Advent and Christmas Children's Sunday School Lessons

The season is upon us! And here are 4 lessons you can use to teach children what happened leading up to and on the night of Jesus' birth.

• John the Baptist is Born! – Zechariah was obedient to God
• Gabriel Appears to Mary – God chose Mary for a reason
• Joseph, Jesus' Adopted Father – God welcomes us into His family
• The Birth of Jesus, Announcement to the Shepherds – We need to spread the Good News!

All 4 of these lessons include games, crafts, and other activities to help kids learn both the stories and the message behind them.

The next set of lessons will tell kids what happened After Christmas with the stories of Jesus being presented in the Temple, the visit of the Wise Men, and the boy Jesus staying behind at the Temple. I suggest using all 7 lessons as a series leading up to and following your Christmas celebrations.

You can also find more resources for the Christmas and Advent season in my Holidays Children's Sermons (Coming Soon).

Recommended Extras

You can use each of the lessons below with no extra materials other than the play and craft items I listed. But since there are so many great resources available to supplement the lessons, let me show you some ideas that I've used.

Paid Resources

Available for prices to fit most church's children's ministry budget, these resources will make a big impact on your kids' imagination and learning.

Videos

If you've used any of my lessons before, you know that I love recommending videos. They bring the ever-needed visual element to the Bible stories. Help kids see the Biblical setting and connect with the people in the stories with these animated programs. You can show them instead of telling the stories or as intros to the stories. They also work as review material in the weeks after you teach the lessons.

Start your Advent lesson series by going back in time with the Superbook gang to meet Zechariah and Elizabeth. Kids will see everything from Gabriel's announcement to the elderly priest to the naming of the prophesied baby. And Chris, Joy, and the robot Gizmo will learn their own lesson as they watch the story.

The reason I recommend Superbook episodes so highly is because not only do the stick very close to Scripture (except for the time-traveling bit), but the artwork appeals to kids of all ages. It follows the Disney model of soft proportions and realism. No matter what else your various kids enjoy, the new Superbook episodes will suit them all just fine.

While this is jumping ahead a bit, it might be helpful to show this video now so that kids connect with John the Baptist even more. They'll see what John grew up to be. Because John is such an important but relatively minor character in the Biblical narrative, this could be a good time to insert a two-week series just on who he is and what he did. Then, pick up with your Advent lessons again.

Chris, Joy, and Gizmo go back in time once again to witness everything from Joseph and Mary's arrival in Bethlehem to their flight to Egypt to escape King Herod. You could show it in two parts to cover The Birth of Jesus lesson and the Visit of the Wise Men lesson. Or show it after both as a way to review the story as a whole.

This is an older series that you'll probably find easiest in streaming format. The DVDs are, unfortunately, out of print at the moment. I like the series, though, because it does feature a more realistic art style. It's more the style of 80s cartoons that I grew up with. It still has humor and even fictional role models for the kids as three teenagers travel back in time to witness the birth of Jesus.

Charlton Heston's complete set of hosted episodes includes one on the Nativity as well. I consider this series to be middle ground between Superbook and Greatest Adventure Stories. The art is fairly realistic in proportions, but with a distinctly animated style for the features. There are also no time-travelers in this series for those who might object to the sci-fi element.

---

For the Classroom

This beautiful book by Glenys Nellist and Elena Selivanova will appeal to kids of all ages. Selivanova's art is simply fantastic. And Nellist's poetry after the fashion of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas' follows the familiar rhythm and rhyming scheme that kids know while telling the Christmas story. Use it every week leading up to Christmas or for Christmas Sunday itself to tell the complete story.

This is a resource to keep in your classroom or church library. Kids will love reading through it as they wait for class to start or on their own time at home. It's a great presentation of not only the Christmas story but also the beginning of Jesus' ministry.

You can make your own Bingo game if you want, but this play set is very well done. You get enough cards and space markers for 24 players. I recommend using it as a time-filler a couple of weeks during the Christmas season. The images on the cards will serve as a reminder to the students of what you've been discussing and can spark conversation as well as kids ask questions about the pictures.

