It’s nearly time for churches to start putting on Nativity pageants and plays! But what if we accommodated people who need to actually PLAY their way to understanding the Nativity?
This set of activities can be done all at once or divided over the weeks leading up to Christmas. Each one offers an accessible option for engaging part of the Nativity story.
Not all autistic and sensory-sensitive students are the same, so not every person will like to engage fully in all the activities. But if you set up the accompanying speech output buttons and have a generally accommodating class or meeting space, students will be able to engage in some part of each lesson. At the end of this post, I will suggest some “away” activities for students that need to step away to a lower intensity or different type of sensory experience during lesson time. You will also find a supply list with affiliate links to Amazon for easy sourcing, but feel free to reuse what you have and source locallly as much as possible. I have included printable excerpts from the Bible story or Nativity icon for each station that you can print and laminate. Find the full set as PDF at the end as well as a link to a printable Nativity icon.
This Sensory Centered Nativity Play is part of the high support needs Sunday school curriculum that I am writing for St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Des Plaines, Illinois with the generous support of a grant from the Hellenic Foundation. If you are in the Chicago area and would like to connect to the disability ministry there, reach out to the church!
The Goal: Create a Progressing Nativity Pageant that Engages the Whole Body, Fills Sensory Needs, Accommodates Communication Support Needs, and Shows Us that God Loves Us!
To do this, we will break up the Nativity Pageant into separate Sensory-rich activities that can be set up as stations that people can progress through in a gym or large room setting or that can be done one or two per week leading up to Christmas. Following are the activities that lead us to God With Us:
Riding a Donkey to Bethlehem
Supplies: one or two peanut balls in grey or brown tones (make sure to inflate them fully over the course of two to three days so they will have maximum bounce), props like playsilks or cloths to indicate innkeeper and Joseph and Mary, recordable speech output buttons asking if there is room at the inn, and a little sheltered area made from play cushions, a tent, or chairs to represent the stable.
What to Do: Have students bounce or scoot along on the peanut ball donkeys towards the stable area. They can go to a couple of stops along the way where speech buttons help them ask, “Is there room at the inn?” Other buttons can help other participants answer, “Sorry. There’s no room. Keep looking!” At the final stop, the reply button can say, “All we have free is a stable, and you are welcome to stay there.” The riders leave their peanut balls at the stable and go to the next station or let someone else have a turn riding.
Song Options: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Christ is Born! Glorify Him!
Supplies: red bean bag chair or soft extra large pillow covered in a red blanket, baby doll with white swaddling cloth, speech output button recorded with “Christ is Born! Glorify Him!”
What to Do: Have a playsilk or costume available for students to pretend to be Mama Mary. They can wear the animal costumes to make a visit to baby Jesus if they’d like, or they can visit as the Magi. Having the soft area for the infant Lord is a great way to let student go to Him for rest. Use the speech buttons to say, “Christ is Born! Glorify Him!” This is a mellow station that is nonetheless beautiful and inclusive, because everyone is welcome by the Lord.
Song Options: I Parthenos Simeron/ On This Day The Virgin Gives Birth; Silent Night
The Midwives Wash Baby Jesus
Supplies: Plastic bin or water table (or large sink if one is available), LOTS of towels, sponges, fully plastic baby doll (often found at craft stores), a few cans of shaving foam (the cheap foamy kind that’s just soap and propellant), playsilks for midwife costumes, towel to wrap baby Jesus doll, speech output button(s) that say/s “The midwives cared for Jesus’ body. God cares for our bodies. We care for God when we care for our bodies.” This is a very good activity for people who have lower coordination, too, and it is beautiful for them to be able to give to Jesus the way they often receive care of their bodies from parents and other caregivers.
What to Do: Set up the baby washing area in a sink, an area over towels, or an outside area if you are in a warmer climate. Wash the baby and allow the students to play with the water, shaving cream, and elements as you tell a little about how God sent the midwives to care for Jesus and that when we care for our bodies, we remember that God takes care of us, too.
