Ever since childhood, I’ve always enjoyed seeing the different Nativity sets displayed around the holidays. This year, I finally tried making my own Paper City style Nativity Scene to share with everyone. I had a great time playing around with different designs, and I think it will be fun to color in, too!
So far the kids are really enjoying it, and our youngest one keeps grabbing the sheep and saying “ba ba ba!”
Happy Holidays!
Joel
You can see more Made by Joel winter holiday crafts, including the Hanukkah and Christmas Dressy Cats play sets.
Also, don’t forget to always encourage your kids to draw their own if they’re in the mood! My son wanted to try it out, and he made this wonderful scene below. I love it!
Click on the templates below, then print.
Side notes:
For those of you familiar with Paper City figures, you might notice that this time, I decided to try an easier version for standing up the people. Kids should find it much easier to cut them out on their own and stand them up. Let me know what you think!
Also, after folding the figures in half, I decided to make small curved cuts at the top of their heads to round them out a bit. You can try that too if you’d like. (See photos above.)
Finally, I printed these on matte photo paper, but any paper will work great.
[...] Paper City Nativity Scene | Made by Joel. [...]
Joel, this is SO beautiful! I love the simplicity and all the details at the same time ... Last year Susie Poole, a British children's book illustrator, let me put her nativity scene on my church coffee blog. Here it is, just in case one of your readers gets into the mood and wants to make more than one: http://kyrkkaffe.libris.se/?p=3581 Great to see your children and their creations as well -- all my best wishes for all of you!
Very cute! Thank you and merry Christmas!
Lovely pictures of people and animals :)
It's so simple and so clean that I love it!!!!
Thank you for sharing this Joel, it's a beautiful activity that I can do with my children before Christmas. I wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas!
Hello Joel ! Real nice an inspiring, graet artist your son! Thanks for sharing. Joyeux Noël - Happy holidays
Thank you for these! My girls will love colouring these and playing with all the little figures!
Rad! Your sons scene is awesome. Really dig the simpler standy uppy mechanism. We seem to struggle with the slotted feet ones at ours but they look rad so dad helps a bit:) The simple fold is really nice and well... simple. Thanks
Thanks Pete!
J'adopte ta crêche, elle est top, bravo!
thanks! vesele vanoce :)!
[...] you need me, I’ll be printing out this amazing paper nativity scene for Aveline to “color-color”. Thanks, Made by Joel! Rate this:Share [...]
Thank you!!
Thanks! This is going to bump our craft for today to another day. The kids are excited and have already loaded the printer with card stock so I can print it quicker! We are all very excited...lol! Merry Christmas!!
Joel, I LOVE THIS!!!! I just happened to post on christmas/winter game printables today and when I saw this on FB I had to add it to the post!!! Thanks for all of your wonderful work! Colleen from Life Sprinkled With Glitter
oops, here is the link! http://lifesprinkledwithglitter.blogspot.com/2012/12/fun-christmaswinter-games-free.html
Joel, I just have to tell you once again THANK YOU!!! This is seriously the coolest paper nativity! My 6 year old son spent two hours meticulously coloring and cutting out one of these! He loved doing it SO MUCH that right when he woke up this morning, he asked me to print out another sheet of the "people" so he can do it over again! You do such great work!!!!
That's so great Colleen! I love it when kids get so excited about artwork and creating their own toys! That's the best! Thanks for sharing the success story.
Very cute. It seems your son has a sense of humor... Three N 1/2 Men...
Thank you so much for sharing! We will be using this in homeschool today and I am planning on letting my Sunday School kids do this too! Love all your work!
Thank you SO much! My boys and I are very excited about this!
Hellody Joel! a few years ago I purchased one of Lori's CDs for my nephew Adán. Both of you autographed it for him... He is now 12 yrs old, is in an excellent aspergers program and doing excellent in school. Just want to thank you for the Nativity Scene which I just printed for my niece who recently turned 4. She has made such a positive impact on Adán as did so many of your activities through the years. Ruby's father, Fernando Ortega, is a Christian music artist so music is very much a part of her life. Adán shares Lori's CD with Ruby often!!! Joel I know you hear this often but YOU ARE AWESOME in the way you touch so many lives. peace. auntie cris
Hi Cristina! Nice to hear from you! I'm very glad everyone is doing great in your family. Thanks so much for the kind note! Joel
This is wonderful! Thank you so much for creating such wonderful paper toys for children. Your book is on my book shelf.
