Christmas explained lesson plan

The true meaning of Christmas lesson plan for busy teachers to KS1 children.

Free Christmas lesson plan that requires no study time, or hours of research.

This lesson plan with Christmas Nativity drama is also suitable for an ESL Christmas lesson or Christmas Sunday School lesson.

This teacher’s copy of the Christmas explained lesson plan is printer friendly.

Model figures of a stable. Christmas explained lesson plan.
Christian Festival of Advent lesson plan – Image by Alois Grundner from Pixabay

1. Resources for Christmas explained lesson plan:

(Optional): Costumes for the drama to dress up:

  • Mary and Joseph
  • Baby Jesus (a doll)
  • An angel and a group of angels
  • shepherds
  • 3 magi (often called wise men or kings)
  • King Herod and 2 advisors to the king.
  • A narrator
  • Simple stage props.

Download the Christmas drama: Christmas Nativity drama.

2. Starter for Christmas explained lesson plan:

Some churches celebrate certain events in the life of Jesus, and also some events in the early church.
These festivals are held on certain dates throughout the year, and this is known as the Church Calendar.
For example, Lent, when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without food and Pentecost, when God poured out His Spirit upon the early church.
But today we are going to look at the festival of ‘Christmas’.

Q. How do you and your family celebrate Christmas?

Q. Do you like Christmas?

Describe why.

3. Main teaching for Christmas explained lesson plan:

Q. What event in the Church Calendar does Christmas celebrate?

Christians believe that Jesus Christ has always been God’s Son, but Christmas was the time when He took on human nature by being born of a woman.
Some Christmas cards have pictures or cartoons relating to this story, for example:

  • The baby Jesus in a manger (a cattle feeding trough)
  • Shepherds,
  • A bright star that guided 3 magi (wise men), etc.

Here is how it happened – we are going to act it out:

(Act out the Christmas drama)

Q. How do you think Mary felt?

Q. What did Joseph think about all this?

Q. The shepherds were very poor, what would they have thought?

Q. The Magi (wise men) were from a foreign country, were very rich and important, why did they travel all those miles to see a baby?

Three Magi on camels following the star. Christmas explained lesson plan.
Christmas explained lesson plan – Magi Image by Jarkko Mänty from Pixabay

4. Plenary for Christmas explained lesson plan:

What you have acted out is the real story of Christmas.

Q. How does this story differ from the Christmas that you celebrate?

Q. Do you think that Christmas has become too commercialised?

Explain.

Additional activity:
Design a Christmas card that shows a part of the Christmas story.

Also see: Christmas and Easter simply explained. RE resources

5. Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What is the meaning of Christmas KS1?

Basically, ‘Christ-mas’ means to celebrate Jesus Christ’s birth, which was prophesied and anticipated for thousands of years. This was the coming of the promised Messiah (Christ) who was God, born into human form at Bethlehem, where poor shepherds worshipped him and rich Magi from the East also came to worship and give gifts to the new-born king – not a king of an earthly land, but of heaven.

What lessons does Christmas teach us?

It was tough for pregnant Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem on a donkey, their rejection when there was no room to rent, etc. But in all this hardship, they were walking in God’s plan for them – that is Jesus our Saviour (both God and man) was to be born of a virgin.