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"The Friendly Beasts" at the Stable - lesson ideas, scripts, movies

This topic is collecting your great ideas for a fun "from the animals point of view" take on the story of Jesus' Birth.


Friendly Beasts

We created a "Friendly Beasts" set of lessons for our Advent rotation this year.

  • We had a music class to sing "The Friendly Beasts" as well as other carols/hymns.
  • For drama, with the younger readers, we used the script "And the Animals Talked" by Michael Humphrey from https://www.dramatix.org.nz/ar.../animals_talked.html.
    The main point is that even the humblest animals worshiped Jesus at his birth.
  • I found some great stuff at Animal Planet (Search their site for) Creatures of the Nativity. They have pages of background information for the significance of why each animal is portrayed at the manger in Renaissance Artwork. Example: The donkey and the ox, were the lowest form of livestock. They worshiped right next to the 3 kings = highest next to lowest). Also the donkey and ox were symbols of Egyptian gods, worshiping the True King! It goes on and on… peacock = everlasting life. Just need to get the artwork off the web and show it!
  • Our director has a friend who makes balloon animals. She told the story of the Friendly Beasts making balloon animals!

Then we have a 3-week rotation w/ drama, music and movie.

  • Drama: The older kids are using the "Great Manger Mystery" script at dramatix.Movie-The-Story-of-Christmas by Justyn Walker.
  • Movie: We are using a movie told from the point of view of the donkey and ox called "The Story of Christmas", 1994, animated, 47 mins.
  • Music: The kids will be singing the Friendly Beasts acting out the animals. They will also sing other traditional songs about Christmas, the manger, and animals.


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  • Movie-The-Story-of-Christmas
Last edited by Luanne Payne
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