Thank you for making this available - I love it!! My kids will insist on coloring it in - perfect.
A "Made by Joel" nativity?!? Talk about making my day just perfect!
Thanks everyone!!
Hi Joel! I just saw this on your FB page today....LOVE IT!! We (my 3 kids, me and my husband) are such big fans of yours...thanks so much for sharing your creativity in such a generous way. Merry Christmas!! Renée Kosted
Yay! I was hoping you would do a nativity version of this. I'm so happy! Thanks!
Hi Joel, This is so lovely, thank you. I am also impressed by your comment to encourage kids to give their own a go as well. Once again thanks and a Merry Christmas!
thank you so much for sharing your wonderful talent and creativity with us! Merry Christmas!
What a charming idea. Thank you so much.
[...] So here is my share: Paper City Nativity Scene. [...]
This is great! Do you think you could add some shepherds?
Freaking awesome!
[...] Paper city nativity from Made by Joel [...]
[...] as well as just chillin’ at home. He has a series called Paper City, and this week he did a Paper City Nativity (it’s a Matthew nativity scene, not a Luke one – no shepherds) and I love it. [...]
You are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this. Merry Christmas!
Thank-you for sharing this beautiful and meaningful Nativity Scene. I have printed it out and can't wait to colour and cut it out with my toddler. Merry Christmas!
Can't wait to use this for Sunday School on Sunday. Thank you, Joel. I love your papercrafts, they rock!!
[...] Paper Nativity by Joel Henriques (Free to Download) http://madebyjoel.com/?p=4362 A new and beautifully simple paper nativity by Joel Henriques, two pdf files makes up the entire [...]
Thanks a lot fot the template.It's beautiful
This is so great. Thanks for designing it and making it available!
Thanks for the kind notes! Happy Holidays!
This is so lovely, and keeping my 4-year-old happy and occupied as I try to finish off all my office work before Christmas!
My 4 year old loves this and asked to keep it next to her bed
[...] another free nativity printable; isn’t it beautiful? For the two scenes above, have your client place a character in the [...]
Muchas gracias, es el belén naïf más guapo que he visto nunca! líneas puras, expresiones dulces y más fácil y económico imposible.
[...] doing yoga daily and I adore it. I’m playing Christmas music and I printed off a fun little nativity for Lucy to play with. It’s just not a big deal around here this year, and it’s nice [...]
Thank you sharing! I love this!
[...] Paper City Nativity Scene | Made by Joel [...]
[...] ¿Todavía no tienes Belén? Pues nada, hoy te traemos una idea genial que hemos visto en la web madebyjoel.com [...]
This morning my 98 year old mother and I colored the Nativity scene in her assisted living home's activity room. As other residents walked by, they were delighted by the result. We set it up on a shelf where everyone can see it as they pass by her room. Your designs are marvelous. Thank you so much.
That is excellent! My mom volunteers once a month at an assisted living home, and most of the time the residents there are having to do kids crafts that they really aren't interested in. One of my goals is to make simple craft kits for the elderly. So your comment is very encouraging! Thanks!
[...] nativity craft. My kids just love paper crafts!! The one that we will be doing tonight is the Paper City Nativity Scene from Made by Joel. It’s a beautiful one, but it’s simple for my kids to do tonight [...]
Thank you! We love playing with your paper cities and are excited to make a Nativity set now.
I do not know in America but in France, Jesus is warmed by a donkey and an ox(beef). I do not see him... Could the Santa Claus draw one for my small Max who plays with the day-nursery(crib) since cut the him(it)? Please...?
[...] Leuk, zelf een kerststal maken, gratis te downloaden bij Made by Joel [...]
[...] for a nice activity for a bit of down time for the kids on Christmas day or eve, I recommend this lovely nativity scene from Made by Joel, it’s a free download which you print and then color. Maia really enjoyed this quiet activity [...]
정말 멋지네요~^^
encore une bien jolie création... merci pour le partage...
Joel, we love your sight! Thank you for taking the time to share your talents and imagination with us.
[...] het zien van de allerlei verschillende kerststallen zo rond de feestdagen. Dit jaar heeft hij zijn eigen kerststal geïllustreerd en deelt deze nu met iedereen via zijn website. En daar moeten we blij mee zijn! Erg mooi om uit te [...]
Wow!..and thank you. This was very helpful.