Advent and Christmas resources 2024

A very popular resource page every year, we hope that the 2024 Christmas links will continue to be helpful to teachers, school workers, chaplains, volunteers, churches and parents alike.

On this page you will find many links to a range of different organisations’ resources. At CVE Scotland, we are delighted to be able to signpost our users to these resources and want to thank and acknowledge the efforts of those who created them. Each organisation is listed in green, the link to the resource underlined and the type of resource in most cases is in bold. To help you access exactly what suits your context best, they have been grouped into the following categories::

1. Resources written for use in schools
2. Assembly resources
3. Resources written for use in other settings, e.g. youth groups & Sunday schools
4. Video resources
5. Resources for families at home
6. Advent and Christmas resources to purchase

1. Resources written for use in schools (but not exclusively!)

SU Scotland’s Explore Christmas – This free RME resource for children aged 8-11 is in line with the Scottish curriculum, exploring how and why Christians celebrate this time of the year by answering the question, ‘What is Christmas all about?’.

It includes three video episodes, featuring young hosts, animation and interviews with school children. The topics are ‘The Promise’, ‘The Surprise’ and ‘The Light’. It is accompanied by an extensive resource pack for teachers, including a wide range of cross-curricular activities. Register online for free and instant access.

The Scottish Bible Society’s Must Know Bible Stories provide a full teaching resource pack for the Bible story of Christmas that equips all teachers in their classroom. Each free, downloadable pack has lesson plans, story trails, story PowerPoints and additional resources such as bible text and sheets for games and quizzes.  ready to use with a class as part of the RME curriculum or other activity. It also includes play-based activities such as a Nativity Play (The New King) which comes with a regal twist, and opportunities for lots of actors to get involved in the production. The Christmas Story Trails involves hunting for the characters, cracking the codes and solving the clues.

The resources are adapted to suit the appropriate age and stage; Early Years, First Level and Second Level. There is also a Must Know Bible Stories – Christmas pack for Assemblies, Nativity Plays and more.

The Church of Scotland’s ‘Illuminating Christmas’ Advent resource  – published last year and created by Robin and Katie Hill. Towards the end of the document (p.55) there are four pages which provide starters for midweek presentations, such as a school assembly, ‘Hope’, ‘Peace’, ‘Joy’ and ‘Love’.

Scripture Union England & Wales – A page-turn video animation of the booklet The Grumpy Owl and the Joy of Christmas is available free to download, telling the story of an owl who lives in a quiet barn when his life is turned upside down when a man, woman and donkey arrive. Suitable for primary aged children.  A resource pack is also available that includes event ideas, session outlines and prompts to help you pause and reflect as in preparation to celebrate Christmas this year. A pack of 10 Grumpy Owl booklets can be purchased for £24.99

Scottish Catholic Education Service’s Advent Learning Resources
Learning resources for primary school, PowerPoint templates, Christmas card templates, Advent calendars and explainer videos. The ‘Advent in 2 minutes’ video explains what Advent is (and isn’t) about – and can be projected on to a classroom board at the start of the day or as a plenary after learning about Advent.

The Children’s Society has produced a suite of resources:

• Guide for Schools
• Assembly Pack (PowerPoint + full script)
• A range of Arts, Crafts and Games for classroom use

As well as emphasising the true meaning of Christmas, the PowerPoint explores ideas and values around the family, and highlights the work of the Children’s Society. Schools are encouraged to link their Christmas activities with raising funds for this charity, although this is entirely optional.

Out of the Ark’s nativity play section has two new nativity plays available for purchase in 2024, adding to their existing offerings, for a variety of age groups.

POP UK’s Free Songs for Christmas – Discover Pop UK’s free Christmas song resources with a contemporary lively style that P4-P7s will love. Free registration for teachers with an authority administration email.

Youth For Christ’s Re:Quest resource site has a section specifically for teachers in Scottish schools and many different types of resources for pupils in Primary and Secondary schools. Click on the Scotland image and then search for ‘Advent’ and ‘Christmas’ in the search bar and filter by year-group category.

