Resources For The Nativity Story

 

If you haven’t seen The Nativity Story Movie, you need to add it to your list of Christmas movies! This movie is produced by Warner Brothers and is a very realistic account of Jesus’ life. Today I am sharing with you some fun facts about the film, a fun Nativity craft for the entire family and the unit study! 

 

The Nativity Story

 

 

Fun Facts About The Nativity Story Movie

1) The Nativity Story was filmed in four different locations.

You might think that a story about the Nativity was filmed in Bethlehem, but it wasn’t! The Nativity Story was filmed in four different locations – three of them in Italy. The locations were: Matera, Basilicata, Italy; Ouarzazate, Morocco; Craco, Matera, Basilicata, Italy; and Cinecitta Studios, Cinecitta, Rome, Lazio, Italy.

 

2) Making The Nativity Story wasn’t inexpensive!

The working budget for the movie was about $30,000,000. That’s a lot of money! Thankfully, the movie was well-received and 18 months after its release had grossed over $46,000,000 worldwide.

 

3) It was shown on more than 4,000 movie screens on Opening Weekend.

Released in 2006, The Nativity Story was shown on more than 4,000 movie theater screens during its opening weekend in December. It played on 3,083 screens in the United States alone and was even shown in Iceland!

Italy captured the second spot for most screenings with 437 screens playing the movie that weekend. It was also the very first feature film that ever premiered at The Vatican!

 

4) The cast learned how to do things like people did 2000 years ago.

Imagine being an extra in the movie and having to pretend that you lived 2000 years ago. In order to be as authentic as possible, the cast of the movie had to learn how to do things that their ancient counterparts did. That meant that they learned how to build houses, bake bread and make cheese, and work with animals.

 

5) The actress who played Mary was actually pregnant during the filming of the movie.

Keisha Castle-Hughes, the actress who played Mary, became pregnant with her boyfriend’s child while filming The Nativity Story. It was a bit of a scandal, as she was only 16 at the time, but she was, ironically, also portraying a teenage mother in the movie.

Recommended Christmas and Advent resources! 

Connecting Santa and to the Story of Our SaviorFisher-Price Little People A Christmas StoryPLAYMOBIL Nativity Stable with MangerThe Christmas Story for ChildrenThe Nativity Story a must watch on DVDChristmas Love Letters from God: Bible Stories

Join: Journal Through the Bible and Awe Filled Homeschool Connect!

I have created a unit study that accompanies the movie. Use the code blessed to download this for FREE for a limited time. Just click the picture below to download. 

Now let’s get creative and make memories completing a fun project with your kids!

 

Edible Gingerbread Nativity Scene

Ingredients

• 4 oz. Toasted Coconut
• 4 Graham Cracker Sheets
• Wilton Cocoa Drizzle Pouch
• Wilton White Drizzle Pouch
• 3 Large Marshmallows
• 1 Strawberry Fruit Rollup
• 2-3 Black Licorice Bites
• 1-2 Pretzel Rods
• 1 pkg. Gum Drops
• 1 pkg. Gumballs
• 4 Toothpicks
• Foodwriter Pen

 

Directions

1) First, heat the cocoa drizzle pouch per package directions.                        

2) On a small cake board or a plate, drizzle some of the chocolate around and spread into a thin layer. Sprinkle a thick layer of the coconut all over this.

 

3) The Manger: break one graham cracker in half. Stand a whole cracker up lengthwise and attach the halves to each end of this with the drizzle. Hold for 1-2 minutes to harden, then attach the other whole graham on top of these, and let set for a few minutes to harden. Place this manger on your coconut board.         

                                                                                                                             

4) The Cradle: break the last graham cracker into fourths. Lay one piece down, pipe a line of cocoa drizzle down the middle, and take 2 more fourths and press on the drizzle line in the shape of a “V”. Hold these until the chocolate is tacky and they stay in place. I added another line of chocolate down the inside of the “V” as well.             

                                                                                                     

5) The Wisemen, Mary, Joseph, Jesus: Cut a thin piece off the top of 12 gum drops. Stack 2 on top of each other so you now have 6 people. Place a gumball on top of each one and color 2 eyes on with your marker. Cut little squares out of the fruit rollup for robes or blankets and wrap around any of the people you would like.       

                                                                                        

6) The Angel: Make the angel the same way you made the other people. Now cut a marshmallow in half lengthwise, cut a slice of one, and stick this to the back of your angel for the wings.                                                                                           

7) The Sheep: Cut a piece of the licorice into 4 little chunks and poke these into a marshmallow to resemble legs. Cut a little round chunk and press into the marshmallow for the face. Repeat this for the second sheep.       

                             

8) The Tree: Cut the bottom third off a pretzel rod and discard. Cut a sliver off the bottom of a green gum drop, put a dot of chocolate on, and stick to the top of the pretzel rod. Take 4 toothpicks and stick 2 green gumdrops on each leaving the top of the sharp end of the toothpick showing.

Stick all 4 of these tops into the gumdrop on the tree. Place a large blob of chocolate next to the manager on the board and stick the pretzel rod on and hold until the chocolate hardens.                                                                                                            

9) Now place all the people and sheep in the manger scene anyway you would like.                                                                                                                                           

10) Fun activity for kids during the holidays!   

                                                                         

Don’t Forget to Print the Recipe at the bottom of the post!! 

 

The Star

Last year at the Teach Them Diligently Conferences I heard about an amazing new movie in the works! I couldn’t wait to hear more details! As time passed, I kept wondering if this film would be released during the holiday season.

Want to know what film I am talking about? Well…..it goes right along with what we are discussing…..The Star!

We were only shown the beautiful banners but recently Sony and Propeller Entertainment reached out to me and sent me a lot of behind the scenes promo materials! I was able to see the video trailer, too, which I will share more on in a second.

Aren’t the characters adorable?! I cannot wait to see this film when it releases on the 17th of November!!! So what is The Star about? Here is a brief synopsis from Sony:

“In Sony Pictures Animation’s The Star, a small but brave donkey named Bo yearns for a life beyond his daily grind at the village mill. One day he finds the courage to break free, and finally goes on the adventure of his dreams.

On his journey, he teams up with Ruth, a loveable sheep who has lost her flock and Dave, a dove with lofty aspirations. Along with three wisecracking camels and some eccentric stable animals, Bo and his new friends follow the Star and become unlikely heroes in the greatest story ever told
– the first Christmas.”

My family is super excited about a new, wonderful faith based film that is brought to us by Sony. This movie is another way to share with your kids the TRUE story of what this season is about. Before you go see the film, print off these FREE coloring pages for your kiddos! Don’t forget to check out this movie trailer-

Enjoy making memories with your family by watching a movie on the true story of what CHRISTmas is about and then make more memories by having a family night and making the gingerbread nativity! What is your favorite Christmas memory? Share below!

In Awe,