TruPlay Games: Fun Christmas Activities That Honor Jesus
11/5/2024
What Every Parent Can Do to Plan Fun and God-Honoring Christmas Activities for Their Kids
Ready for Activities That Provide a Close-up and Experiential Christmas Experience?
The sparkling tinsel and blinking lights of Christmas can often distract from the Christmas story. But there is a reason for that. Humans live in bodies that experience life through the five senses. The shiny decorations and wrapped presents are challenging for parents to compete with. However, as parents and teachers, our job is to engage children using those five senses to make the abstract lessons they need to learn more concrete. The Christmas story is no exception. At least we have music, pageants, movies, and books that retell the compelling story of Jesus’ birth to help us create a meaningful connection for our children. These activities can provide a close-up and experiential connection with the story behind the holiday.
Visit a Petting Zoo or Farm
At first, this might seem unconnected, but the story of Jesus’ birth takes place in a stable. The God of the universe came as a baby born in the most humble of circumstances. Many children these days have little to no exposure to farm animals. The dirt and smells of a barnyard are foreign to them.
But this is no ordinary visit to see the goats and chickens. It can become a real opportunity to see ( and smell) the reality that surrounded Joseph and Mary. Here are some questions to engage their minds and, hopefully, hearts while they feed the donkey a bit of hay:
1. If you were God, would you let your son be born in a barn?
2. Why would God choose this kind of place for Jesus to be born?
3. Can you imagine turning the feed trough into a crib?
Ensure you have your answers ready, because these are tough questions! But the main point is to show them (rather than tell them about) a God who chose humble beginnings to show us that he understood what it meant to be poor, alone, and vulnerable in a big world.
Use Good Scents
According to neuroscience, scent is the quickest way to summon a memory. And Christmas is undoubtedly redolent with the fragrance of pine, cinnamon, and cookies in the oven. Those smells hit our receptors and turn them up to happy! But it’s interesting that two gifts Jesus received were fragrant oils. Introduce your children to these smells. They’re readily available as essential oils. Both are pleasant and can be put into a diffuser if you like. In addition to the pleasant aroma, each of these oils tells a prophetic and symbolic story about who Jesus is.
Frankincense has healing and pain-relieving qualities. It’s often used for aches and pains, but also has a deeper meaning in the Bible. Frankincense symbolizes God or the divine, the priestly role, and sacrifice. It tells the story of Jesus and his purpose on earth from the beginning of his life. Jesus, God in the flesh, became our high priest, sacrificing himself for our sins.
Myrrh has a bit more somber meaning, being an embalming oil. As an embalming oil, it represented Jesus’ death, making it a prophetic gift to the infant Jesus, hinting at his future sacrifice on the cross. But most don’t know that its purpose in the Old Testament was to act as an anointing oil for kings, priests, and the temple. Jesus is referred to as all three throughout the Bible. He was anointed king, priest, and holy place from the beginning!
The benefit of using these scents in telling the Christmas story is that it makes a somewhat obscure part of the story accessible and experiential in our minds and hearts. Without a physical tie-in, the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are just facts. Engaging with the gifts makes them immediate and can bring to our memories the truth of who Jesus is every Christmas.
Create a Scene
Nativity scenes tell the Christmas story without words. These days, they’re readily available online as toys, making them a fun addition to a younger child’s room. But one interesting tradition that some churches have is to use the Nativity scene as a kind of Advent calendar to create anticipation about the birth of Christ. The baby Jesus isn’t immediately placed in the manger but instead is placed in a red cloth and fastened to the wall furthest from the Nativity set up. This little church marked the coming of Jesus throughout December; every day, he was moved closer to the nativity scene. It wasn’t until Christmas day that they placed Jesus in the manger in their beautiful nativity.
Similar to an Advent calendar, the slow journey of Jesus to the stable helped mark the progress of time towards Christmas, but in a way that kept Jesus front and center. One could make an even bigger production out of it by having the shepherds, kings, angels, and star move toward the Nativity scene. It’s a great way to acknowledge that Jesus is who we are waiting for at Christmas.
Choose Emotionally and Spiritually Nourishing Memories
Christmas is already crammed with activities that are hard to keep up with. We parents need to ask ourselves whether those activities create memories that resonate spiritually with our children. Honoring Jesus within those activities adds even more of a challenge. However, these are pretty simple (unless you can’t find any farms to visit). And these kinds of activities are emotionally and spiritually nourishing as well. If we find ways to honor Jesus each Christmas (and throughout the year), we can model for our children a way to interact with him in a way that will nourish their faith as well.
Let TruPlay Games Enhance Your Christmas
The above are just a few ideas, but parents can also turn to the TruPlay Games app to help their children experience the full meaning of Christmas. Among the many unique features of the TruPlay app is a series of short videos that depict Rhymverse characters such as Maple the tiger bunny and Oliver the biblical fox talking about “How to Christmas,” “The Best Gift Ever,” and more, including an Action Bible digital comic book telling the story of Jesus’ birth.
TruPlay's website (TruPlayGames.com) clearly details the app's offerings, and free downloads and trials are available in both the Apple App Store and GooglePlay. Explore the following links to unlock a richer Christmas experience for your kids: