Christmas can be a difficult subject in Christian Religious Education; here, it is broken down into an easy-to-use lesson plan.
Table of Contents:
1. Teacher’s background information.
Here, the children can discover the real, tough story of Christmas – a poor girl heavily pregnant, having to travel 90 miles [145 km] on a donkey over rough country. Then at Bethlehem, everywhere was full up, and so there was nowhere to have her baby…
The story goes on, and the children can immerse themselves in the drama of it all
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2. Lesson plans and resources for Christmas simply explained
[a] The Christmas Simply Explained Lesson Plan is a downloadable PDF document to present to the children.
[b] The Christmas Simply Explained Lesson Plan is a free PowerPoint presentation (Opens in a new tab on www.slideshare.net) viewable or downloadable for teachers who can use electronic equipment in the classroom.
[c] The Christmas Simply Explained Lesson Plan video is based on a PowerPoint presentation. Created with 5-second slides, so pause the video to enable the children to study each slide: (Same material as the PowerPoint above).
[d] Christmas drama: Christmas Nativity drama (This script is on the PDF, PowerPoint and Video shown above.)
[e] Free children’s songs:
‘A Band of Angels’ children’s song, see below.
‘Let Us Go to the Manger and Join the Celebration’ children’s song, see below.
‘Animal Christmas Manger’ Little Kids Praise Song, see below.
3. Free children’s Christmas songs:
These songs by John Hardwick can be used in R.E. lessons, assemblies, collective worship, church children’s talks, Sunday schools, etc.
[a] ‘A Band of Angels’ children’s song
The song ‘A Band of Angels’ is truly fun, uplifting and memorable – a real Christmas favourite with the children.
[b] ‘Let Us Go to the Manger and Join the Celebration’ children’s song
Little Kids, Kindergarten, Toddler Christmas Praise Song.
The first part, ‘Let Us Go to the Manger’, is a beautiful, peaceful song written by Rachel Munoz when she was a child.
The actions are a similar idea to the hugely popular ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ song, with the children lying down and sleeping alongside Baby Jesus, but then everyone wakes up and wants to celebrate the birth of this special baby King verse, with everyone jumping up and dancing for joy during the chorus!
[c] ‘Animal Christmas Manger’ Little Kids Praise Song
You know the Bible doesn’t say much about the birth of Jesus, but it does say ‘Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them.’ (Luke 2:7).
A manger or crib is a feeding trough or food box that holds hay for larger farm animals like cattle, horses, and donkeys. So maybe there were animals there too! So let’s imagine the animals praising and dancing around because this was such a special occasion!
[d] The Wisemen Magi Rap
“Let’s Be On Our Way to find Jesus the King!” based on the Bear Hunt song.
4. How to fulfil the locally agreed syllabus on ‘Christmas simply explained lesson plan’
Hopefully, you will be able to match your local agreed syllabus with what is here.
This lesson plan is based on the UK RE Attainment Targets.
Here is the Mapping Grid for the Attainment Target Categories:
- Sacred Texts – stories, scriptures, parables, teachings
- Beliefs – ideas about God, truth, meaning, purpose
- Practices – worship, prayer, festivals, rituals, lifestyle
- Identity – belonging, community, worldview, personal reflection
- Values – moral ideas, attitudes, virtues
- Living – how beliefs affect actions and everyday life
🎯 Why This Grid Works for UK Schools
✔ Matches Agreed Syllabus expectations
✔ Supports progression from KS1 to KS2
✔ Aligns with Ofsted language (knowledge, understanding, impact)
✔ Works for lesson planning, assessment, and inspection evidence
✔ Non-political, non-denominational, UK-appropriate
For many local syllabi, in KS1, Christianity plus at least one other major religion is studied.
Effective RE should combine:
- knowledge (stories, beliefs, practices)
- understanding (why people believe/do what they do)
- reflection (personal response, values, empathy).
Typical Key Questions for KS1
Here are common “core/enquiry” questions or themes that appear in most KS1 agreed syllabi:
- “Who am I?” (Identity).
- “What does it mean to belong?” (Belonging).
- “What makes some people so important?” (Important people).
- “Where did we come from / how did the world begin?” (Simple beliefs).
- “What makes some stories so important to different people?” (Sacred books).
- “Why are festivals, symbols or special stories important?” (Stories & moral values).
- “Why are some places so important?” (Important places).
These then required merging within the Assessment Aims, but as can be seen, there had to be some overlapping of the themes/core questions:
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 1. SACRED TEXTS (Stories, Scriptures, parables & teachings) – [SACRED TEXTS & WHO AM I?]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 2. BELIEFS (Ideas about God, truth, meaning & purpose) – CREATION & IMPORTANT PEOPLE]
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 3. PRACTICES (worship, prayer, festivals, rituals & lifestyle) – [FESTIVALS & PLACES]
- ASSESSMENT AIM: 4. IDENTITY (belonging, community, worldview & personal reflection) – [BELONGING & IDENTITY]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 5. VALUES (moral ideas, attitudes, virtues, right & wrong) – [FESTIVALS & BELONGING]
- ASSESSMENT AIMS: 6. LIVING (how beliefs affect actions and everyday life) – [IMPORTANT PEOPLE & FESTIVALS]
Each assessment had its own set of questions to answer. These are included in each lesson plan, which is suitable for that particular subject.