Adventures in a Messy Life

Hands on learning for active learners

  • Home page
    • Start Here
    • About Us
    • Get all of the posts now!
    • Disclosure and other blogging information
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Curriculum
    • Why I homeschool (comments from a former teacher)
    • Homeschooling and the Holidays
  • History and geography
    • Ancient History Lessons
    • Modern History lessons
    • American History Lessons
    • LEGO history
  • Science
  • Bible Curriculum
  • STORE

Journey to Bethlehem (small world play)

December 18, 2012 Ticia 12 Comments

small world Bethlehem from recycling

I had plans to create a small world Bethlehem, and let the kids play in their own version of a nativity they created.

live nativity

This year we went to a “local” (I think only Texans would say driving for over an hour to another town is local) live Nativity.  The church has created a beautiful recreation of Bethlehem you can walk through, and I want to do a post on that, but let’s face it, who wants to see endless picture of someone else’s field trip?  Okay, I often do, but mine don’t tend to be popular posts.

 

Materials: empty milk cartons, small cardboard boxes, brown acrylic paint, sand, black construction paper

 

paint milk cartons with sand for Nativity

First gather all of your materials together (Thank you Jeff for taking pictures).  Pour a small amount of the paint into a cup, then our some of the sand in.  Mix it together.

 

living Nativity pottery store

Now start painting your boxes.

 

roman soldiers arrest a thief

It works best to spread the paint somewhat think, so it covers up the text and pictures on your cartons.

 

everyone paid taxes to the Romans

When you are done painting cut small squares of black construction paper to make doors and windows.

 

sheep feed near the town

My kids wanted to be able to go into the houses, so we cut doors into most of them, and that made the kids quite happy.

 

The sand adds a nice bit of texture to the city, and the kids really liked it.

As I was looking at my pinterest boards, I just realized that at lot of my idea came from Sun Hats and Wellie Boots, I pinned the idea to come back to and remembered seeing it, but hadn’t read the post yet, but apparently she did almost the exact same thing.  So go love on her post because, isn’t it a great idea?

Then come back tomorrow to see our angels we make.

arts and crafts, Homeschool Holidays Advent, Christmas, gospels, kid crafts

Comments

  1. Natalie says

    December 18, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    The small world Bethlehem is pretty neat. We set it up last year with our Playmobil figures.

    Reply
  2. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    December 18, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    That live nativity looks pretty amazing, and I love your model Bethlehem!

    Reply
  3. Kelly at Little Wonders' Days says

    December 18, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    I love this play idea. It looks simple enough to make, yet provides a lot of creativity and learning. I’ll have to remember it for next year!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 18, 2012 at 11:59 pm

      We have gotten so much play out of these. Today after spending over an hour painting new figures for them, they proceeded to play with it for another hour and a half. That’s on top of the several hours they’ve already played on other days.

  4. Christy says

    December 19, 2012 at 12:45 pm

    Fantastic! My kids would like to do this.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Bethlehem Small World play: making the figures (part 1) | Adventures in MommydomAdventures in Mommydom says:
    December 19, 2012 at 8:47 am

    […] ← Previous […]

    Reply
  2. Make a toy stable and manger | Adventures in MommydomAdventures in Mommydom says:
    December 21, 2012 at 9:15 am

    […] far we’ve made the town of Bethlehem, painted our figures, and added accessories.  Now we’ll make our […]

    Reply
  3. A Collection of Nativity Activities says:
    December 2, 2014 at 5:01 am

    […] Manger Craft by The Craft Train Journey to Bethlehem Small World Play by Adventures in Mommydom Little Drummer Boy by Every Star Is Different Handprint Angels by My […]

    Reply
  4. Top 10 Nativity Crafts for Kids -Something 2 Offer says:
    November 6, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    […] your own Bethlehem with recycled milk or juice cartons just like Adventures of Mommydom did. If you need a Baby Jesus […]

    Reply
  5. Christmas Activities for Kids - Point your kids to Christ with joy! - Thinking Kids says:
    November 18, 2019 at 1:01 am

    […] Play with a homemade Small World Bethlehem. […]

    Reply
  6. How to Teach the Birth of Jesus | FutureFlyingSaucers says:
    July 28, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    […] Create a small  Bethlehem, and let the kids play in their own version of a nativity they create! CLICK HERE […]

    Reply
  7. Christmas Lessons and Activities Focusing on Jesus says:
    August 14, 2020 at 3:39 pm

    […] Printables Nativity Story Sequencing Preschool Nativity Craft The Christmas Story Bracelet and Poem Journey to Bethlehem Dramatic Play Animal’s Christmas Carol Craft Birth of Jesus Sunday School Lesson How to Make Felt Angels 10 […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

Help!!!! I need to know:

Categories

300 books made into movies

Copyright © 2023 ·