this ... it's great for a number of ages! Thanks so much for sharing your lovely printable! I featured your post as the Free Printable of the Day at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow (and on Pinterest)

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  2. I love this!! This would be PERFECT for having kids make Christmas cards to send to family and friends instead of buying them. Good job, Annette!

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  3. I'm going to link to this on my blog...love this idea. And I'm going to try it out with my two-yr old today!

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  4. Thank you so much for this! I was looking for something our younger Youth in Christ group can put together themselves without much fuss. God bless you!

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  5. Hello! I love your template and it's simplicity, yet it is a fun project for a variety of ages. I'd like to get your permission to pass this out to the kids at our church. It would be for about 30 families. Thanks so much!

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    1. Anjeanette, can you please send me an email at annettemwhipple@gmail.com? Thanks so much!

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