DIY Nativity Story Stones for Story Telling with Kids
I’m a bit addicted to creating story stones for my kids, they’re the kind of thing that I wasn’t sure if my children would go for but they love to use them as story prompts and these DIY nativity story stones are a great way to help them remember the story of the very first Christmas.
Looking for more Nativity Activities and Crafts for Kids? Then see our Best Nativity Crafts & Activities for Kids to find great inspiration.
Unlike the Christmas story stones I shared recently (over on Crafts on Sea) I was a bit worried about making these, to put it politely my drawing skills are not my strongest and drawing people is…. well it’s tricky. I’ve made these story stones simple enough so that older kids can make them and also simple enough that I was brave enough to pick up a pen and do it too.
After all, I’m a great believer in always giving something creative a go and not being held back by your own fears.
Materials needed for Christmas Story Stones for the Nativity
We have included affiliate links to some of the products and resources as an associate we may earn from qualifying purchases.
Stones or Pebbles – you can buy bags to use that are perfect.
Pens – I used a mixture of Posca pens for the black fine line work. Chalkola pens for the thicker colours
Note – You could also use Acrylic Paints
How to Make your OWN Nativity Story Stones
Create the outlines
I started by drawing all the outlines using a thin black pen. Both the sets of pens I’ve used are easy to remove if you make a mistake, just give the stone a bit of a rub with a baby wipe and then try again when it’s dried off (if you use a sharpie or acrylic paint then nail polish remover is your friend especially with acetone in it).
Top Tip!
I’ve also previously covered both my own hands and my children have drawn all over their hands in the pens I recommend. They were really easy to clean so I’m happy to report that these are pretty child-friendly!
Make Memories every day as you countdown to Christmas
24 Simple and easy activities to do at home with your kids this Christmas.
Fill with Colour Using Chalk Paints
The outlines only take a moment to dry and then I filled in some colour. Originally I was going to leave all the pens as black outlines. But I was a little concerned that my kids wouldn’t know who was Mary and who was Joseph so the thicker pens came out for colouring.
If you want to colour your Nativity story stones with paint I would recommend giving a few minutes between the layers of paint.
Give your stones a minute or two to dry and they are ready to share with your kids for them to use as a story prompt or to talk about the nativity story. These are also great for kids to make themselves and to display as a little nativity scene.
Simple DIY Nativity Story Stones
Video
Materials Needed
- Stones or pebbles
- POSCA Pens
- Chalk Pens
- Mod Podge matt
Instructions
- Draw the outlines of the characters in black POSCA pen.
- Use the chalk pens to fill in your black outlines. This makes it easy for a child to distinguish between some of the characters.
- For staying power. Use the matt Mod Podge to give the stones a coat and allow to fully dry.
Notes
Love decorating stones! Why not create your own stone game inspired by the book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer!
Nativity Craft and Activity Ideas for you to Share with your Children
Make some wooden nativity ornaments with the kids to hang on the Christmas Tree.
Create your own Shadow Puppets to retell the story of the First Christmas with our FREE printable.
Help your child to understand the events that happened during the Nativity Story with our Nativity Story Sequencing Cards.
Kate from Crafts on Sea
Kate Williams is a Mum to two small superheroes who are often found trying to climb on top of her head or running into the ocean.
A crafter, a play at home Mum you can find her at Crafts on Sea where she shares achievable ideas for creative family life including ideas for Creatives Mum's as well as the kids.
Kate has also got some other Christmas Story Stones which you can find on her blog Crafts on Sea.
Whilst I absolutely love this idea, could you please remove the references to collecting the stones from the beach. This is actually illegal under UK law.
Suitable stones can be brought from garden centres and DIY stores.
Thank you for this I have removed. This was a guest post and has not been updated in many years.
I love these! Any ideas where I could find stones that are nice and flat like yours?
These pebbles are from a local beach – the guest blogger is very lucky to live near. However you can get similar on Amazon – they are Mexican Smooth Beach Stones and the 2 – 3inch size is perfect – I have added a stockist on Amazon to the post via our affiliate link.
If you do create a set I would love to see them why not pop over to our Facebook Page and Share them there
Hi! We want the children at our church to create these nativity story stones during our church Christmas party, and then put them in a bag to take home. If we use the chalkola markers, will the coloring rub off if they play with them a lot? Or is there a sealer for the chalkola so that it is permanent? I like the idea of using the chalkola markers instead of acrylic paint, but I want to make sure that their colorings can be more permanent with mod podge or something.
I haven’t tried them with Chalkola as it’s not a brand that I am familiar with but did try a generic chalk marker on stones this summer. I found that if left to dry completely then they would take some handling before the chalk started to rub off. But by coating with PVA (White/School/Elmers) glue or Mod Podge, this sealed it in and prevented it rubbing off. A clear aerosol sealer would also work just as well.
I think your drawing skills are great…. I’m too scared to try story stones as stick men are my limit 🙂