So you asked for it, and you got it- a printable nativity peg doll set! (I was totally worn down by your requests on this one you guys) 😉 All you have to do is paint the heads, then you Modge Podge the rest. And btw, Mod Podging isn’t even an extra step, you have to do it to seal the peg dolls somehow anyway.
You can find all of my printable peg doll sets here.
The download for all 10 nativity characters is just $10!
I recently got some feedback about my printable peg dolls from my sister-in-law. She’s not normally the crafting type, so it’s exactly the kind of feedback I like… the kind from someone who thinks she’s not a crafter (I say thinks because I believe that everyone is a crafter at heart.) What she said was that she really appreciated how it made it a lot easier for her to make really nice looking peg dolls in a reasonable amount of time, since she’s not a painter herself. So I really kept that in mind while painting these, adding lots of little details as I went. That way, you can have “fancy” peg dolls for an affordable price, too.
Printable Peg Doll Nativity Set Includes:
- Mary
- Joseph
- 3 Wise Men
- 2 Angels
- 2 Shepherds
- Inn Keeper
*notice- Baby Jesus is not included. You just have to paint him yourself, but he’s pretty easy, so it’s ok. Trust me. 🙂
I was able to find a cute peg at my local craft store that was a little more “peanut” shaped for a fat little Baby Jesus. In any case, it’s easy to find small pegs at local stores, so you’ll only have to order the same big pegs my sets always work with. In fact, they come in bags of 10, and there are 10 big people in this set. 🙂 I also think that making a baby Jesus in a walnut shell would work well for this set.
Please go over to this post to read all about printable peg dolls! (Supplies needed, how it works, what comes in the download, and faq’s)
You don’t need to be an artist to paint the heads! I designed all the faces to be cute and expressive, yet easy to re-create. The download includes pictures of each head from the front, side, and back along with step by step directions for painting them. Best of all- all the faces can be draw on with a sharpie or a paint pen! *note- Mod Podge will not run sharpie marker* Some people paint very simple faces on their dolls, and that look has it’s own quaint charm. Here are some more beautiful peg dolls with simple faces. That also eliminates “expression” on the doll’s faces so your child’s imagination can take over, and they work for all parts of the story.
Holy Family peg dolls
The 3 Kings peg dolls (These are my favorites!)
You can find my post about how we made their camels here.
Christmas angel peg dolls
They come with wings that print with the download, or…
you can get creative and give them some fluffy wings!
Shepherd peg dolls
The Inn Keeper peg doll
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Just like my other sets, the download comes with labels to go on the bottoms. These are color-coded by Liturgical season and have a common symbol so you can separate your different sets. This Christmas set has a baby Jesus on the bottom. <3
Extras that you can add to your peg nativity set:
A stable is a fun addition to this set! We got a wooden bird house from Michael’s, and my husband sawed it in half for us. If that’s an option for you, you end up with 2 stables for the price of 1. They actually stained and finished it, but painting would also be an option. We added a wooden craft star to ours with hot glue. Of course, this time of year, you can actually buy unfinished stables from craft stores as well.
Animals are another fun addition! My dad is a carpenter, so I drew some patterns and he cut them out of wood for us. I would have ordered them in an etsy shop, but there was no one that made them big enough for the size of dolls we have. You can download the pattern for the camels and donkey here.
You can also make adorable yarn animals to go with your set. See how we made ours here.
Angel wings definitely make the angels more fun. Like you can see in the picture above, the angels do already come with wings in the download, but seriously, 3D wings take the angels to the next level. In the Easter set, I added wooden wings to the angels. For this set, I used a fluffy white boa to add “feathery” angel wings, and I’ll tell you, my girls are smitten! They are the most popular new characters that have joined the peg doll entourage here!
I just cut sections off of a fluffy boa (bought at a local craft store). I recommend that you cut the piece off outside and shake off all the extra fluff before bringing it back in.
I then hot glued a strip of white felt around the middle to give more of the impression of 2 separate wings. I hot glued the felt directly to the angel’s backs.