---

For Home

(Discover 4 Yourself Series) – I wish there were more volumes in this series, but this is one that will complement your Christmas series. It covers John 1-10. If you're not familiar with the series, the books are perfect for older elementary or middle school students to do on their own. With a variety of puzzles, activities, stories, and Bible reading, kids go deep alongside a trio of fictional characters that make the experience more fun.

---

Free Resources

Here's a very detailed coloring page of Gabriel appearing to Mary. You can find more activity and coloring pages from Sermons4Kids here . Sending kids home with a packet of activity pages to complete and return for a prize encourages them to think about the Bible stories during the week.

This children's sermon by Becky Boehm shows a great way to teach children what we can give Jesus for His birthday. I suggest using it on Christmas Sunday as the close of your lesson.

John the Baptist is Born! Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson to teach kids about how Luke wrote his gospel and about the obedience of Zechariah during the birth of John the Baptist.

Needed: Clue hunt around the church, volunteers to play Zechariah and Elizabeth, Zechariah's writing tablet, drawing paper and crayons or colored pencils, stapler or hole punch and string, optional craft foam

Game: Christian Story Interview – Have students pair up and ask each other the following questions. They'll then present their partner's answers as a reporter. They can write the answers down if they want.

• What is your name?
• How old are you?
• When did you first hear about Jesus?
• When was the first time you went to a church?
• When was the first time you came to this church?
• Why do you believe in Jesus?
• How does your family celebrate Jesus' birth during Christmas?

Game: Clue Hunt – Prepare a clue hunt around the church or your meeting area. The clues can be strips of paper hidden in a room. The clue on each strip of paper gives the students a hint as to where to find the next strip of paper. The last clue should lead the students to the place where your actors are waiting.

Tell students that they are going to pretend to be Luke the Doctor. Explain that Luke was a man who heard about John the Baptist and Jesus and became a Christian after John the Baptist and Jesus were already dead. Luke never got to meet John the Baptist or Jesus, so he decided to go find the people who did know them. He wanted to interview those people who knew John the Baptist and Jesus so that he could hear about everything that happened to them and what they were like. Today, they're going to pretend to be Luke and see if they can find and interview people who will tell you about the miraculous way in which John the Baptist was born.

Lesson: When students find Zechariah and Elizabeth, Zechariah and Elizabeth tell their story based on Luke 1:5-25 .

Zechariah: Hello, students! My name is Zechariah. Over two thousand years ago, I was a priest of God. But my wife, Elizabeth, here, well…

Elizabeth: Well, lets' just say that my body wasn't able to grow a child inside of it. I couldn't have any babies. And that made us really sad because we wanted to have a baby. We just couldn't.

Zechariah: But then, one day when it was my turn to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and burn the good-smelling incense for God in the sanctuary, an angel suddenly appeared and stood beside me! I was really scared because I had never seen an angel before. But the angel told me not to be afraid. He said hisname was Gabriel and that God had sent him to tell me that God was going to answer our prayer for a son. God was going to make Elizabeth's body be able to have a baby. But the angel, Gabriel, said I hadto name my son John when he was born. And he said that my son, John, was going to be a great preacher, filled with God's Holy Spirit, and that he was going to get people ready to listen to God. Well, all of this was pretty amazing so I asked the angel, Gabriel, 'How can I be sure that what you're telling me is true?' You see, I didn't know if I believed him or not. So then, to prove that he really was an angel and that he really did come from God, the angel, Gabriel, made it so that I couldn't talk anymore!

Elizabeth: And that's what happened. Zechariah came home from the Temple and he couldn't talk. And I did become pregnant! I was so happy! When it was time for the baby to be born, everyone thought I would name the baby Zechariah Jr., or something like that, after his dad. But I didn't. I named him John because that's what the angel had told Zechariah to name him. But everyone just thought I was being silly naming my baby John. So, Zechariah there got out a piece of paper and wrote this. (Show Zechariah's writing tablet.) 'His name is John'.

Zechariah: And then I could talk again because I had obeyed God! And when John grew up, he did some really great things for God and saw God do even greater things through his cousin, Jesus. But you'll hear more about Him another time.

