Teaching CHRISTmas to Toddlers

Lesson #1

First, I bought the Little People Nativity Set. I don't think I could teach them and reach them without it.  

Our first lesson focused on baby Jesus.  I showed them the baby Jesus from the little people set and explained that when we prayed before lunch and snack and sung our song "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus for our food, for our food. And for all you give us. And for ask you give us. We love you! Yes we do! Amen!" We are thanking Jesus for our food and everything else.  Jesus was once a baby just like them. He was born in his mommy's tummy just like them. And when we pray to God, we are praying to Jesus'daddy. We then folded our hands, and said a prayer to God, thanking him for sending his son Jesus. 

We finger painted a Christmas tree made out of a paper plate cut into four equal parts.

Lesson #2 

The Angel tells Mary, "Do not be afraid."

I reviewed who baby Jesus was and also introduced to them: Mary, Joseph, and the angel from the Nativity Set.  I explained that before the baby was born, he was in his mommy's tummy just like they were. We had one little girl who's mom is pregnant. I was able to compare Mary to her.  We then talked about how she was scared and nervous.  The Angel told her, "Do not be afraid." I explained how sometimes they may be afraid like when they wake up in the middle of the night. They may cry for their mommy and daddy. However, the angel tells us not to be afraid. For art, they made an angel to put by their beds to remind them to not be afraid. We also talked about Joseph being afraid as well.  That boys and girls can be afraid.  I explained that Joseph was going to be Jesus'daddy on earth.  I asked them how many of them had a daddy.  I explained that Jesus also had a daddy when he came here as a baby.  How daddy and mommy took care of him just like our mommy and daddy take care of us.  But if Jesus was afraid, he could pray to his father in heaven still. We used this time to pray to God, our father in heaven, about helping us to not be afraid and to help us know he's with us even when our mommy's and daddy's aren't around like in the middle of the night. 

Lesson #3

We are the light to the world!

I turned out all the lights except for the Christmas tree's lights. We then talked about how God wants us to shine like the lights on the Christmas tree.  We are the light to the world.  Just like those lights light up the room, we can also light up a room by our actions. I then explained that we can do this by being more like Jesus.  We talked about if Jesus was at the table with us would he like what he sees?  I then went on to ask them the following questions:

Would Jesus like it when we: 

Bite others?

Hit our friends?

Help our friends when they are hurt?

Pick up our toys?

Push our friends?

Yell at our friends?

Clean up our own mess after lunch and snack?

Clean up someone else's mess?

Take toys from our friend?

(This list can go on forever.  Just remember to keep the questions simple and related to the issues they deal with every day.)

We then learned "This Little Light of Mine." It is a song that we continue to sing every day during our worship time.  This way we can also remind them that we need to be the light of the world, and I even review those questions on days that we have time. 

Daniel and the Lions' Den

Story Bus: Moses, King, Others, Lion (I would normally have more lions; however, we are in process of moving, and I must have already packed the others away.) The toddlers loved this story.  They listened to this one better than any other story! They enjoyed roaring like a lion!

With every story we learn, we focus also focus on a certain letter.  This story, we learned about the letter Ll.  They glued paper on the lion and tried tracing the Ll.  I usually hold their hand and help them trace the letters.  Then, I let them hold the crayon themselves and "trace" (more like color) the letter on their own.

For physical education time, or I call gross motors, we played a game called SWAT.  The kiddos had to swat the "lions" (balls) with a huge flyswatter.  They loved it even though it was a bit challenging.

We also made our own lions out of paper plates.  They always want to put the glue on themselves, so this time I let them.  Then, they placed the already cut up paper onto the paper plate to make a lion.  I drew the faces on for them.  I took a picture of all three so you could see the different levels of students I have.  

We also acted out the story.  We have playhouse castle in our backyard, so I had the toddlers act out the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. I had to show them where to go, and I did the talking. But they still had fun acting it out especially roaring like the lions do!

We painted with forks to make a lion.  They enjoyed doing this a little more than the other because it involved paint, and they love painting especially because I try to allow them to paint with several different utensils and not just paint brushes!

How I Teach Toddlers

Ok so I've had people ask how I teach little ones or if they are really picking up what I'm doing, so here is how most Bible lessons go.

The key is to have a routine, be energetic, silly, and to show the kids you are having fun! I've learned to realize the funnier I look, the more they pay attention.  It's a true fact, and I personally enjoy when they are into it also. Today during Bible story time, I had one on either side of me on the couch and one standing in front of me... all three 1 year olds were listening!


Ok so here it is:

When it's time for Bible time I start by singing: B.i.b.l.e is the Book for Me. Continue singing until you have all their attention!  I have one who is singing along with me now. 

