Children's Ministry: Kids Sunday School lesson resource - Christmas symbol ornaments, learning Christmas symbols

Can be used with some of our Christmas trees or even with our Room Tree!

We also have smallest version with Christmas tree as a package activity.

Print or print and copy activity page

1. Look at each picture and its meaning.

Teacher Instructions: For older students especially, in addition to stating each symbol and its reference as shown on the sheet:

A symbol is a simple picture that means a whole lot. In computers today, symbols are called icons. A picture of an envelope usually means "email"; a button on your computer screen usually means "click here to start a program or to see something else". The Christmas symbols mean something about the Christmas story, God or Jesus.
Notice there are 2 doves - the dove of "peace on earth" and the dove of the Spirit (usually head down).The dove of the Spirit is otherwise used with the story of Jesus baptism. Sometimes the dove of peace has a leafy branch in its' mouth - for the olive branch of peace.
There are other symbols that mean more than one thing. The crown at Christmas can be for the Wise Men (Matthew 2) (sometimes called the kings) and for Jesus as our King. Since crowns come in many shapes and forms, almost any crown you could draw would be fine as a symbol for these.
The angel represents many angels in the Christmas story. First the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:26) that brought Mary the message about the baby, and then angel that told the shepherds the good news (Luke 2:8) , along with all the other angels that then appeared (Luke 2:13-14) to give Glory to God.

2. VARIOUS WAYS TO USE THIS MATERIAL:

Children's Instructions OPTIONS that a teacher may choose:

- Use the Christian symbols sheet as it is, coloring the symbols and discussing them and leave it at that.

- Discuss the symbols on the sheet, color them and cut them out to use as ornaments to glue on a flat paper tree.

- Discuss the symbols on the sheet, color them and cut them out. Cut 3 to 5 inches of string. Make a U out of the string and glue the ends of the string on the back of the ornament to make a loop for use on a regular Christmas tree.

For older students, the following week, get a copy of the review and have each student complete the meaning of the symbols on the page.