(Have students thank Zechariah and Elizabeth and then see how much they can remember with the review questions below. Remember to allow students enough time to think about and answer the questions before clarifying the teaching.)

Review Questions:

When we went to find Zechariah and Elizabeth, we were pretending to be someone. Who were we pretending to be? Who was the person who really went back and interviewed them? (Luke the doctor.)

Luke the doctor is the person who wrote the book of the Bible named Luke and the book of the Bible named Acts. The way he wrote his books was by going back and interviewing people who met Jesus and the other people who knew Him.

Could Zechariah and Elizabeth have kids before God sent the angel to them? (No. Elizabeth's body couldn't make babies.)

Why do you think Elizabeth could have a baby after the angel talked to Zechariah? (God has the power to do anything and God made Elizabeth's body be able to get pregnant.)

Why did the angel Gabriel make it so that Zechariah couldn't talk? (Because Zechariah didn't believe what the angel Gabriel told him.)

Do you think it's important to believe the things that God tells us? (Yes.)

How can we learn what God wants to tell us? (We can read the Bible, pray, and go to church. Those are all ways that God tells us things.)

What did the angel say John's job was going to be when he grew up? (John was going to be a preacher.)

Craft: Zechariah's Writing Tablet – Have students a booklet out of drawing or construction paper. If you want to make it a little nicer, you can use craft foam as the binding for the booklet. Staple the booklet together or use a hole punch and yarn to string it together.

On the cover, have students write, "Zechariah's Writing Tablet." On the first page, have them draw or write a summary of the story of when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that he was going to have a son. On the back cover have them do the same for when Zechariah wrote on the tablet naming his son John. The pages in between are for the students to write down anything God teaches them this Christmas season or anything He tells them to do.

Closing Prayer: Father God, we ask that You'll make us like Zechariah, who obeyed You when You told him to name his son "John." Help us to do whatever You ask us to, even if it seems strange or difficult. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Gabriel Appears to Mary Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson on Gabriel's announcement to Mary to teach children why Mary was chosen to be Jesus' mother.

Needed: volunteer to play Mary, soft play balls or paper wads

Game: Good and Faithful Servant – Tell the students that you're going to play a game in which you're the Master and they're your servants. You're going to name something you want, and they have 15 seconds to bring you what you asked for.

Anything that meets your criteria counts. If a student can't bring you what you asked for within 15 seconds, they're out. Items you already have in front of you count if they can apply it to meet the new criteria. The last one in the game wins and becomes the Master for the next round.

Some ideas of what to ask for include:

• Something of a certain color
• Something of a certain shape
• Something that reminds you of the Bible
• Something that reminds you of Jesus
• Something you would use for a certain purpose

Part of the fun could be naming criteria that a lot of items meet and then narrowing it down to criteria that only a few items in your area meet.

Play 2-3 rounds and then explain that they were all good servants because they all tried to bring you what you asked for. Even though some of them couldn't find what you wanted, none of them said they wouldn't do it. They all tried.

Lesson: Last week, we pretended to be Luke the Doctor, who wrote the Bible book of Luke and the Bible book of Acts.

Do you remember how Luke wrote his books? (The way Luke wrote his books was by going back and talking to the people who knew Jesus.)

Last week, we went back and talked to Zechariah and Elizabeth and we learned that an angel named Gabriel told them that they were going to have a baby, even though they couldn't have any kids before that, and that the baby's name would be John and that he would be a great preacher for God. Today, we call him John the Baptist. But Zechariah and Elizabeth weren't the only ones that the angel went and talked to.

(Ask for "Mary" to come in. She'll tell the following story based on Luke 1:26-38 .)

Mary: Hello, everyone! My name is Mary. A long time ago, I was an ordinary Jewish girl living in Israel. And I was so excited! I was about to be married. I was only thirteen, but all the girls got married that young back then. It wasn't like it is today. And my parents had agreed to let me marry this wonderful man named Joseph! Joseph loved God and he always tried to do the right thing. He was even the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the kings of Israel.

Anyway, just before I got married, this angel, one of the chief angels in Heaven, named Gabriel, came to me. "Hello, Mary!" he said. "God is very pleased with you."

