You will love this sweet Mary’s Lullaby Nativity Scene activity this Christmas season! This spiritual activity is a great way to review this short and simple song. Bring your favorite nativity set to primary and review Mary’s Lullaby while adding pieces to the manger scene!
I am so excited to start teaching Christmas songs in Primary! This year, I’ll be teaching Mary’s Lullaby in primary. This song is short, but so tender and sweet. I wanted to teach a Christmas song that’s a little less common, and I landed on this one!
I will be combing this song with the primary song, When Joseph Went to Bethlehem. I found a beautiful medley of these two songs and will be teaching it to the children to perform for Christmas Sunday.
I’ll be using Jan Welch’s arrangement of When Joseph Went to Bethlehem/Mary’s Lullaby. This arrangement is fairly simple to learn, and is a great choice for a special musical number during December!
Whether you are teaching the medley of these songs or just teaching Mary’s Lullaby, you will love this simple nativity scene review activity!
I just finished putting up all my Christmas decorations for the year! One of my favorite parts of decorating is setting up my nativity scenes. I love thinking about all the people who were there when Christ was born.
For this activity, put together a manger scene piece by piece as you sing this sweet song in primary. You could begin with a stable or one piece of the nativity scene. Each time you sing through Mary’s Lullaby, add another piece to the nativity scene!
When all the pieces to the nativity scene are set up, sing through the song again and bear a simple testimony of the Savior.
Activity Instructions:
- Bring in a nativity scene from home. Your scene can have anywhere from 4-20 pieces! This activity will work with any nativity scene that has at least a few separate pieces.
- At the beginning of primary, place the stable on the table. If using pictures, tape the stable to the board.
- Start by reviewing Mary’s Lullaby as a class using this Mary’s Lullaby printable flipchart!
- Then, ask the children to recall people who are a part of the nativity scene. At this point, put the rest of the nativity scene pieces to the side.
- Ask the children to choose one piece at a time to add to the nativity. Every time you add a piece to the nativity, sing through the song again.
- Continue singing until you have completed the nativity scene!
- Share a brief testimony about Jesus Christ.
Extension Ideas:
- Write down different ways to sing the song on strips of paper (Ex. Sing as soft as a mouse, sing while standing on your tiptoes). We have over 100 ways to sing ideas for this on our page! Tape these strips of paper on the back or bottom of the nativity scene pieces. As children pick pieces to add to the stable, sing the song as indicated on the paper.
- Use this activity to review different Christmas songs you are learning! Write the names of the songs you are learning on strips of paper. When children choose a character to add to the manger scene, have them choose one of the strips of paper. Sing the Christmas song you choose!
- Give each class a few pieces to the nativity scene. Assign each class a different section of the song. As they sing their assigned section, have them add their pieces to the stable.
- Choose scriptures that teach about each person in the nativity scene. As you choose different pieces, read the scriptures that correlate with that person.
- Need a printable nativity scene, instead? You can find this cute When Jesus Was Born nativity cutouts from the Friend here!
For more Christmas-themed primary activities, head on over to all our Christmas Holiday ideas!
Mary’s Lullaby Nativity Scene Printable Lesson Plan
This one-page printable lesson plan can help you prepare for this activity, as well as singing time lessons for future years! This lesson plan outlines the details for the activity, and includes 4 different ways to use this activity in primary!
Just print out the first page of this printable and bring it to primary to remind you how to use this activity! Or tuck it away in your files for later!
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For a fun way to teach the other half of the combined melody, try this When Joseph Went to Bethlehem Comic Strip activity!
How did your primary children enjoy this sweet nativity idea? We’d love to know how you used this activity in primary!
