As we continue to discover the Good News of Christmas, we'll spend some time with shepherds, and the glorious sight that they saw in the fields on the night that Jesus was born. Bible Truth: Praise God for the Good News of Christmas. Bible Story: Angels appeared to shepherds to tell them the Savior was born! Bible Study: Luke 2:8-16 teach story-in-a-gift Shepherds and angels are the special characters that will be found in my Christmas gift box this week. The figures above are from the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Set. I love having a nativity set that the kids can touch and hold to play out the story themselves! dramatic play To make this story visual and interactive, have the children help you act it out with some simple, home-made props and costumes. Assign each child to either be a shepherd, sheep or angel. For the shepherds, make head-dresses using hand towels or pillow cases, tied with bandannas. Make simple sheep masks by cutting out eye holes on a paper plate, Draw a simple nose and mouth. Add some cotton balls around the plate, and attach yarn to each side of the mask for tying around the child's head. If your church has child-size angel costumes used for children's Christmas plays, perhaps you can borrow those for this lesson. If not, make golden garland halos, and drape a longer piece of garland around the shoulders of your little angels. Read Luke 2:8-16 directly from your Bible, and direct the children to act out each of the verses that you read. To set the scene a little more, dimly light the classroom, and shine a bright light on the angels when they appear to the shepherds. sing Go Tell It On The Mountain is a traditional upbeat Christmas song, with a chorus that is easy for little ones to learn and sing! It also perfectly reinforces this week's Bible story. Download a great kid's version of the song here. Here are the actions that I teach my kiddos for this song. There are a lot of words in the verses, and I don't expect the kids to learn all of them, so I keep the actions very minimal and simple. You could also show Bible story pictures that depict the verses as you are singing the song. craft heavenly host I like to use this craft to also illustrate our story and decorate our classroom for Christmas! Each child decorates their own angel to fill the sky with a multitude of heavenly host praising God. For this craft you will need: card stock scissors paint glitter coffee filters tape To prepare cut large triangle shapes, and circles out of card stock. In class, provide paint for the children to each decorate a triangle. When they are finished painting, sprinkle glitter over the paint for extra shine. After the paint has dried, assemble the angels by taping the circle heads to the triangle bodies. Fold coffee filters in half and tape them to the back of the bodies as wings. Staple a large sheet of a dark blue designed wrapping paper to the wall of your classroom, and attach the angels to create a beautiful Christmas display! angels & shepherds Print the activity sheet below. Follow the angel pattern directions to create angel prints in the sky. For a little more interest, you could also add pieces of fabric to the shepherds cloaks, and cotton balls to the sheep. You will need: this activity sheet sponges scissors gold paint small paper plates (to hold paint) fabric pieces cotton balls glue