This stained glass nativity craft for kids comes with a free printable to make it easy to do with kids of all ages. The beautiful design reflects colorful light when the nativity craft is hung in the window.
This is a great Christmas Sunday School nativity craft for kids age preschool and older. Parents or teachers can also do this wonderful craft with their kids.
Stained Glass Nativity Craft for Kids
Christmas is a season to celebrate. We celebrate family and friends, but what we really get to recognize is the birth of the Savior of the world. He brought forgiveness, joy, hope, love and light.
As the light shines through this completed stained glass nativity craft for kids, you can be reminded of the reason for the season all winter long.
There is a free printable included in this wonderful Christmas craft.
Character Building Series for Kids
For those of you following along with my character builidng series, you know that I have created lessons, crafts and activities that focus on building character.Â
We have 52 character traits to work on throughout the year, one for each week. You can find the words here.Â
The focus leading up to Christmas is on developing HOPE. What provides more hope than a Savior entering this world to take away the sins of a broken world?
Stained Glass Nativity Craft for Kids Teaches Hope
This stained glass nativity craft for kids teaches hope. Jesus came to redirect people to truth and die so that we might live.
You see, the people had it all wrong. The religious leaders of that day taught that to get right with God one would have to follow a bunch of rules. They not only taught the rules that God had originally given for mankind, but they had begun to add in a bunch of other directions about how to become holy in the sight of God and earn your salvation.
Their hearts were far from God. They becomes judges and ones who focused on the law rather than seekers of God and a heart like His.
Like so many religious thoughts of today, the concept is that if I’m just good enough, I can earn my way to heaven. There are a lot of pitfalls to that thought, and I’d encourage you to read a small book called, “How Good is Good Enough,” by Andy Stanley. It’s a very short book, but it challenges that concept so well and will help you think through the question, “Can I earn salvation by being good?”
I can tell you that isn’t what the Bible teaches. When we decide to follow God, we do go through changes that help us to become better as we grow closer to Him and want to exhibit his qualities. However, that still is not what gets us into heaven.
Roman’s Road
There is a popular look at scriptures and what the Bible teaches about salvation called “Roman’s Road.” I’m going to lay it out for you now. Perhaps it will help inspire you to do this stained glass nativity craft for kids.Â
1. All Have Sinned
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23Â
You don’t have to look far to understand this passage. We see it in our own lives and in the lives of others. Sure, there are “good” people. There is no one perfect, however. We have all sinned. There is no one righteous…not even one.
2. Sin Leads to Death
“For the wages of sin is death…” – Romans 6:23aÂ
Bad news to us. Sin leads to death. The Bible isn’t just talking physical death here. It is speaking of spiritual death as well. If we sin, we are separated from God because He is completely Holy.
3. Jesus Christ is the Key to Salvation
“…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” – Romans 6:23b and “But God showed His great love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8Â
Jesus died for us WHILE we were still sinners. We didn’t do anything to earn that.
He did it out of love, and it is the key to salvation. Jesus was without sin and died as a “sacrificial lamb” in replace of the Old Testament Jewish practices where a blood sacrifice was needed to let people be forgiven of their sins.
Our Savior was the ultimate sacrifice and no other was needed after that point. He was pure and blameless and yet took on the sins of the world in one act.
This one act is what gives us hope because I know that if earning salvation was up to me, I’d fall extremely short.
4. Salvation Comes through Faith
“If you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” – Romans 10:9.Â
The step you need to take is faith. I struggle with faith, but I see that it takes a lot more faith to believe that we all came to be from nothing than it does to believe that there was a beginning and a God that created it all.
When studying history and the external and internal evidence of the Bible, I feel like I can put my faith into something that has proved faithful.
True faith will result in action and change but it is not the action and change that earns you salvation. It is merely a response to your salvation that you received, despite your sin.
I encourage you to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead so you can experience forgiveness, grace an reconciliation despite your sin.