I was afraid because I had never seen an angel before, but he told me not to be afraid because God was happy with me. Then, the angel told me that I was going to have a baby, a son named Jesus! And he said that Jesus wasn't going to have a human father like everyone else does because God was going to be Jesus' Father. The baby that I would give birth to would be God's Son!

And so I said, "I am the Lord's servant. Whatever God wants me to do, I will do." And then, the angel left.

(Have students thank Mary for coming. Then, lead the following discussion.)

Mary was someone that pleased God, someone that God was happy with. You remember that when the angel started talking to Mary, he said that God was pleased and happy with her. It's because Mary was willing to listen to God. She was willing to do whatever God told her to do.

Do you think we should do what God tells us to do? (Yes. We need to be like Mary and do whatever God tells us. We always need to listen to God and then, God will be happy with us.)

Do any of you remember what Mary's son's name was supposed to be? (Jesus.)

And how was Jesus going to be special? How was He going to be different from other children? (Jesus wasn't going to have a human father. God was going to be Jesus' Father.)

And do any of you know what the name Jesus means?

The name Jesus means "God saves" because if we believe in Jesus, God saves us from going to Hell when we die. God said that anyone who does anything wrong, anyone who sins, has to die and go to Hell for their punishment. But Jesus came and died on the cross and went to Hell in our place so that if we believe in Jesus, we don't have to go to Hell. Instead, we can live forever with God and Jesus. So, remember that the name Jesus means, "God saves."

Game: Good and Faithful Servant – Play the intro game again with the last student who won becoming the Master. Explain that now that students know the story, the Master is pretending to be God and all the servants are pretending to be Mary. God favored Mary because she always did what He said. She was a good and faithful servant to God.

Game: Taking Our Place - Play a game of dodge ball with soft play balls or paper wads. When one team starts to accumulate a lot of players in the "Out" zone, run in and say that you'll take their place being out. They can get back in the game. Do the same for the other team. Keep doing it as long as time allows. Then, explain that just like you were taking the place of people who were out, Jesus took our place on the cross. He took our punishment so that we could be forgiven for our sins.

An alternative is a game of two-team tag. Take the place of students who are tagged and out of the game.

Closing Prayer: Father, we thank You for sending Jesus to save us so that we can go to Heaven when we did. We pray that we'll always be like Mary, who did whatever You asked her to. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Joseph, Jesus' Adopted Father Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this children's Sunday School lesson on Joseph to teach children about believing God and about how God adopts us into His family when we believe in Christ.

Needed: A volunteer to play Joseph

Game: The Unbelievable – Divide students into two teams. You'll read a list of statements, and they have to vote as a team whether they believe each of your statements or not. The team with the most correct answers wins.

Here are some statements all about animals . For more general questions, try these.

1. Yogurt is made with bacteria. (True. Bacteria ferments the milk.)

2. Your ears help keep you balanced. (True. The fluid in your ears gives you a sense of balance.)

3. Zebras are the fastest land animal in the world. (False. Cheetahs are the fastest.)

4. A snake's skin feels slimy. (False. It feels dry.)

5. Adult people have 502 bones in their body. (False. Most people only have 206 bones.)

6. DNA stands for 'Deoxyribonucleic acid.' (True.)

7. Crocodiles do not sweat, so they breathe through their mouth to cool down. (True.)

8. The Grand Canyon is the deepest place on earth. (False. The Mariana Trench is the deepest place we know of.)

9. Humans have been to every planet in our solar system. (False. We've only been to the moon so far.)

10. Jesus had a human mother, but not a human father. (True. God was Jesus' father. God put Jesus in Mary by a miracle.)

Lesson: Over the last two weeks, we've met some very important people in the Bible. First, we went back and talked to Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. And last week, we talked to Mary, Jesus' mother. And we did all that while we were pretending to be Luke, the doctor, who went back and talked to those people and then wrote down their stories in the Bible book of Luke and the Bible book of Acts.

But there was another person who Luke did not get to talk to because this other person died before Luke started writing his books. The only way we know about this other person is through another Bible book, the book of Matthew, which was written by one of Jesus' followers. So, let's meet this other person now.

