Christmas is a special time for everyone, especially children. However, it can be difficult deciding how to teach children about Christmas and the meaning behind it. The most traditional and popular medium is the Christmas play. This often forms a key date in the school calendar, and is highly beneficial as it gives pupils a chance to show off their skills, have fun and make their parents proud.
Why Christmas Plays Help Children Learn the Christmas Story
Children's Christmas plays make a great way to teach the nativity story, as encouraging active participation will act as a cue for remembering the story. Giving each child their own part but also having them all involved as a team will get them immersed in the storyline. This will help them connect with it, making it more meaningful to them so they will pick up the key points more readily.
Benefits of Christmas Plays
Christmas plays for children carry a great number of additional benefits:
Increasing Confidence - being involved in drama and plays helps boost children's confidence levels, as for some of them it will be the first time that they have performed in front of a large audience. From this, they can begin to feel more confident in things like public speaking, which will be a huge boost for them in later life.
Expressing Themselves - nativities for children are a great way to get your pupils to express themselves through acting and singing. Learning how to express themselves will make them much better at social interaction.
Participation - because singing and acting are more involved than a normal lesson, children are more likely to find them fun and interesting.
Awareness of Moral Issues - getting your pupils involved in a Christmas play will encourage them to consider its moral stance and take this on board. Even if this doesn't happen immediately, the ideas will sink in as they grow older and begin to see them in context. This isn't just for Christmas plays, but for any type of drama that contains moral themes.
What about Multicultural Schools?
As schools become more diverse and are increasingly made up of children from different backgrounds, faiths and cultures, the traditional Christmas play may not be the most inclusive option. However, having a modern spin on the story can still be of benefit to pupils. Such plays also offer the numerous other benefits provided by drama teaching, and can still help raise awareness about moral issues.
I write about a number of topics, including education and teaching children through drama. Out of the Ark has a great range of traditional and secular Christmas play scripts, which will take the strain out of deciding how to teach children about Christmas. Go to http://www.outoftheark.co.nz to browse the range and order online for delivery.