Favorite Nativity Resources for the Family

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Nativity sets can be found in many homes during the Christmas season. They are a beautiful and meaningful way to remember the occasion of the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Every November I spend a little time looking for new books, toys, and teaching tools about the Christmas story and especially the nativity scene. Today I’m sharing my favorite nativity resources with you as well as a BIG giveaway basket full of a few top picks!

 

Great books, teaching tools, and toys on the nativity.

Disclosure: *This post may include affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Read the disclosures and terms for more information.

Why I Love the Nativity

When it comes to teaching tools, I prefer resources that are truly biblically accurate. We know the wise men were not kings, did not arrive the night of Jesus’ birth (but when he was around 2 years old) and that there were probably more than 3 of them.

I am sure to carefully explain things like these when we teach the kids about the Christmas story, read Christmas story books, and talk about nativity scenes.  For me, nativity sets are more of a coming together of the major elements of the story of Christmas into a beautiful single picture of God’s entrance into the world as Jesus Christ. I love to use them to tell the Christmas story to my children and remind them of this beautiful gift. 

My Favorite Nativity Resources

BOOKS! 

Who doesn’t love a good Christmas book, right? There are so many fun books for all different ages. Here is one of my favorites, This Is the Stable – The kids love the repetition and we all love the story.

Room for a Little One: A Christmas Tale is a delightful, big book with gorgeous pictures that you can really snuggle up with your kids to enjoy. We love it!

Find more of our favorite Christmas books!

Christ-centered christmas books for children

Nativity Sets

We have several nativity sets in our home, some of which are specifically for the kids. This one is my favorite Christmas decoration: a Jim Shore nativity set we received as a wedding gift! 

Jim Shore nativity set

This Fabric Nativity Manger set was a new addition last year and we love it. It’s perfect for babies and toddlers, and the kids enjoy packing everything in and then unpacking them as they tell the story. 

Of course, we have also enjoyed the Little People Nativity Set! We’re on our second one now because somehow we lost the first one. The littles love to play with this set, and all the pieces stand up well so it’s easy to play out the story.

 

This 18 piece handmade wooden nativity puzzle from Arts of the Heart is the newest addition to our home this year and I LOVE it! The pieces come out to make a fun puzzle for the kids, and they use them to tell the Christmas story and pretend their little hearts away. The pieces are sturdy, beautifully made, and you can display them all as one piece or with the pieces out and arranged on your mantle. We have the Easter puzzle from Arts of the Heart as well and it’s played with all year long!

Arts of the Heart wooden nativity puzzle

Teaching Tools

There are so many great Christmas teaching tools out there! Here are just three to get started.  The Christmas Story Lego Challenge is a new challenge here at Proverbial Homemaker this year. It’s a 12-day Bible reading plan with Lego challenge prompts, simple journaling pages, a memory verse with copywork, and more. Go get your copy!

12 days of Lego challenge prompts, coloring pages, memory work, drawing prompts and more! All celebrating the birth of our Savior.

Birth of Jesus study from Grapevine Studies. We did this last year and it was SO much fun and really stuck with the kids! We’re definitely doing it again this year. 

Birth of Jesus study from Grapevine Studies

What are your favorite nativity resources? 

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275 Comments

  1. Each year is different, but usually about a week or two before Christmas we put up our tree. It’s hard to keep the little kids from pulling on it, so we don’t do it too early.

  2. I aim to get the house decorated December 1st, but then life happens and it’s more like December 24th before it’s done.

  3. Christmas decorations don’t go up in our home until after Thanksgiving. However we do start baking in November to try to get cookies out of the way before December busyness, and we try to get our homemade gifts done in September or October for the same reason.

  4. We have two birthdays in December so we try to put up Christmas decorations during the first week of December. It makes the whole month more festive.

  5. I enjoy your blog and appreciate that you begin early. I like to begin planning and wrapping in mid November.

  6. We start to decorate after thanksgiving. I get out all the nativity sets and our collection of Christmas books. We also get our advent activity ready. I change it up most years but it is usually some form of the Jessie tree. This year we are going to add the Jessie tree Lego challenge.

  7. Checking out a few of these resources — thanks for sharing! We usually begin putting up Christmas decorations the Monday after Thanksgiving. It won’t be long!!

  8. We usually have our decorations up at the beginning of December in time for my daughter’s birthday on December 3rd.

  9. We usually start decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving- but my 7 yr old is already begging to have the Nativity out!

  10. Of course, the nativity is my favorite, but if I had to choose something else, it would be the wooden pancake stack!

  11. Thank you for the opportunity to win this! We generally start setting up our Christmas decor and nativity the week of Thanksgiving .