The Archbishop of York Youth Trust’s ‘Community Matters at Christmas‘  This is a free, four-week resource which celebrates how community can bring us joy, acceptance, generosity and love, through video, Bible links, questions, challenges and prayer. Made for KS2 & KS3s in England, it could be used for similar age-groups in Scotland (7-14 years old), in a variety of settings.

The Bible Society (of England and Wales)’s ‘‘The Shiny Bright, Sparkling Light’ There is a free 9 minute video to download, described as a ‘cosy and creative reading’ of the book of the same name, suitable for primary aged children and to show in churches. There is also a nativity play to download and a chance to purchase copies of the book.

New for 2024 from macfish resources for churches  ‘’Nativity Adverts’. This is a series of images creatively retelling the story of Jesus’ birth through humorous, modern adverts that bring a different perspective to the Nativity. You can also download the image files, PowerPoint presentation and suggested script.

New for 2024 from Fischy Music, and available to stream free on YouTube, is the song Peace and Joy This Christmas. This embraces and celebrates our diverse cultures at Christmas by singing Merry Christmas in English, French Spanish, Chinese and British Sign Language.

2. Assembly resources

Here are a selection of assemblies for different age groups for either teachers to use in front of a class, or for someone to record on video and then send into school:

CVE Scotland Chaplaincy Project Leader Steve Younger’s ‘Seasons’ booklet has 10 detailed outlines for Christmas assemblies and his YouTube channel features short videos which can be reproduced yourself.

‘Christmas Unwrapped’ for Secondary school, complete with text, questions, quiz and CfE Es & Os references.

‘Pass the Parcel’ is a good example of an assembly created by Scripture Union England and Wales which can easily be adapted to suit Scottish schools.

There are some good Secondary and Primary assemblies and other resources available free on the Salvation Army website. It includes songs and downloadable resources such as question cards, challenges and slide presentations.

Barnabus in Schools also has many resources but these are written with the English National Curriculum in mind.

‘Christmas: What’s in a Name?‘ video by Robyn Welsby is really excellent, looking at the anticipation of Christ and could be used for an assembly or Time for Reflection.

The Scottish Bible Society, as part of their Must Know Bible Stories series, have a produced a Christmas pack for Assemblies and Nativity Plays

3. Resources written for use in other settings, e.g. youth groups & Sunday schools

The Children’s Society Christingle resources – new resources have been published for 2024 and improvements made to existing ones after feedback. The symbolism of the Christingle is an excellent way of communicating and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. Perhaps your class or group could create some and reflect using this symbol, or a chaplain could provide a school class with the materials and then talk the young people through the symbolism? It includes a free service template download with readings and prayers, space to add your own hymns or carols all on Word before printing it out to use at your service. New for 2024 are social media posts that can be edited by partner organisations to help raise awareness of a Christingle services and support.

For young people who are already Christians, Missional Generations ‘12 Revelations of Christmas’ could be a novel pack you’re looking for, which includes a booklet, craft activities and cards with links to an Augmented Reality experience. These could be used in a range of settings, including in churches, schools (e.g. prayer space) and personal use. Some have used it to run a geocache style hunt or a Christmas journey across a town. There are lots of ‘how to’ videos and help via the website!

Created to use in churches, at the Scottish Bible Society’s website you can download a set of five Advent and Christmas all-age service plans to explore the Christmas story using Luke chapters 1 and 2. Each lesson has a different Advent theme – Hope, Peace, Joy, Love. The first three weeks provide an all-age section for a Sunday Service and two separate programmes for children’s groups and youth groups. For the final Sunday in Advent and the first week after Christmas, there is a complete intergenerational service plan reflecting on the final section of Luke chapter 2.

Faith in Kids, in conjunction with The Good Book Company and Go Chatter, have created a three week Sunday school series called The Christmas Story Brick by Brick with brilliant surprises to unpack:

• Mary meets a real live angel
• A King picks a manger for his cradle
• Forgotten shepherds are invited to meet the newborn Saviour

There are lesson plans, visuals and a parental take-home sheet.

