Nativity Word Search for Sunday School and Kids

Ten words from the Christmas story as it is told in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew and acted out in school nativity plays: Mary and Joseph, the stable and the manger, the angel, the shepherds and their sheep, the star, the wise men, and the donkey that tradition adds to every nativity scene.

The 11x11 grid has no diagonals: words run across, down, up or backwards along a row. That makes it a good bridge between the easy puzzles and the harder medium grids for children in Sunday school or religious education classes.

Nativity Vocabulary: 10 Words to Find

Words run across, up and down; 6 of the 10 read backwards. The longest word is Shepherds, with 9 letters.

Angel: A heavenly messenger. An angel on top of the tree recalls the angel who announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
Donkey: In Christmas tradition, Mary rides a donkey to Bethlehem, and a donkey stands beside the manger in most nativity scenes, although the Gospels never mention one.
Joseph: The carpenter of Nazareth, husband of Mary, who traveled with her to Bethlehem for the census.
Manger: A wooden trough for animal feed, where the newborn Jesus was laid because there was no room at the inn.
Mary: The mother of Jesus, who, in the Gospel of Luke, gave birth in Bethlehem and laid her son in a manger.
Sheep: Woolly farm animals. In the Gospel of Luke, shepherds watching their flocks by night are the first to hear of the birth of Jesus.
Shepherds: The shepherds of Luke's Gospel, told by an angel to go to Bethlehem, where they found the baby lying in a manger.
Stable: A building for horses or cattle. Christmas tradition places the birth of Jesus in a stable, because the Gospel mentions a manger, a feeding trough.
Star: The star on top of the Christmas tree, a reminder of the Star of Bethlehem that guided the Magi.
Wise Men: The Magi, travelers from the East who followed a star to bring gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Gospel of Matthew never says how many there were.

How to Solve the Nativity Word Search

Three pairs of words start with the same two letters: "sheep" and "shepherds", "stable" and "star", "manger" and "Mary", so check the next letter before you circle. "Joseph", with the only J, and "manger" read backwards, like "star". "Wise Men", with the only W, "sheep" and "stable" run from the bottom up. "Donkey", with the only K, reads across.

Nativity Activities for Sunday School

Read Luke 2:1-20 aloud and ask children to raise a hand each time they hear a word from the list.
Cast a nativity play from the list: every word that is a person or an animal becomes a role.
After solving, draw the scene and label each figure with its word.