Then read, tell, act out, or watch the story. Stress the letter and/or letters you're wanting them to learn such as DDDDavid starts with D like DDDDaddy. Point to important animals in the story. Use every aspect of the story as a learning opportunity whether it's letters, shapes, animals, numbers, counting, etc.  I tell the same story for 2 weeks straight.  I use a story truck,  a lunch box with items to tell the story such as sheep, people,  stones, etc. for David and Goliath. I try to put only items that are safe for the kids to play with and experiment with in the lunch box.  By the end of the first week I let them play with the items in the story box to try and retell the story. They don't necessarily know how to retell the story, but I do notice they pick up on certain parts. 

Discuss the importance of the story.  What do you want your child to get out of the story? For example, this week we are taking about Daniel in the Lions' den. I stress the importance of praying.  I show them how to fold their hands, how to get quiet, and how to close their eyes.  I have one who sometimes folds his hands as soon as he knows it's time to pray. We are also talking about the word jealous.  I bring up situations that happen daily with them such as J cries when I hold M or G gets upset when J has something she wants etc. They may not understand the word jealous, but they understand these situations. 

Pray daily and often with your children! Your prayer can include what you want your child to learn, before meal prayers, feeling better prayers, etc.

Sing: I Am a Christian.

Explain that being a Christian means you have Christ in your heart and will live forever with God in heaven.  If you have Christ in your heart, you want to act more like Christ.  Give examples they'll understand such as getting someone else's shoes when it's time to go outside, giving love pats instead of hitting, giving hugs when someone is crying etc. And you'll want to spend more time with Christ.  You can do this by praying, listening to Bible stories, etc.

Next we get ready to pray.  I do this by giving command such as touch your head, beep your nose, pull your ears or hair, etc. Again use this time of getting them quiet as a learning opportunity.  They watch you do it and eventually do it themselves and start learning body parts in the process. 

Pray by singing snack\lunch song: Thank You Jesus For Our Food

Give lunch or a snack that relates to the story.  Retell the story in your words emphasizing on the important parts as they are eating. Also enjoy time with them, watch and observe.  Allow them to watch you dip your grilled cheese into tomato soup or eat with a spoon. They'll eventually pick up on those traits as well. 

After lunch or snack, have an art project or sensory play to go with story or letter you're focusing on for the week. For example with Noah's Ark, I had cotton balls in a container for them to play with, touch, try to scoop up, etc.  I also added animals and different colors of construction paper.  While they were playing I squirted water on them.  Most loved getting wet! 

Now as most of the children are getting closer to two, they sit in their lunch seats buckled in while we do our lesson.  While I prepare lunch, we sing worship songs.  The children love singing especially those songs with actions.  Again be silly, have fun and enjoy this time also.  It definitely gets the children into it more.  

An important tip to know: If the children are upset, not listening at all, getting loud, etc...stop your lesson! I have learned that continuing just makes them more upset or get louder.  I usually try singing, "I am waiting...I am waiting...I am waiting for you to shhhhh."  I get really quiet on the shhh and usually they do also.  If they don't or you feel you are doing this multiple times, it is time to call it quits for the day.  They aren't interested, and they probably aren't going to learn.  Try again later in the day or wait until the next day.  

When teaching toddlers

•  try to act positive the entire time. 
• Try not to get upset when they are not listening.  
• Be silly, loud, fun, and energetic
• Try not to raise your voice during teaching time.  (You want them to enjoy this time.)
• If they are not interested, stop! Or try something different: sing a song, start a craft, switch to sensory play, etc.  
• When doing a craft with toddlers, it's easier to keep the craft simple (such as finger painting, coloring, or gluing) or to do one or two at a time. 
• Give stickers as rewards for everything! I mean everything: folding hands to pray, cleaning up own messes, singing along, doing motions. Toddlers love stickers!

Questions: Feel free to comment! I know there are things I forgot to mention! 

David and Goliath

This theme has been the toddlers favorite so far! They loved playing with what I call fuzzy balls! (Really they are just pom pom balls from the craft store.) They don't hurt anyone.  They're safe for them to chew on (However, I tried to discourage this.) and not to mention soft! Their favorite activity was when we reenacted the story, and I was their Goliath, they had to toss the stones (pom pom balls) at my head.  They thought my reaction was hilarious and kept wanting to do it every time we got the story bus out!  Also each time we read the story, we all were Goliath.  We showed off our muscles and talked about how strong we were!


Story Bus Toys: Pom pom balls for stones, little people fence, farmer (David), Noah (Saul), Sheep


We worked on the letter Dd all week for David (and Daddy)! We pressed a D cookie cutter into the play dough for sensory play.



We made our own shield so that we would remember that God is our shield, and he'll help us fight our Goliath. (giants).  They painted a paper plate, and I added a string on the back for them to hold on to it.