Song Options: Jesus Loves Me; bath songs from popular children’s shows depending on age and interest
The Animals Greet God
Supplies: Faux fur popover opensided tunics (optional) OR faux fur blankets, animal ears (optional), speech output buttons recorded with “Baa! Baa!” and “Hee-aw!” and “Moo!” and “Cluck! Cluck!” and “Coo! Coo!,” deep/larger plastic bin filled with seed corn OR bird seed (whatever is most available in your community and can be reused for animals later), with scoops or cups for pouring. You can also invite students to bring in stuffed animals if you have students who love stuffies.
What to Do: You can dress up as sheep or donkeys if you’d like, or just play with the big bin of birdseed while you push the speech output buttons and make some animal sounds (Moo! Baa! Hee-aw!) like might have been heard at the manger. If you are doing this lesson alone, you can talk about where else animals were in the story of salvation, at the beginning of the world and other places, and how loving God is to have shown Himself to the animals so that they could adore Him at His birth, too.
Song Options: The Friendly Beasts, O Magnum Mysterium
The Fear Not Angels
Supplies: Crepe paper streamers, markers, Strong Fan, Angel wings, speech output button saying “Do not be afraid! Christ is born! God is with us!” Option 2 supplies: Same as above but add a large TV or projector and use the Do Not Be Afraid backdrop video below.
What to Do: Have some streamers printed or calligraphied ahead of time reading “Do Not Be Afraid!” and/or “Christ is Born! God is with us!” Also make a table area where students can write their own angelic message banners. After they have picked up a banner, offer the option of wearing angel wings (the arm holes slip easily over the handles at the back of wheelchairs for wheelchair users), and turn on the strong fan. Go up to the strong fan and hold the streamer up. It will unfurl like the speech ribbons in medieval art (an early way the Church accommodated the need for AAC!). Students can let go and allow them to fly overhead repeatedly so that the banners seem to float above them like the angelic messages. (If students want photos, there are often very cool photo opportunities with the banners unfurling saying “Do Not Be Afraid! God is With Us!”)
What to Do Option 2 (can be used with the first set, too): Play the video backdrop and have the children either wear props or otherwise stand in front of the “glory” on screen or projected onto the wall. The wall projector option is *excellent* for people with visual stimming needs, as the students can look at the light on their hands. You can add speech output buttons to this version, too, mirroring the phrases in the video.
Song Options: Angels We Have Heard on High
The Three Magi Bring Gifts
Supplies: Adjustible soft king crowns that fit over headphones, 3 large clear plastic ornaments filled with gold colored incense, stopped with paper or tape, to shake, playsilks to drape as costumes
What to Do: Dress up, hold the ornament shakers, then walk a set path or wander around the room towards the Baby Jesus or prayer corner. A fun variation if you have three people playing the three Magi is to pause in their wandering after sending them through a crowd. Have everyone spot the three Magi before continuing on. They can let everyone know where they are by shaking their shakers.
Song Options: We Three Kings, Star of the East (Brightest and Best)
WATCH THE THREE KINGS DEMONSTRATION VIDEO on YouTube
Links to Supplies:
Adjustible king crowns that fit over headphones, shelled or cracked corn birdseed, recordable speech buttons, AAA batteries for speech buttons and lights, LED push lights for highlighting options and alternative sensory station, crepe paper streamers, Fillable acrylic ornaments, gold incense (you will probably need 2 or more sets), faux fur blanket (can be cut into tunics or wrapped), peanut ball (can be in multiples for larger groups), fully plastic water safe baby doll, Barbasol shaving cream (bulk pack, leftover can be used for Theophany lesson), optional warm white submersible LED lights (can be used again at Theophany), optional warm white LED floating candles (reuse at Theophany), optional classroom sized small projector or bluetooth projector
Printable Icon of the Nativity
Additional Supports:
Masking tape on floor or shepherd guides in costume to lead groups of students between stations after 5 to 10 minutes, optional hand drums to play while walking between stations
Alternative Sensory Station: Have Picasso Tiles set up with LED pop on lights, along with Little People Nativity set or wooden Nativity set characters to place inside houses students make. Have a lower volume speech output button say, “Christ is the light of the world!”
Optionally: You can have a station where the students fill the clear ornaments with gold incense and tape the ornaments shut to prepare for the Magi activity