(Ask "Joseph" to come in. He'll tell the following story based on Matthew 1:18-25 .)

Joseph: Hello, everyone! My name is Joseph. I was engaged to be married to Mary. I think you met her last week. But before we got married, Mary told me she was pregnant with God's Son. Well, I have to say that I didn't believe her at first. You see, normally, back in those days, if a woman got pregnant when she wasn't married, she was supposed to be killed as a punishment. Well, I didn't want that to happen to Mary, so I was just going to break-up with her and not make a big deal about it.

But then, one night, while I was sleeping, I dreamed that an angel came and talked to me. "Do not be afraid to marry Mary," he said, "because she will give birth to God's Son. And you are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."

So, I woke up and I believed what the angel told me. And I believed what Mary had told me. She really was going to give birth to God's Son. And when Jesus was born, I adopted Him and took care of Him like He was my son. But I knew, of course, that He was really God's Son.

(Have the students thank Joseph for telling his story and then, find out how much they learned by asking the following review questions.)

Review Questions:

What good things did Joseph do in this story? (He didn't want Mary to be killed and he believed God when the angel told him about Jesus.)

And we all have to be like Joseph in that way. We shouldn't want anyone to be hurt and we all have to believe and trust what God tells us.

Was Joseph Jesus' real father? (No. God was Jesus' Father and Mary was Jesus' mother. Joseph adopted Jesus and took care of Him.)

The angel told Joseph that Jesus would save His people from their sins. How does Jesus save us?

If we believe in Jesus, God saves us from going to Hell when we die. God said that anyone who does anything wrong, anyone who sins, has to die and go to Hell for their punishment. But Jesus came and died on the cross and went to Hell in our place, so that if we believe in Jesus, we don't have to go to Hell. Instead, we can live forever with God and Jesus.

Game: The Adoption Option – First, explain, Joseph adopted Jesus. Were any of you adopted?

Do any of you know someone who was adopted?

What does it mean to be adopted?

To be adopted means to make someone or something part of your family that isn't there naturally. People can adopt children or pets to make them part of their family. God says that He adopts all of us into His family when we believe in Jesus. We become His children, just like Jesus is, and Jesus becomes our brother.

So, we're going to play a game where you get to choose what you're going to adopt.

(Have students form a circle. Choose one student to sit in the middle and close their eyes. The other students get up and move places so that the student in the middle doesn't know who's sitting where. You'll then choose another student to be "up for adoption." The student in the middle says what they want to adopt. They can name a baby or a type of animal. If they say a baby, the student who's "up for adoption" has to make a baby noises. If the student in the middle says a type of animal, the one "up for adoption has to try to make noises that animal makes. If the student in the middle guesses the student making the noises, they get a point. The student who was up for adoption then goes to the middle, and the same happens again. Play as long as you like. The student with the most points at the end wins.)

Closing Prayer: Father, we thank You that You've adopted us to be part of Your family. And thank You for the example of Joseph, who believed what You told him. Help us to always trust what you tell us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

The Birth of Jesus, Announcement to the Shepherds Children's Sunday School Lesson

Purpose: Use this Christmas children's Sunday School lesson to teach kids about the shepherds meeting baby Jesus and what they did afterward.

Needed: Volunteer to play Shepherd

Intro Game: Telephone – Have students sit in a line or in a circle. You'll whisper a message to the first student, and they'll pass it on. See how close the message is to what you said when it gets to the end. The goal is to have the message stay as close to the original all the way through.

Lesson: Ask students, How many of you have ever met someone famous?

Who did you meet?

Was it exciting?

What is the best news you've ever heard? What's the best thing someone's ever told you?

Well, so far we've met Zechariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, and we've met Mary and Joseph, Jesus' mother and adopted father. Today, we're going to hear about how Jesus was born and we're going to meet the first person, besides Mary and Joseph, to meet Jesus.

(Ask the "Shepherd" to come in. He or she will tell the following story, based on Luke 2:1-21 .)

Shepherd: Well, hello everyone! Do you know who I am? I'm a shepherd. I heard you were talking about meeting famous people and getting good news. Well, I want to tell you about the most amazing night of my life.

