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Baby Jesus in a Manger


This sweet baby Jesus in a paper-bag manger was inspired by another craft I saw on Pinterest.

Isn't the Christmas story just the greatest? Even as an adult, it's fun to read or listen to the beautiful account of Jesus' birth and try to put yourself into it. Who would you want to be? I'd want to be one of the shepherds in the field. I'd love to see the heavens light up with the heavenly host and hear them sing, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!"

But, I digress.

This little craft is simple and fun! All you need are paper, crayons, scissors, and small brown paper lunch sacks. Again, I was inspired by a craft I saw on Pinterest so this is not an original idea but the artwork is, so copy and share to your heart's content.

MATERIALS:

Baby Jesus template copied onto card stock (regular copy paper works fine too)

Brown or yellow copy paper or tissue paper, for straw

Brown paper lunch sacks

Crayons

Scissors

BEFORE CLASS:

  • Cut the tops off the lunch sacks as shown below. (Older kids could probably do this themselves.) I like to round the corners.

  • Keeping the bag flattened, cut out the little window in each sack.

  • Cut the "straw" paper into thin strips with a paper cutter (optional--they could do this themselves with scissors, or tear it).

DIRECTIONS:

  • Cut the yellow or brown paper into thin strips for hay, if you didn't already do it before class. Crinkle and un-crinkle the strips until they look like packing material.

  • Color and cut out the baby Jesus figure. (Make sure they don't cut off the tab, but if they do you can tape it back on. This is what holds him in the hay.)

  • Color and cut out the star.

  • Open the bag and stuff the bottom with straw.

  • Insert the baby Jesus, sticking the tab down into the straw.

  • Staple the star to the top "handle" of the bag to keep the top closed.

Beautiful! Now sing "Away in a Manger" (and make sure they know what a manger is--I think I was about 15 when I finally figured out it was a food trough)!

Here, I've already cut off the tops and am cutting out the little window.

Your prepared bag should look something like this. Now it's ready for little hands!

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