Here's what Victoria has to share...
I’m always looking for different ways to play with the
nativity story, and since I have two girls under five who love dressing things,
I thought this would be fun for them.
It’s DIY fuzzyfelt, and it only took me about 30 minutes to
make!
All you need is:
- Felt
- Sharp scissors for cutting felt
- A big piece of card or board for your backdrop
- Masking tape
I started by taping a huge piece of grey felt to my board.
They were a little concerned that the grey wasn’t a nice colour, but I knew the
other brighter colours would look good on it. You don’t have to use grey of
course, and you could make your board out of different pieces if you’ve not got
a huge piece like I did.
Next, I cut out my templates (see pdf- click here) out of thick paper.
Lastly, I cut out felt using each template piece. There’s no
rules about how many of which you need, but I put the numbers of what I cut out
as a guide.
I wanted to give them a way of exploring the different
characters in the Christmas story, so I cut out different coloured bodies,
clothes and accessories. I made sure I had ‘too many’ and not too type-caste
colours which would leave them room for creativity and also for more ambiguity
than many nativity sets allow for. For example, I made four crowns. This gave
them options of having four wise men/kings, or having one for king Herod or
giving one to Jesus.
In the future I may add some hills, a path and a stable, but
for now they’re enjoying dressing and re-dressing the characters. It’s perfect
for discussing the different roles the people played, what they might have worn
and why.
I made this activity to use at home, but it would also be
fun as part of a toddler group activity or all-age service with stations.
Great idea! One of my children's favorite things in what I call my "Sabbath School box" has been a set of felt children and simple felt "clothes" that I have cut out for the "missionaries" (the children) to deliver and dress the felt children in. This nativity set would be very well-received, I'm sure. :)
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