St. Nicholas

Story information: All age groups heard the same story about St. Nicholas, including the legend of how Nicholas became a wealthy orphan, became the Bishop of Myra, and how he threw 3 bags of gold through the window of a house so the man who lived there would have dowries for his daughters.

Visuals: The site was decorated with a cardboard house and a pine tree that the children helped to decorate during the week. A teenage helper dressed as St. Nicholas. He carried a crosier (the shepherd’s staff a bishop carries).

Snack: Trail mix wrapped in a napkin and tied with a red licorice whip, red punch.

Site activities: After the children heard the story of St. Nicholas, a discussion about generosity followed. They were then asked to make stockings from construction paper, laced up with red yarn, and to draw a picture on the front of a kind and generous act that they could do when they got home. The discussion led the children to understand that being generous did not necessarily mean using money, but also, being generous with their time and energy. The stockings were hung up in the classroom.

The children played a form of a bean bag toss game. “Gold” coins were tied up in cloth bags and the children took turns tossing them through the windows of the cardboard house.

The parts of a bishop’s ensemble were shown, named, and described to the children since St. Nicholas was a bishop.

Resources: Various Internet sites were researched.

Craft site: Children will make a coin bag with coins. Materials needed include one 12 inch diameter round piece of cloth with holes punched around the outside edge in 1 inch intervals, 20 inch length of string, and plastic closure. Materials for the coins include 1-inch, flat, wooden circles and gold foil. (We were able to obtain gold foil from a local restaurant.)