"PUTZ"  - Use Legos!

Have you ever seen or made a putz?

It is a Moravian tradition of creating a scene of the Christmas story. It goes beyond a creche to create a whole landscape that could include a small Bethlehem village and the surrounding countryside.

Perhaps you could borrow from this to recreate the countryside of the shepherds.

• Use your reference books to gather information on the shepherds--their dress, their way of life- and the geography of the Holy Land.
• The display could be table size, use Playmobil or Lego figures for the shepherds. Find a model train enthusiest in the congregation--s/he would be an expert on building the landscape.

Speaking of Lego--you could ask for donations of Lego's from your older youth.
(You don't want Lego's that need to be returned unless they all come from one donor. Otherwise the nightmare of sorting and counting to get the right Lego's back to the right people will be a nightmare.)

• Small groups of kids work together to recreate one scene from the story.
• Watching flocks--angel appears--multitude of angels--shepherds go--shepherds at the manger--shepherds return.
• Take pictures of each scene, the kids can write captions or use the scripture. each child can take home their own Lego story of the shepherds.
• You can see Lego illustrations of bible stories at thebricktestament.com