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Year 1

Christmas: deeper meanings through art

I can understand how art is used to tell the nativity story.

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New
New
Year 1

Christmas: deeper meanings through art

I can understand how art is used to tell the nativity story.

Download all resources
Share activities with pupils

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Over centuries, the nativity story has been drawn by many artists to express the idea of incarnation.
  2. Symbols such as a halo are used to show that Jesus and Mary are holy.
  3. The nativity scene can be presented in different ways depending on the cultural background of the artist.

Keywords

  • Icon - a person or thing regarded as worthy of worship

  • Halo - a glowing ring around someone's head, often seen in pictures of angels

  • Symbol - when something stands for something else, like a heart meaning love

Common misconception

Jesus was born in a European-looking stable and it was snowing outside.

We do not know what Jesus or Mary looked like but he was born in the Middle East. Many artists paint this scene in line with their own culture.


To help you plan your year 1 religious education lesson on: Christmas: deeper meanings through art, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

If you have a local church with an image of the nativity in it, you could you arrange a class visit, or maybe share images of it with your class. Alternatively, pupils could go and find some other images of the nativity from around the world and compare these to the ones shown in this lesson.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
What is the Christmas story mainly about?
opening presents
eating sweets
Correct answer: the birth of Jesus
Q2.
Why do Christians think the Christmas story is important?
it teaches them about Santa Claus
Correct answer: it helps them understand what God is like
it tells them how to cook Christmas dinner
Q3.
Christians believe that Jesus was both human and the of God.
Correct Answer: Son, son, sun, Sun
Q4.
What does light help us do?
sleep
eat dinner
Correct answer: see and find our way
Q5.
Where was Jesus born according to the Christmas story?
in a palace
in a hospital
Correct answer: in a stable with animals
in a castle

Exit quiz

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5 Questions

Q1.
What is the nativity story about?
animals going on a journey
Correct answer: the birth of Jesus
a fairy tale
Q2.
A halo is a sign that someone is .
Correct Answer: holy, holli, holly, holie, holi
Q3.
Why might nativity scenes look different in different countries?
because artists like to guess
because people forget the story
Correct answer: because people show the story in their own way
Q4.
Where was Jesus born, according to the Bible?
the North Pole
England
Correct answer: the Middle East
Q5.
Why do some Christians use icons to tell the nativity story?
because they don’t like reading
to make it look like a movie
Correct answer: to help people remember the story of Jesus’ birth
to decorate their Christmas trees