The Surprise

You have a piece of what appears to be a blank poster-board. You tell the children things you enjoy about Christmas, such candy canes and snowmen. You write those items on the poster-board. You then use your paintbrush to remind them of the real meaning of Christmas. When you paint the board, they will see “JESUS” written in the center of your board. Celebrating Jesus is the most important thing about the Christmas.

How it works

Prepare you poster-board in advance by printing “JESUS” in the center with a white crayon or candle. Make the letters thick, coloring them in. You can use anything you wish to write your favorite things. However, we prefer to use watercolor crayons. That way when you reveal “JESUS” the other things blur, and fade in the background. (Don’t write your favorite things on the wax.)

To reveal “JESUS” use a craft or watercolor brush (about 1 or 2 inch), with paint and brush it over the wax from you crayon/candle. The paint will not adhere to the wax, revealing “JESUS”. It is most effective with dark paint. Watered-down inexpensive acrylic craft paint or quality watercolor paint work well. If you practice in advance, you can determine the best consistency of paint.

The Lesson

I love Christmas. It’s so much fun. I’m going to tell you about some of my favorite Christmas things.

Candy canes – I like candy canes (Write candy canes on board.)

Snowmen – Building a snowman is fun. I like using a carrot for their nose. (Write snowman on board.)

Christmas trees – I love to decorate the Christmas tree with all the pretty lights and ornaments. (Write Christmas tree on board.)

Christmas cookie – Oooh, Christmas cookies! Sugar cookies are my favorite! (Write cookies on board.)

Presents – We all like to get presents, don’t we. It’s fun to give them too. (Write presents on board.)

All these things are fun, but we don’t have the real reason to celebrate Christmas here.

I’m going to use my paintbrush to remind us. (Paint on paper to reveal “JESUS”.)

Snowmen and candy canes and Christmas trees are all fun, but we need to remember that on Christmas we celebrate that Jesus came to earth as a baby.

He was born in a stable. Angels filled the sky and kings brought him gifts.

But it doesn’t end there.

Jesus grew to be a perfect man. None of us are perfect. We have all done bad things. Those bad things are called sins. We deserve to be punished for our sins, but Jesus loves us so much, He took the punishment for our sins by dying on the cross. If we believe that in our heart, and are sorry for our sins, we can ask Jesus to forgive us. And someday we can have a home in heaven.

Jesus is the reason for the season!

This can also be used as a craft. After the lesson is complete, you can have supplies on hand and teach the children how it is done so they can show their friends that Jesus is the reason for the season.