  12. Her etsy shop has the cutest things. I love the puzzles….I think she could make some really need Christmas ornaments.

  13. We pull out our Christmas decorations Thanksgiving weekend. We spend a couple days kicking off the seanon pretending it’s cold in southern California!

  14. I usually begin setting up Christmas decorations just after my daughter’s birthday which is December 2. But I’m contemplating on starting the set-up at the end of November. I can never get enough of the Reason for the Season! 🙂 Thanks for a wonderful givesway!!!

  15. We put up some Christmas decorations right after Thanksgiving, but mostly wait until the week of Christmas to decorate.

  16. ttps://www.etsy.com/listing/61904559/mini-wood-christmas-nativity-set-puzzle?ref=shop_home_active_1
    I am always so fascinated with peoples ability to create things..truly incredible work:)

  17. We usually start the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with the biblical/faith based things – nativities etc, leaving the tree and Santa stuff until much closer to Christmas.

  18. Christmas decorations do not go up in our house until after Thanksgiving. We usually put up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving or the first Saturday of December.

  19. we start decorating on black friday and sometimes if i’m not hosting thanksgiving, we will start during that week

  20. We put up our Christmas decorations the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving. We really want to fully enjoy fall and the season of Thanksgiving which I believe helps prepare us for Advent and Christmas.

  21. Our Christmas decorations go up right after Thanksgiving. My husband won’t have them any sooner, or I’d probably be putting them up already.

  22. What a beautiful giveaway. We start putting up after Thanksgiving. But we start listening to Christmas music and movies in November

  23. We usually decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, this year is completely up in the air because we are currently living in a travel trailer and looking at a closing date of December 16th. Plus, all our belongings are about 5 hours away in a storage unit.

  24. I love to put up Christmas decorations on Black Friday, or at the very least, try to put them up by the Monday after. It’s exciting!

  25. We put up our tree yesterday but we will not put the Christmas ornaments on until the day after Thanksgiving. There are always some Christmas decoration out during the year especially my Nativity sets and special angels to honor lost love ones.

  26. Due to family events, we don’t get to put our stuff up until the Monday after Thanksgiving. I always enjoyed putting it up Thanksgiving Day when I was a little girl – but only after the dishes were done 🙂

  27. When I was little it was always the day after my sister’s birthday party. (She was born Dec 7). As a married adult, I haven’t found a rhythm for it yet. In theory, sometime in December. 🙂 Life is really crazy at our house right now.

  28. We begin decorating the day after Thanksgiving. I think my hubby would start sooner but he sticks to more cultural norms! He does most of the work!

  29. The wooden nativity is beautiful! I love ALL THINGS rustic and natural so this is right up my alley! Thanks for all you do. 🙂

  30. We usually start with a simple Advent wreath the Sunday after Christmas with the tree going up sometime that week. We don’t do a lot of decorating.

  31. We usually put ours up in mid-December but we don’t take them down until after La Dia De Los Reyes on January 7.

  32. We always wait for the day after Thanksgiving before decorating for Christmas. Growing up, we didn’t celebrate Christmas, so I tend to err on the side of a lot of Christmas. 🙂

  33. We always put up decorations the day after Thanksgiving when I was little. Now that I have my own family, we’ve kept the same tradition.

  34. I love teaching my kids at Christmas and look for biblically accurate books and items. Thanks for sharing and the giveaway.

  35. Thank you for the opportunity to learn more about these homeschool blogs and the chance to win such great prices.

  36. I would say we start decorating for Christmas as soon as we get the stuff pulled out. Sometimes November, sometimes the beginning of December or sometimes we just don’t do it. It really depends on our medical appointments and how often we are stuck at the Children’s hospitals.

  37. We usually start decorating whenever my husband gets the tree down from the attic which is usually 2-3 weeks before Christmas. I’m not big on decorations in general so he has to take the initiative.

  38. We have the tradition of decking the halls the Saturday following Thanksgiving. We put on Christmas music and make hot cocoa and then watch a Christmas movie after we finish.

  39. We start decorating our house after Thanks Giving. I work in retail and am not too happy with them starting the marketing so early. Our store was decorated for Christmas on Halloween this year and the Christmas music has started.

  40. I am so ready to start decorating for Christmas, but I try to wait until after Thanksgiving. My sons are 5 & 3 this year, so the magic of Christmas is especially exciting this year!

  41. We leave our nativity set (it’s very small) set up year round on the mantle. We start decorating the day after Thanksgiving. We bring out a little bit at a time.

