To start this week’s learning about the Nativity, the Reception children went on their first trip out and visited Sanderstead Methodist Church.
The kind volunteers at the church had planned and prepared different activities for the children to take part in. The first activity was making a tree decoration depicting key parts of the nativity. This was followed by learning about the advent wreath which has four outer red candles and one inner white candle. The four red candles represent the four weeks of advent. A candle is lit each week and they represent hope, joy, peace and love. The children then created their own card version. Next we talked about the special gifts that are given at Christmas, and that for Christians the best gift of all is the baby Jesus. The children were then able to create their own gift box which was filled with hay, just like the baby Jesus had lain upon, and a representation of the baby Jesus was put inside. We then learned about the shepherds who had received the message of Jesus’ birth from the angels. The children created their own sheep using cotton wool and googly eyes which they can care for, just like the shepherds did. Finally the children made a donkey like the virgin Mary was carried upon all of the way to Bethlehem.
To end our trip, we had a sit down in the main congregation were the volunteers played guitar and sang songs. We had such a wonderful time and came away having learned so much. What a fantastic way to start learning about the Christian celebration of Christmas. Thank you to the volunteers at the church and also our own parent volunteers who accompanied us. Thank you also to all of the children who behaved so well and made us all feel very proud.