We also colored real stones and made a bag to keep them safe.  Each stone stands for something we have already learned this year.

Baby Moses

Baby Moses was a little bit harder than I expected to plan, but the kids still enjoyed learning about him.

Instead of the story bus, we had the story basket (bigger items that wouldn't fit in the the story bus).
In the basket we included: the basket, the princess, Baby Moses (Elmo),  and a blanket



After reading the story several times, I allowed the toddlers to try wrapping "Baby Moses."  They also acted out the story using the characters.

They love looking at the pictures in this Bible because it is so bright and colorful.  My little one will look at it forever it feels like in the evening.

The only craft we did this time was a basket for Baby Moses.  It took us several days to finish.  First, they colored it different colors.  Each day, we colored with a different color to represent different things that the basket was made from.  Then the last day we glued string onto our basket.  I already had the yarn precut, and the glue on the basket.  The toddlers just had to pick up the string and place it on basket.  I only had one that did not enjoy the texture of the yarn.  The baskets were also already cut out.   (Not sure how to rotate picture.)


We are in the process of moving so we turned a box into a 'basket' and they took turns pretending to be Baby Moses.  I also used a clothes basket when I noticed how much fun they had getting in and out of the box.

Grandparent's Day

We made hand-print butterfly magnets for our grandparents.  The poem I did not make up.  I found it on Google images and do not remember where exactly it was found; however, the rest I did on my own with them! You wouldn't believe how much they enjoyed getting their hands painted.  I think we may need to just finger paint sometime!

Toddler Name Games

I used bath letters, traced them on a piece of foam (will stick to wall in bathtub when wet so can be played in water as well), and had them match the letters to the traced letters.


I wrote their name on a name card in permanent marker.  Then, I laminated it and had the toddlers trace their name with a dry erase marker.  I sometimes hold their hand and help them trace the letter correctly.  Other times I let them just explore with how to hold the marker and how to write on their own.  Either way I feel like they are learning and being exposed to the letters in their names.

  


For sensory play, we used a cookie cutter of the first letter of their names and tried cutting it out of play dough.  Play dough is always exciting for them when I get it out; however, I have to sit with them the entire time it is out because I do have one that would love to eat it!


Remember to repeat the letters as much as possible.  Each time you trace a letter with the child, say that letter.  Every time the child picks up a foam letter, be sure to say the letter.  The more they hear it, the quicker they will learn it.  I have one already saying a couple of their letters without repeating after me.

I also use magnetic letters and puzzle letters for the children to use for play and letter recognition.

Toddler Fun!

I teach them to clean up after themselves after lunch and snack.  Believe it or not, they really enjoy doing this and get upset if I don't give it to them first.



Sometimes they get to prepare their own snack.  This is tough for the little ones, but definitely teaches them fine motor skills.



Puzzle Time! Another tough thing for them, but great for fine motors.



Shapes and Fine Motor Practice! They love this because it is one on one time with me.



Water Color Painting





Calendar Time with lots of singing, dancing, and moving to keep them interested!



Pretending to teach calendar time.



We saw a puppet show about The Kissing Hand story and made our own little craft/reminder to take home with us our first week of day care.



Lots of sensory play!

They are always wanting to play with socks and cards.  I decided to give them several of each to enjoy.  Kept them busy forever! They loved them both!

Toddlers love instruments!



Snacks are always a must!  They usually eat fresh fruit, crackers, and/or cheese for snacks.



They love to knock down blocks!  I try to have several different types of building materials such as these blocks to play for the children to learn, interact, and build.


Bubble Play

Jesus Calms the Storm: Ocean Theme Play

I have been trying to find new, creative ways to teach the toddlers Bible stories.  J received this truck lunch box from our church as a back to school gift.  We call it our story telling truck!  I find items we already have around the house to use as props for telling the story.  Then after so many times of the toddlers listening to the story, I let them free play with the props and try to retell the story on their own.  They love playing with the 'special story toys.'

Inside the story truck for the story Jesus Calms the Storm, I added the following: Little People (disciples and Jesus), instruments (to make the sounds of the storm), a kids' bible (to tell the story from), fish, ducks, (animals of the sea),and pillow (cushion Jesus was sleeping on).

For this story, we really focused on the ocean theme.  The toddlers painted with stamps different sea creatures.  

Of course what is ocean theme without the sand! Because it was so hot, I brought some of the sand and sand toys inside for them to play with in the sensory table as well.


Don't forget water play for ocean theme!

If you have a small pool, let them play in it for sensory play.  Toddlers love water! The picture on the right is a little boat my mother in law had.  The kids loved this thing...almost too much with all the fighting over it.  However it was so worth the smiles and fun they had on it!

One of the many snacks the toddlers tried was blue jello with goldfish for the ocean.  They also ate banana boats which was definitely a favorite among them!