The Angels of Christmas by Sally Johnston

Categories: Jesus' Birth

December is a momentous month filled with the pageantry of the birth of Jesus. In the past, we have studied the story of Jesus' birth. This year we will do an activity related to specific characters in this story - the angels. We will have fun learning about angels and what part they played in Jesus' birth many, many years ago.

There are many different thoughts on what angels are and what they look like, but one idea that is constant is that an angel is a representative of God. Simply put, angels are Gods' thoughts coming to man. Now let's look at the birth of Jesus:

• Who heard the angels' voices?
• What was their reaction to the angel message?
• What qualities did they have to express during this experience?
• How did this affect or contribute to the Christmas story?

First, let's take a few minutes to discuss how we listen to God, how we listen for that still small voice, or our angel thought. Then we'll talk about how the different characters listened for their angel message. Now the fun part starts: let's make our bulletin board.

Have Prepared:

1. Large cut -outs *of the Christmas story characters ,i.e. Mary, Joseph, Three wise men, the Shepherds and maybe even some animals.
   
   
2. Smaller cut outs* of angels. Have enough angels for each character.
   
   
3. The letters for your title, i.e.,"The Angels of Christmas."
   
   
4. Pre cut answer sheets; a 4 by 6 inch rectangle cut from construction paper.

Directions:

1. Take each character and place it on the bulletin board.
   
   
2. Place the angels 5-7 inches away from the character but facing the character.
   
   
3. In-between the character and the angel, place your information sheet.
   
   
4. Decide as a group the answers to the above listening questions and write down on the answer sheet the angel message they heard. For example, Joseph heard that he should marry Mary and that she would bring forth a son and call him Jesus.

By the end you will have a wonderful bulletin board filled with all the different Christmas angels, and the children will have a deeper understanding of Christmas and what angels truly are.

*These can be found in a Christian book store. I used the figures from a nativity scene made for the bulletin board. The angels can be copied.