5. Benefits of Being Made Right with God
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God” – Romans 5:1-2
and
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.” – Romans 8:1-2 and “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:38-39Â
Does any more need to be said? That is our hope. I pray that you have been made right with God through faith and can therefore live with hope.
One of our pastors put it so well this weekend. He said that most world religions have mankind trying to reach out to God. Christianity is different in that it has God reaching out to mankind.
Now on to the stained glass nativity craft for kids that represents this hope found through baby Jesus entering our world. I got this idea from Housing a Forest but wanted to add a printable so it’s easy to replicate.
Materials Needed to Make this Stained Glass Nativity Craft for Kids
Note: The following contains Amazon affiliate links. Anything you purchase through these links goes to help support the free resources I provide at Meaningful Mama. Thank you supporting my small business.Â
- Black Stock Paper – Black stock paper provides the cleanest and darkest look, but construction paper is also an option.Â
- Colored Tissue Paper – The Amazon option I linked to becomes pre-cut to make it super easy to re-create this craft.Â
- X-Acto Knife
- Free Nativity Silhouette Printable printed on white paper
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Transparent Contact Paper – wax paper and a glue stick is another option
- double stick tape or glue stick
How to Make this Nativity Craft for Kids
The first thing to do is print out the printable of the nativity silhouette I made for you.Â
There is a little bit of prep work to make this craft when you are working with small kids, but it is worth it for the experience and beautiful stained glass nativity craft for kids you end up with.Â
Using scissors and an X-Acto knife, cut out the nativity scene on the white paper. This will become a template.
With a pencil, trace around the template onto the black stock paper. Using both scissors and the X-Acto knife, cut out the nativity silhouette.
Cut out as many as you need for your younger children Older kids will be able to do some or all of the silhouette work on their own.Â
Con-tact paper makes this craft easy and beautiful. You could also use wax paper and glue sticks.Â
Trace around the outer edge of the nativity craft silhouette onto the contact paper. Then, trim it slightly smaller than the tracing using scissors.
I also cut up a bunch of little squares of colorful tissue paper. The kids can do this too. If you purchase the tissue paper I linked to on Amazon, it will come pre-cut.
The next step is when the little kids (age preschool and up) really step in. Peel off the backing of the contact paper, and the kids can begin to layer down all the pieces of tissue paper.
Remind them to cover all of the areas of the contact paper and overlap the tissue paper.
The contact paper will look similar to the above picture when finished. You can trim off the edges. At this point you can leave it just like this, or you can add another piece of contact paper to the back side to sandwich it into place.
The final step is to tape or glue down the contact paper tissue art to the back of the silhouette. This completes the look.
The kids enjoyed holding it up to the lights to see how theirs turned out.
We hung this stained glass nativity craft for kids in the window to be a visual reminder of the hope we have because a Savior entered our world in the form of a baby.
He brings us hope through forgiveness of sins and a reconciliation with a holy Father.
I pray that this Christmas brings you the joy and hope that this season is really celebrating.Â
Note: This post was originally written in 2012, but it was updated in 2020 with better instructions.Â
Want Another Nativity Craft for Kids?
Hand Print Nativity Craft for Kids
Popsicle Stick Nativity Craft for Kids
I love, love this! I might try it with a different silhouette shape since I’m too late for Christmas.
Thank you so much for this! I was scouring google for nativity silhouettes; yours is perfect (and simple to cut out). Can’t wait to add this to our list of advent activities. xo
I’m so glad this was helpful. Have a lot of fun with this craft.
stopped by your blog to check out the stained glass nativity scene- I will definitely have to try this with my students!!
I lthink it’s wonderful that you are using your talents to serve God and proclaim his word!! 🙂
I am so glad you are here! Thanks so much for commenting and being such an encouragement to what I’m doing. 🙂
Hey! What kind of black paper is best? Like card stock or construction paper? Thank you!
