Making Manger Memories

by Rhonda Brown

Here’s a simple Christmas craft you can do with your children (or make for your own personal space) to remind you that we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas.

You’ll need:

* 3 empty toilet paper tubes

* White paper

* Scissors (children’s safety scissors work fine)

* Colored pencils, markers or crayons

* Cotton ball

* White glue, glue stick, or double-stick tape

* Empty cracker or cereal box for background if desired

Cut two pieces of white paper the length of the toilet paper tube and about 2¾ inches wide. Draw the Mary and Joseph figures on your paper and color them as you like.   Glue them to two of the toilet paper tubes.

For the manger, cut one of the tubes in half lengthwise. Trim those halves to a length of about 2¼ inches. Glue those two pieces together as shown to create the manger.

On the white paper, color a rectangle about 1½ x 2¼ inches with a brownish-yellow color or plain yellows shaded with brown.

Draw the baby Jesus figure about 1¾ inches long and color in the features. Cut out both the baby and the hay rectangle, making jaggedy edges for the hay.

Glue the hay into the manger. Glue a small piece of cotton to the center of the hay, and glue the baby to the cotton. You’ve completed all you need for your Nativity.

If you like, cut an empty cracker box into a simple stable shape and color it a little for background.

When you make this with your children, take time to read aloud the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-20 in the Bible. Through the whole Christmas season, your simple little Nativity can be a reminder that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, and that we are celebrating the amazing way that God made Himself known to us by sending His Son to live with us.