Understanding the True Meaning of Christmas

 The Christmas Story 

As Christmas is approaching us very soon, the practitioners in Pre School thought it was an ideal opportunity to open up the discussion about the true meaning of Christmas. The Nativity Story was used to help the children understand the meaning of Christmas.

A tuff tray activity was set up using Nativity play characters such as Jesus, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds, Three Wise Men, the Angel, and of course the donkey, sheep and the ox. Our fantastic practitioner Gail read the Nativity Story to the children and paused to ask the children open-ended questions. Reading the story helped the children understand the meaning of Christmas. It gave them the opportunity to ask questions such as "Why did the kings bring the children gifts?",  "Where is the Star?". 

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After listening to the story the children were very eager to explore the tuff tray activity, they used the available resources to support their play. Mary was placed on the donkeys back and was taken on an adventure to the stable were there she gave birth to Baby Jesus. The children demonstrated their understanding of the story as they acted out parts of the story during their play. The children played with and alongside their peers, practitioner Gail observed the children's make-believe play and supported them in extending the learning opportunities further. The storybook was accessed by the children several times and they used the pictures to help them retell the story.

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To extend this activity further the role play area in preschool has been turned into a nativity scene, containing dressing up clothes, which will enable the children to take on the role of one of the characters in the Nativity Story.