Evangelical Alliance’s Christmas 2023 leaders pack – download reflections, questions and ideas from the EA’s member’s area to help equip yourself with some essentials to share over the Christmas season.

Christian Aid’s 2024 Christmas Appeal resources a series of 9 lessons and carols for the festive season, editable Christmas posters, a Festivi-tea recipe to help fundraising, and a solidarity dove template card to help raise money for Christian Aid whilst telling the Christmas story.

4. Video resources

You be aware of The Chosen TV series which is a Christian, historical drama series with over 108 million viewers and directed by Dallas Jenkins whose father is the novelist behind the Left Behind series. The pilot edition called The Shepherd is available on YouTube and lasts just under 25 minutes. There are also other episodes such as a special Christmas edition.

Drama Kirk has some wonderful resources, freely available, for schools, churches and community groups to include in your celebrations.

SU Scotland’s Explore Christmas Outlined in Section 1, the resources can be adapted and used by churches and chaplains, exploring how and why Christians celebrate this time of the year.

Bob Hartman’s Rhyming Bible – four performed poems to take you through Christmas, with the familiar nativity characters in the background helping to tell the story visually. These four online videos are a fun and engaging way to share the Christmas story, especially suitable for primary-school aged children:

A Woman Called Mary (3.5 minutes) – Mary is getting on with her chores, when she has an unexpected visitor…an angel! The angel has some amazing new. Mary is going to have a baby! A very special baby!

Joseph, Don’t Worry (3 minutes) – Mary is engaged to Joseph, but now he hears she is going to have a baby. Will they still get married? Join Joseph for a sleepless night, when he has his own special visitor.

It Begins in Bethlehem (4.5 minutes) – Shepherds, on a hill, have their encounter with the Angels; who explain why this baby is so very special. And so the very first Christmas begins, in Bethlehem.

One Hump, Two Humps (4 minutes) – The Wisemen are watching the skies and see a new star, meaning a new king has been born! They follow the star to King Herod, expecting to find the Royal Baby in a palace. Will the Wisemen find the baby? And how will Herod react to a new King?

“Shepherd’s Christmas” by Jeannette Walters (14.5 minutes) – A lovely short film, which tells the story of a young boy on a farm, helping his Dad with chores. A little reluctantly. His Dad tells him the story of the Shepherds that very first Christmas, tending their sheep on a hillside. An angel appears to them, bringing glad tidings of the new King, born that very night.

Share the wonder of the Shepherds this Christmas as they go from tending their flock to being the very first visitors to the new-born King.

Jerusalem News by Ray Markham (11.5 minutes)

A fun film and a different take on the nativity, with excellent scope for follow on discussion. Whilst the film can be enjoyed by any age group, it is particularly suitable for P4 to S2.The first ever Christmas from the perspective of a newsroom, looking for a fresh scoop. Will they cover the story of this baby, supposedly born to be the saviour of all mankind?

Gochattervideos.com has a huge collection suitable for children and young people at different stages of their faith journey.

Out of the Box (Scotland) has a virtual video Advent Calendar on its Youtube channel and Cosmo and friends will countdown you down to Christmas. Out of the Box (Scotland) also has some fun Christmas song puppet parodies.

Island ECC, a non-denominational Christian church in Hong Kong, has produced an animated short video story called ‘The Best Gift’ that is found on YouTube. It highlights the shallowness of much that passes for Christmas and where the true meaning lies.

Church of England’s Collective Worship for Secondary Schools – Christmas published in 2020 as part of the Faith at Home series during lock-down, but is still relevant and useable today. Lasting 7 minutes, the video uses young presenters to explain the truth of the Lord’s birth.

Youthscape have a free, downloadable video called Jesus:Truth or Fairytale that asks the simple but profound question – what if this story we tell each year was real? It has been created as a multi-use resource that can be played in small group discussions, on school television screens, in church youth groups, in lessons or assemblies and even to share on a mobile phone. A subtitled version can be used to show in public areas on loop.

