As a child, I remember placing our small, plastic nativity scene at the foot of the tree as the final touch for our holiday decorations. I would stare at the tiny figures and ask my parents who they were and what they were doing at Jesus’ birth. When we decorated for StarCakes’ first Christmas, I noticed that we didn’t have a nativity scene to place at the foot of our tree. I searched for one that was toddler-friendly, but they always came up short – either being too big, easily breakable or had too many tiny parts.
We were gifted a hand-carved, wooden nativity set and a light-up nativity scene from the Philippines. But both of these sets are not suitable for playing and while the Cheesecake kids know this, GemCakes still loves to rearrange the figures and is in awe of the lights in our light-up nativity. Ideally, I would like to have a play nativity set for the kids to help them better understand the meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it as a Catholic family.
StarCakes is getting more observant and curious of what we do and often questions why we do things. When we displayed our nativity scene this year he asked who the people were and what they were doing (sounds like someone I know!). He’s been asking questions about Jesus during mass and at church so might be time to share the Christmas story with him. Here are some of my favorite nativity scenes and stories about Jesus’ birth for toddlers.
1) Fisher-Price Little People Christmas Story: This set is adorable. It even lights up and plays Away in a Manger when you press the angel on top!
2) Melissa & Doug Nativity Set: Love the fact that this nativity is made of wood – that should make it very durable and long-lasting for years to come.
3) Mini Christmas Nativity Set: Very cute set with hard to break figures.
4) Peanuts Christmas Nativity: Can’t go wrong with the Peanuts gang! The Cheesecake kids have seen A Charlie Brown Christmas so these characters are familiar to them already.
5) Playmobil Nativity & Manger: I think this set is best for little ones who want to be able to construct their own manger scene. There are a variety of items that really give this set more detail than the other ones.
6) Fabric Nativity Manger Set: This is probably the best set for babies since it is made of fabric. I love how the manger doors close so that all the characters can be stored inside – making the set travel-friendly!
Books
1) The Story of Christmas | 2) Christmas in the Manger | 3) Who is Coming to our House? | 4) The Christmas Baby | The Very First Christmas
We’re hoping that by sharing the story of Jesus’ birth with our little ones that they will understand one of the reasons we celebrate this season. How have you shared the Christmas story with your little ones?
pomegranate / 3032 posts
We have the little people one and she has free reign to play with it during the time that its out…. my favorite is when every once in awhile I look at it and snow white and the dwarfs are in the manger or Joseph is driving the little people school bus
cantaloupe / 6730 posts
We have #5. Many of the pieces are tiny though, so I don’t have them all out. I have it right next to the breakable one under the tree and told her she is allowed to play with hers, but not the ceramic one. She listened really well!
pear / 1648 posts
We have the little people one as well and DD LOVES it. She played with it at 16 months and understood who Jesus’ mommy & daddy were, and now at 2 years old she understands more of the whole story and likes to show baby Jesus “his pictures” in her nativity book
guest
My Daughter loves Who is Coming to our House? You might also check out B is for Bethlehem. The art is lovely. It’s engaging. And, it comes in both board book and hard back picture book forms. My daughter is obsessed with it!
blogger / kiwi / 588 posts
@Chillybear: That is hilarious. Sometimes our baby Jesus takes a joyride in Lightening McQueen!
@Grace: #5 does seem like the more detailed nativity out of the six listed.
@peachykeen: That’s adorable!