Follow the Star

The Wise Men Followed the Star

Matthew 2:2-12

Materials:

Small Flashlight

Piece of black paper with a star cut out of the center (smaller than the diameter of the flashlight)

model of a Bible times house (or picture of one)

When telling this story, I like to turn off the lights and have this star shining on the wall.  I bring the children over to the wall to look up at it.  Then I have it move over and we move over.  Then I move it some more and they move some more.  Pretty soon we are following this star around the room.  Then I tell the story of Jesus birth as we slowly follow the star.  I tell them about the Wise Men.  When we get to verse 11 where the Wise Men arrived at the house, I have the star stop above a model of a Bible times house.  Then I shine the flashlight inside the house so they can see Jesus and his mother.

I have done this with children as young as 18 months old.  My helpers were afraid the children would be scared of the dark but instead they were very excited to see the star and even more excited to follow it.  To get them to sit back down, they had to follow the star again.  When it landed on their chair, I asked them to sit on the star which they did happily!