Free Printable Advent and Christmas Nativity Scenes

During Advent we prepare our hearts for the Advent (coming) of Jesus. We set out Advent wreaths, calendars and Nativity sets, also called the creche, manger scene or naciemiento. Here are free printable nativity scenes. These paper nativity scenes provide hours of educational fun for children and preschoolers as they color, cut out and assemble the manger scene. Children learn the Christmas story as they create the stable, shepherds, animals, wisemen, Mary, Joseph, angel and Baby Jesus.

In our house, we begin with a stable full of animals on the first Sunday of advent. Each day we move the figures a little closer toward the stable. When the children were young, they loved 'helping' Mary and Joseph and the Magi travel to Bethlehem. We would place an unbreakable nativity set on a shelf at child level and they were free to rearrange the characters as they chose. This was before the 'advent' (pardon the pun) of computers. Now you can print entire nativity sets for preschoolers, Sunday Schoolers, students and children to make themselves. Here are the links.

Scrapbookscrapbook.com (click here) has a complete free printable ten piece color, cut and paste manger scene with darling little foldable characters. The images are beautifully drawn and will give children lots of color and craft fun. There is a stable, with four sheep, a donkey, manger, Mary, Joseph, a little shepardess and lovely angel. Here is the pdf. link.http://www.packagetech.com/SS-PDF/free-printable-nativity.pdf

Storyit.com (click here) has a seven page free printable story board about on the Christmas story. You can print and use to tell the story, using the nicely colored images. You can also print the images and allow children to cut out the characters from each story board to assemble on a large poster. The third option is to print the entire booklet in grayscale and allow children to color the images. A very nice resource and I'm thankful to A Kids Heart (click here) for sharing this resource and other Advent, nativity, Christmas and holiday activities.

coloring.ws (click here) has a complete 24 page Advent countdown to Christmas coloring book with images of the Nativity and manger scene. Each page features a different event or visitor. http://www.coloring.ws/nativity.htm

DLTK-holidays (click here) has links for free printable Nativity scene characters. Print in black and white using the DL-TK B&W link. This way children can color the images. You have the option to print in color also. The nativity set has almost twenty different images to color including three wisemen, animals, characters and a star. A fun way to make a DIY Advent calendar and one that we have enjoyed before is to allow children to cut and color one image and add to the Nativity scene daily. Children color while you read the Bible passage. If more images are needed, print extra shepherd and animal images. Print images from other Advent nativity scene sets and use those as well. www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/felt/index.htm

First-School.ws (click here) My friends at First-School always have such wonderful free printable educational resources. Here are two template for a simple art deco manger scene with stand-up figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus in the manger. This Nativity scene is especially reverant. I've linked you to the page with the links because in addition to the free printable manger scene craft First-School includes complete detailed Bible readings to accompany the activity. http://www.first-school.ws/activities/bible/nativity1.htm

For more free printable holiday activities, visit me at www.freeprintableholiday.blogspot.com . For more religious activities, crafts and lessons, including free printables visit me at www.catholicactivities.blogspot.com . A blessed holiday to you and yours.