I also love how Drawn 2 B Creative used a wooden heart for her angel wings, and actually painted them to look like feathers. Very cute. 🙂
Caught red-handed… or red flowered that is… 😉
I did borrow some of my previous peg doll designs for this nativity set, and I didn’t think anyone would notice, but I mean the second I gave this set to my kids, Violet ran and dug these other peg dolls out of the basket! A true testament to how often they play with these (which I’m telling you, is daily). I get credit for turning the flowers from Easter lilies to poinsettias though, right? 😉 (which was Lydia’s idea, btw) Also, I added some Christmas holly to her hair, so clearly, she’s a Christmas angel.
So what I wasn’t expecting, but was awesome… When I finished this set and turned them over to my kids, they were excited like I came home with a new toy set from Toys R Us that went with their favorite toys! It was like Christmas morning! They played with the peg dolls for the rest of the day… and the next day! I love how much my kids love these. <3
This download costs just $10, which turns out to be just one dollar per peg person.
My Other Printable Peg Doll Sets
Saint Pack 1- Saints Who Go Together
Printable Peg Dolls- The Passion Set!
Printable Peg Dolls: The Resurrection Set
Oh, I love them!! I would love it if you would share at my new link party: http://craftymomsshare.blogspot.com/2015/11/crafty-weekends-half-yard-christmas.html.
I bought these this morning *in the parking lot at church* the second they hit my inbox! LOL! Didn’t even bother to read specific details. I just saw “Nativity Peg Doll Set” and it was off to PayPal! Already have them printed and cut out! HA! Thank you!
Lol! Love this! So happy to hear it. 🙂
Would you ever consider making the peg doll sets and selling them? My biggest deterrent is TIME. I don’t have the time to sit down and make these while little ones crawl all over and interfere. I’d pay good money to buy already-put-together sets. If you ever would, let me know! Would love to have peg doll sets for putting on our alter and to bring out when reading Bible stories.
Not a chance. 😉 Lol! But I totally understand.
Look on Etsy. They have a ton of peg doll nativities. (Not for $8, though…)
Andrea-
I was surprised at how quickly mine went together. I set them up on a cookie sheet, lined with wax paper, sat down and did most of the brown hairs, then set it aside to dry. Later I came back with another color. It is very do-able in small batches of time. Assuming you have those. 🙂 I also put the labels on first so I could keep track of which was which when I was only part way through.
I decided to pay a teen I know to do a bunch for me 🙂
This is so cute! Can you tell me how many pages will need to be printed in order to print all the dolls. (not including instructions, etc) trying to price having the dolls printed at Staples before I buy 🙂 Thanks!
Just 5 pages
Where did you find the manger for Jesus?
SO EXCITED about this project. Just bought it, downloaded it, and…. and now I have to stand on my front porch and wait 3948203492834029482304824 days for the mailman to bring the wood peg dolls. ;D
But I’ll have it all in time to make a St. Nicholas Day gift for my younger kids, and that’s plenty awesome. Thanks for this, Lacy!
Thanks
Is there another source for the pegs? My computer is having problems with the site’s certificate being out of date 🙁
What did you use for the manger?
(Squeal!) Hobby Lobby has empty stables for 50% off. I got one that is almost perfect peg doll sized — and covered with moss — for $9. ANNNND they have unfinished wooden items (like a pack of tiny peg boys for the Holy Infant, stars for the stable and wooden balls that are flat on the bottom for painting extra animals) for not more than a few dollars. The animals/balls were $1.64 per. Check it out!
Lacy,
You’ve outdone yourself yet again! These are fabulous! And I love your idea for wooden animals! I’m almost finished making 2 sets of these for my twins for St. Nicholas day stocking stuffers. They are so cute. Then my 2 older boys are working with dad to make the animals and stables. It’s a great beginning wood working project for them, plus time with dad! They are going to paint them too, then wrap them up to give the twins at Christmas. Thanks for all your great ‘doable’ ideas! And keep those decoupage dolls coming!
Can these be adjusted for smaller pegs (2 and 3/4″)? The larger pegs are very expensive!
Yes, you can find the directions on Arma Dei, which I link to from my faq peg doll page
Ok, thanks so much!!
Lacy,
I adore these!!! Thank you so much for creating them. We have the Resurrection set, and my little people are so excited to have Nativity peg dolls to add to the collection.