The Bible Project website has a collection of Christmas videos including Luke in 40 Languages and a guide for non-Christians to the meaning of Advent – Advent Season: What Is It, and How Is It Celebrated?

5. Resources for families at home

Out of the Box (Scotland) has a Christmas Family Series that aims to inspire children through performing arts. Each of the 4 video episodes lasts approximately 30 minutes and follows the Out of the Box office team as they struggle to prepare for an online production on Christmas Eve. Hope emerges in the form of their charismatic director, Dave the Sheep! Will they be able to pull together to make this the joyful Christmas that everyone needs?

Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as part of their Spoken Out podcast series, the Scottish Bible Society have a 20 part audio drama series called The Advent about the fulfilment of long awaited promises, about light in the darkness, presence in loneliness and hope in despair.

Church of England’s ‘Follow the Star: Calm and Bright‘ – December can feel like chaos and this series offers a meditation from Christmas Eve to the Eve of Epiphany (5 January) with a reflection, challenge and prayer based on a short Bible reading designed to help find moments of calm as well as bright joy through the season. There are booklets, bookmarks, family prayer card and an Advent calendar to purchase as part of this new for 2024 series.

The Godventure website is a treasure trove of ideas, especially for those with younger children. However, many of these ideas can be used as gifts and activities on your own, with schools and other groups with (and without!) children. ‘50 Faith at Home Ideas for Christmas’ is a great place to start reading and has links to download or purchase relevant bits from there (e.g. sticker Advent Calendars, Advent party packs, thankfulness posters, Christmas card prayer bingo cards). The Godventure site also has details on how to hold an outdoor Christmas party.

Other good lists of Christmas activities to use in the home can be found on the Hope-Filled Family and Strong Catholic Family Faith websites. God Space Light has free downloadable activities for family members to go together such as creation of an advent jar, and Christmas colouring-in activities.

Parenting for Faith has some thought-provoking articles around issues at Christmas which are worth a browse, including how to throw Jesus a birthday party and how to decide on your family’s approach to Father Christmas.

6. Advent and Christmas resources to purchase

The Scottish Bible Society has Advent Bunting which is designed both as a decoration (for classrooms and at home) and as an interactive advent calendar, for all ages to engage with the story of Christmas through daily readings and activities. Each day one of the numbered cards are taken down, read and with instructions for an activity that the whole family can enjoy. Designed to be shared, they are sold with a minimum order of 20 packs (each pack with 25 cards inside) at a cost of £1 per pack.

They also have an Advent booklet There is Light on sale, designed to bring the Christmas story to life through daily readings and reflections, using Scripture from the NIrV text. Designed to be shared, they are also sold with a minimum order of 20 copies at a cost of £1 per booklet. There is also a chance to follow on Instagram (@scottishbiblesociety) from 1 December 2024 for the daily audio experience.

The society have reduced the cost of Luke: The Light Inside which is   the Gospel in a fresh with contemporary images in a magazine style to £1 per copy until January 2025 to help tell the story of Jesus – perfect for a Secret Santa gift for teaching/work colleagues!

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) have a range of Children’s Christmas books to purchase at Children’s Christmas – SPCK Publishing

Youth For Christ has produced some Christmas cards as part of their ‘Go Colour’ range. The Yo-Ho-Go Colour cards are £12 for 6 including delivery.

The Bible Society have a range of new resources to buy in 2024 including Christmas stickers based on the carol In the Bleak Midwinter, booklets suitable for toddlers called Who can it be? and a revamped carol booklet with bible verses and explanations.

SCIAF have a PowerPoint, Educational Booklet and Activity Sheets linked to the Scottish Education Curriculum for Excellence Es and Os, that explains how buying gifts at Christmas can make a real difference to those in poverty, whilst upholding the Christian faith. There is also a Christmas gift catalogue.