Today, I’m beginning a new series called the “5 Days of Christmas”, and I’m concentrating on Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday. When you’re keeping Christ in Christmas rather than getting secularly sidetracked, that’s celebrating the true reason for the season- the birth of Our Savior!
I think a great place to start preparing for Jesus’ birthday is to put out a nativity set. I like to have a nativity set on display front and center, but I think it’s equally important to have a nativity set that children may touch, play, and interact with. What a great way to prepare for Jesus’ Birthday! (When I set out nativity sets as decorations, we wait until Christmas to place baby Jesus in the manger, but I let my kids have Jesus in their nativity set all through Advent.)
If you don’t yet have a child friendly nativity set, St. Nicholas day is the perfect day to surprise your kids with a set just for them! (And today, Cyber Monday, might be a great day to find a good deal on one. 😉 ) I have several favorites I wanted to share with you today!
My favorite nativity set for little kids is the Little People Nativity Set
. This is truly an adorable set, and my kids love it! It’s colorful, indestructible, and really encourages playing. It’s easy to get sucked into buying the add on kits of the wise men and little drummer boy set, but the link above is just for the basic set and that’s what we have. I keep ours on an end table in the living room along with our felt advent wreath
for kids.
My favorite nativity sets for kids that are a little older is the Playmobil Nativity Set
. I just ordered one for my kids this year after seeing a post on Catholic Deals to get it $20, shipped! The wise men really hold their gifts, there are little tassels hanging from the donkey, Jesus can come out of the manger, they can hold lanterns, and the little heads on the animals move- this one looks like tons of fun!
If you’re into classy wooden stuff, I would check out the Melissa & Doug Nativity Set
. This looks very cute and sturdy for the price! I’ve had my eye on it for a few years now.
As long as we’re talking about affordable, check out this children’s nativity set for only $7! It’s from Oriental Trading. It’s a small wooden set, and it’s self-contained- all the figures go into the stable! I ordered this one for my kids to bring with me as a toy for mass. They also carry a resin nativity set for children for $14.
I also really like the Tales of Glory Nativity Play Set. We had this set at our preschool co-op, and it comes with a storybook and everything! I love how friendly the figures are in this one- especially Mary!
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If you’re in the mood for something more fun or silly, you can check out this rubber ducky nativity, Veggie Tales Nativity, or The Peanuts Christmas Pageant Playset
.
I’ll be posting every day this week with ideas for celebrating Jesus’ Birthday! Don’t miss the rest of the series!
Check out the other blogs participating in the “5 Days of Christmas” series this week!
A Slob Comes Clean – Getting Your Home Company Ready
Feels Like Home – Christmas Traditions
Somewhat Crunchy – Christmas with Dairy Allergies
Spell Outloud – Children’s Books
Mama’s Learning Corner – Children’s Crafts
Many Little Blessings – Edible Gifts
Sunflower Schoolhouse – Decorations
An Oregon Cottage – Christmas Cookies
Catholic Icing – Wishing Jesus Happy Birthday
The Traveling Praters – Traveling
The Homeschool Classroom – Gifts Kids Can Make
Mama’s Laundry Talk – Laundry Gifts
Related Posts:
- Placing Jesus in the Creche- a Family Tradition
- Easy Nativity Cookies
- Craft a Nativity Set
- Manger Crafts for Baby Jesus
- 6 Ways to Kick Off Advent with a Religious Bang!
More Nativity Resources For Families
You do not want to miss my nativity round-up for kids that include crafts, book suggestions, traditions, songs, printables, and more! Check it out now.
Playmobil is our favorite set! The “stable” is paper, but other than that, it is so detailed and my kids love all the detailed pieces.
They actually came out with a new set this year with a plastic stable, but I got the older one because it was so cheap. 🙂
Lacy, thanks for all these links, and I’m checking out the other participants now!
I love that I’m not the only one who sticks an extra sheep from the Little People farm into the manger scene, although I add the goat too. I’m getting the matching shepherd set this year to round out the figures, and because it upsets my OCD that 1) there’s no shepherd and 2) Saint Joseph looks like a shepherd.
I wish I could afford the sets from Saint Luke’s Brush. They’re gorgeous.
Our favorite we have used for years is the paper doll set
Build-Your-Own-Bethlehem. It has a booklet to be used for candlemas and annunciation too.
http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Bethlehem-Christmastime/dp/1568544480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322512172&sr=1-1
and of course that playmobil set is great- we have added extra sheep and I think we are up to 3 camels 🙂
I love all the options for nativity sets for kids available now. I really like the Fisher Price set and I am hoping we can find one in the stores locally before they are all sold out.
I look forward to reading the ways that you keep Christ in Christmas around your house.
Blessings
Honey
Check your Targets, that’s where we found ours for I think $20. The version they sold at Target is the one pictured here, and it’s both cheaper AND less annoying than the noisy fancy version from the fisher price website.
Saw this post on twitter and wanted to stop by. I love the Little People Nativity, my mother in law has it. And I would like to have the playmobil one, their stuff is just such good quality.
Didn’t know Melissa and Doug make one, going to check theirs out for my youngest son. 🙂
My kids just got the Melissa & Doug nativity set for St. Nicholas Day. It’s nice and sturdy and the pieces are large. One thing I thought was neat about it is on the baby Jesus figure, the other side has an empty manger so that you can choose to display the empty side until Christmas if you like.
That is so cool! What a great idea!