I always prefer stock paper. I find that it has a nicer finish, purer color an holds up better. I hope you have fun doing this! Merry Christmas!
Our school has a new nativity die cut! I’ve been looking for something to do with it! This is perfect! I love stained glass crafts too!
Yay! I’m so glad that you are going to do this. I hope it is a really meaningful craft for the kids.
Thanks so much for sharing this project.
I was looking for something unique and I’m glad to find your Stained Glass Nativity Craft.
You made it easy for us with your detailed instructions.
I can’t wait to do it with my students!
Blessings!
So fun to hear that you’re doing this. I hope you have a lot of fun with this! It’s a great craft to keep things in focus during Christmas. Thanks so much for commenting!
Thx Jodi!! It’s so great! 😀
So glad you like it. Thanks for commenting, and you are welcome. 🙂
that would be neat on a glass block with a battery ceramic village light in behind it
That would be cool. What a great idea. Thanks for commenting.
I can’t find the download of the nativity. Thanks, Mary Ann
It’s after the second picture, but I’ll add it here for your convenience. I hope you have fun with it. https://meaningfulmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/nativity-scene2.pdf
This lovely nativity silhouette caught my eye as I looked for Christmas “stained glass” crafts to do with my 4-year-old granddaughter. She will be thrilled with this, and it will be a beautiful reminder to her of why we celebrate Christmas. God bless us all as we seek to influence our precious children to know, love, and follow Jesus.
Thank you so much for commenting! What a sweet word. I love to see grandparents that are really involved with their kids, so keep being that positive influence. Thanks for blessing me today.
Another way to make the stained glass background is to iron crayon shavings between 2 pieces of waxed paper. It’s a little messier, but kids love doing it.
We’ve done that with a fall leaf theme. That’s a great idea for this project as well. Thanks for adding your idea!
Doing this craft with my Children’s Church kids tomorrow! Praying it goes well, they enjoy it, and it is a reminder to them of the greatest Christmas gift of all – our Saviour Jesus. Thanks for the instructions and printable template!
You are so welcome. I hope you all really enjoy this activity and that the kids will truly understand the gift of life Jesus gave to us. Thanks for serving!
Thanks so much. This is so beautiful, I cannot wait to start making it with the kids in my little English class. God’s blessings from Croatia
From Croatia!? How fun. Thank you so much! Blessings from across the globe. I hope your class enjoys it.
Thank you for sharing. My son used your silhouette to create a cardboard hanging nativity inspired by your project.
Love that. Thank you so much for sharing how it is being used.
Hallelujah! Thank you!! Let us continue telling the good news!!
Are there any more templates for silhouettes? It would be grand to have the wise men or angels and shepherds?
What a great question. I have not created that. Let me think through that. Thanks for asking.
I used a cricut for the template and that simplified things greatly! I also cut two squares of contact paper slightly larger than the template, and put the template on a piece of paper first, then filled in the open spots with tissue paper. The other piece of contact paper went on the back of the project, and I trimmed around the edges. Worked perfectly! Love this craft!! 💜
Yay! I Cricut definitely does simplify things. Thanks for sharing that hack. I’m so glad you enjoyed this craft!
Thank you so much for the free nativity cut-out! This is going to be so cute for my Sunday school class!
You are so welcome. I’m so glad you found it helpful. Thank you for serving those kids.
Where is the pattern/template/instructions? Downloadable? Hurry please.
Hello. I’m so sorry I didn’t see this until now. The free downloadable pattern was in the materials list on the post. Here is the link: https://meaningfulmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/nativity-scene2.pdf – I know I’m late in getting to you, but I hope this helps.
This turned out so beautiful! It did take me about 20-30 minutes prep PER nativity. Not sure if my cardstock was too thick, or my exacto knife skills were just too lacking, or if that’s just about how long it takes everybody…
It does take a bit of prep. Glad you did this and loved the results. Thanks for commenting.