  42. We put up a “Thanksgiving” tree in early November (filling it with notes of things we are thankful for), after Thanksgiving, the cards are taken down and ornaments added.

  43. We have children’s birthdays on November 19 and December 31, so we always put up Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving and take them down before New Year’s Eve. Plus, we believe in celebrating one holiday at a time.

  44. Our Christmas decorations go up soon after Thanksgiving. Typically, we are very eager and have them out the first day we are at home.

  45. We started the tradition of putting up our Christmas tree on Thanksgiving Day the first year we were married. Our family always comes our way for the holiday, so while we were all together, I liked the idea of putting the tree up together. And the tradition has stuck. Now it’s one of the favorite things for the kids after the Thanksgiving meal.

  46. The first sign of Christmas around our home is on the Saturday after Thanksgiving – when we play Christmas music while washing up dishes after our large family Thanksgiving celebration, and our outside lights are turned on for our guests as they head home. The first Friday of December is official ‘let the season begin!’ when Dad takes the children out to cut down the tree.

  47. We decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving. My kids take turns putting the star on top each year and they usually sleep by the tree the night we put it up.

  48. I begin decorating the week after Thanksgiving. It is an ongoing process right up to Christmas as we do crafts and projects all month long.

  49. I usually start decorating after Thanksgiving but sometimes my college kids try to jump start it early so they have more time to enjoy it.

  50. We usually put our outdoor decorations up first, as soon as we are able after Thanksgiving. It is a little more unpredictable for our indoor decorations. We aim for soon after Thanksgiving, but life happens so it really varies. We put our Nativities out and then depending on my husbands work schedule, he takes a day off and we drive out to a Christmas trees farm to get our fresh Christmas tree. This has become one of our traditions. The same day, we stop at the bee farm and the fish hatchery which are in the same area.

  51. We begin decorating our house the day after Thanksgiving. It’s tempting to start earlier, but we love Thanksgiving and want to enjoy it before Christmas time is in full-swing.

  52. I start decorating for Christmas when the first Christmas card arrives. I love to display the cards on our dining room table until they start interfering with dinner, then I hang the from a bead chain in the dining roon window or arrange them on the mantle. We put up our tree about two weeks before Christmas.

  53. We put up our Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. It might be rushing it a little, but it’s so much fun to get the tree as a family. I LOVE Christmas music, but wait until the day after Thanksgiving to rock out!

  54. We usually decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. Lat year, though, I was quite slow and didn’t do it until a week before Christmas!

  55. We usually decorate right after Thanksgiving! I have a lot of cute fall decorations outside on the porch and don’t want to get rid of them too soon! lol.

  56. In early December. This year will be different because we just moved. In Colorado we would go hunt for our tree in the forest generally the first weekend of December and that would start the season for us.

  57. I love Nativities. I make them from patterns on line and they remind me how much my SAVIOR gave up to give me eternal life. It’s humbling to know HE would have done that even if I was the only person in the world who sinned. So the Nativity reminds me to look to HIM ALWAYS.

  58. Christmas decorations go up during the weekend after Thanksgiving Thursday. It is a great tradition, and we love it that we begin the Christmas season by linking it loosely with gratefulness.

  59. We usually start with a few things Thanksgiving weekend.
    The wooden train set (a Christmas toy at our house) comes out Thanksgiving evening as do the Christmas books, Nativity sets and homemade Christmas stockings.
    Everything else happens as time allows. 🙂

  60. We always put up the tree the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, as long as my oldest son and step daughter are here (we have a blended family)-everyone has to be here! 🙂

  61. We usually start December 1st bringIng the Christmas boxes out. This year we are going to try earlier, in November.

  62. We usually start putting up our decorations around my birthday, which is the 16th of december when our tree goes up.

  63. Well, I’d like to start the day after Thanksgiving, but we’ll see how that goes. 🙂 I remember last year my then three year old one day just decided that we would do the decorations and I love that she initiated it.

  64. We start putting up Christmas decorations slowly after the beginning of December. We usually do it a little at a time as advent calendar activities.

  65. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes we get to it the day after Thanksgiving, while we are all home. Other years we are rushing to get the tree put up the day before Christmas so there is a place to put all the toys underneath.

  66. We usually start decorating the week after Thanksgiving. This year we’re starting Monday! We take off school the week of Thanksgiving since my husband has off then too. So I thought I’d use this time to start decorating. We store our tree at my mom’s, so we’ll pick it up when we see her at Thanksgiving and put it up when we get home that Monday.

  67. We begin to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. We love it! We decorate the yard and almost every room in the house!