A long time ago, the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, wanted to count how many people were in his kingdom. So, he made everyone go back to where their family was originally from to be counted there. Well, since Joseph – you met him last week – was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the Kings of Israel, he had to go back to the town of Bethlehem to be counted. That's where King David was from before he became king. And Joseph had to take his family with him, so that meant Mary had to go too, even though she was pregnant.

Well, when they got to Bethlehem, there were so many people there to be counted that Mary and Joseph couldn't find a hotel room! They had to camp out in a barn with the animals! And that night, while they were in the barn, Mary had her baby. Jesus was born!

Well, we shepherds were out in the fields around Bethlehem, taking care of our sheep. And suddenly, an angel appeared to us. He said, "Don't be afraid. I've come to bring you good news. The Savior has been born in Bethlehem. Go and find him in the barn."

And then, when he was finished speaking, a bunch of angels, hundreds and maybe even thousands, appeared and they were all singing, "Glory to God in the Highest and peace to men on earth!"

Well, after they left, we did what the angel told us. We went and we saw Jesus, the Savior of the World, and we were glad to know that He had born. We were so glad that we went out of the barn again and told everyone that we could find, just like the angels had told us.

(Have students thank the Shepherd for telling his story and then use the following review questions to lead a discussion on what they learned.)

Review Questions:

What was the good news that the shepherd heard in this story? (That Jesus had been born.)

And what did the shepherd do when he heard the good news that Jesus had been born? (He went and saw Jesus.)

Then, after the shepherd saw Jesus, what did he do? (He went and told everyone he could find about Jesus.)

And that's what we should do. We know about Jesus and so we should tell other people about Him too. Do you know why we should tell other people about Jesus?

Because God has said that anyone who does anything wrong, anyone who sins, has to die and go to Hell for their punishment. But, if we believe in Jesus, Jesus is our Savior who saves us from going to Hell when we die because Jesus already died for our sins and went to Hell for us when He died on the cross. Now, if we believe in Jesus, we don't have to go to Hell when we die. Instead, we can go to Heaven and live with God and Jesus forever.

But if we don't tell people about Jesus, then they can't believe in Him. And they have to believe in Him to be able to go to Heaven and not Hell. So, that's why we have to tell people about Jesus, like the shepherds did. We want to help people believe in Jesus and go to Heaven when they die.

Game: Angel and Shepherds Telephone – Play the intro game again, but this time, tell students that you're pretending to be the angels and shepherds. Have students spread out around the room. The first student you tell your message to will be the Angel. They'll go tell a Shepherd. The Shepherd will then tell the other people. The last person to hear the message will be the Angel for the next round.

Use messages from the Bible story or lines from hymns, such as the following.

• "Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you."
• "Glory to God in the highest and peace to men on whom His favor rests."
• "Hark! The herald angels sing, 'Glory to the newborn King!'"

Game: Shepherd Tag – Choose one student to be the Shepherd. They're It. When they tag another student, that second student is also It. They continue tagging the other players until everyone has been tagged. Explain that the shepherds went and told everyone about the birth of Jesus until the whole town of Bethlehem knew about it.

To make the game go faster, you can choose more than one Shepherd to be It. The last student to be tagged is the starting Shepherd for the next round.

Closing Prayer: Lord, we thank You for sending Jesus to be born. You sent Him to teach us and to save us so that we can go to Heaven and be with You. Help us to be like the shepherds and tell everyone we know about Jesus, so that they can be saved too. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you for making these lessons part of your lesson prep. I hope you've found them to be useful during these holy days (holidays).

Consider becoming a Patreon ministry partner to get all of my lessons and everything published on Bible Helps in easily-editable and printable Word documents.

These lessons are also included in my book.

As you prepare to speak about these miraculous births, you might also want to give kids some background by teaching out the birth of Isaac . You could also talk about how Isaac foreshadows Jesus.

Another interesting parallel is how Joseph in the Old Testament and Joseph in the New Testament both experienced God speaking to them through dreams.

Merry Christmas, and may you feel God's Spirit especially close to your spirit this year! - Steve