I would like to make a set to donate for our church auction, and was wondering if that would be ok. Would I need to purchase another download or is this something beyond the parameters of the download? It is fine either way, I totally understand and appreciate all your efforts. Thank you so much for enriching our family traditions!
Blessings,
Lisa
I’m sure I should know this, but do you print on paper or cardstock? Thank you in advance!
On paper
Lacy-
I have a request. Would you update the pdf so that the “Angel 2” label is higher? Right now, it overlaps the cut-out by a little bit. I was able to adjust the notch at the top to cut out the black spot, but I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to be like that!
You were right about not needing to be artistic to do these! I was skeptical, and mine aren’t perfect by any stretch, but they are so much cuter than I expected to be able to do! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing these! Do you have a Saint Nick printable? If not, you think I could get away with using the white haired wise man as Saint Nick?
The only set that Lacy currently has that Saint Nicholas would fit into (category-wise) would be the Saint Set #1, but he is not included in that one.
I don’t see why you couldn’t try to modify one of these to make Saint Nicholas or maybe even just paint your own. 🙂
Hi Lacy, I tried asking this question via your contact form a couple of times, but never got a response. Perhaps it wasn’t working? Anyhow, when I try to click on the link above that says “head over to this post to read all about peg dolls, FAQ, etc.” it goes to the peg doll company web site. Can you please fix the link so I can get to the information I’m looking for? Thanks!
Holly – I’m not sure why, but your messages didn’t appear to go through, as I’m the one who gets all of the contact form emails and I didn’t get any with this question.
I suspect the page you might be looking for is this one:
http://www.catholicicing.com/peg-dolls/
Thanks for your reply, Angie. I was able to find the page with more information about the peg dolls (it was actually one more click through from the link you gave me. The page I was looking for is http://www.catholicicing.com/printable-peg-dolls-just-paint-the-head-and-decoupage-the-rest/) However, the FAQ on that page didn’t answer one of my questions: Does the download include permission to print multiple copies? I am planning to do this activity with a group of children at my parish. Please advise. Thanks!
I just put the Advent Saint ornaments and Printable Peg Dolls pack 1 in my cart. Then I hit Buy Now on these Nativity peg dolls, but instead of adding them to the cart with the other 2 items, it opens a new window to ask me to log into PayPal to pay for the one item for $8.
I just wanted to make sure this is working right and not accidentally linking to a scam site, because it seems odd that the different peg doll sets are sending me to different payment sites! Can you let me know by reply or by email? Thank you!
Yes, that’s correct. Some of the buttons are for adding to a cart, and some are for buy now, so it can be confusing. I’m working to consolidate into 1 Catholic Icing store. It’s in the works! 🙂
I really like your idea of making printable patterns and only paint the head. I notice that all of the sets that I see are religious in nature, which I appreciate, but I am wondering if you offer any other styles?
Do you have a Last Supper Peg Doll Set?
Hi Laura –
There isn’t a Last Supper set currently. However, there is a Passion set and Resurrection set. All of the sets are linked to in this post: https://www.catholicicing.com/peg-dolls/
Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager
where do i purchase pegs?
Thank you
The place we normally recommend seems to be totally out of stock. Here is one place I found online (but I don’t personally have experience with them): https://www.craftparts.com/product/3-9-16-man-body-little-people/
I also found a variety of sellers on Etsy that carried this size of peg doll. Some examples:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/787576853/unfinished-jumbo-dad-peg-dolls-3-916
https://www.etsy.com/listing/204342935/10-3-916-wooden-big-dad-peg-doll-cake
https://www.etsy.com/listing/225917219/25-or-30-natural-unfinished-wood-grandpa
Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager
Can I print at a slightly smaller percentage to do a 2 inch peg?
Hi Kim –
I’m not sure if it would be the right size or what percentage you might need to reduce to make it the correct size. You could give it a try, but we don’t have experience with that.
Monica has directions on how she made them for a smaller peg in this post: https://equippingcatholicfamilies.com/2015/01/decoupage-saints/
Hopefully that will help!
Angie, Catholic Icing Business Manager