Explore the real meaning of Advent and Christmas with your kids as they hear, learn, engage, and play with My Advent Nativity Press-Out-and-Play Book . This Advent activity for families presents people, animals, and stable features that actually press out of the book and is built into a three-dimensional scene. Counting down to Christmas with Advent calendars has become a popular tradition among families. In this board book, parents and children can read the short, easy-to-understand story of the first Christmas and learn how, just like Mary and Joseph were waiting for Jesus to come, we too can prepare our hearts in anticipation and celebration of the nativity of Jesus. This interactive, pop-out board book will With a classic and kid-friendly art style, My Advent Nativity Press-Out-and-Play Book This Christmas, help tiny hearts discover God's love for us through the celebration of Jesus' birth.
TAMA FORTNER is an ECPA award-winning author with more than sixty titles to her credit, including Prayers for Each Moment, Everyday Joys, God, I Feel Sad, Easter Is Coming!, and more. She is the writer behind the million-selling Indescribable for Kids series with Louie Giglio, as well as a number of books in the Jesus Calling children’s line, including the wildly successful Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids. Tama has collaborated with such well-known authors as Max Lucado, Sadie Robertson-Huff, and Levi Lusko to create inspirational books for all ages.
Tama and her husband have two children who have grown up much too fast for their mama’s liking. They live on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee with two feisty pups who are convinced they are people too.
Are you looking for a fun activity to do for Advent with your little ones? The Press-out-and-play book, My Advent Nativity by Tama Fortner and illustrated by Keith Allen, is such a wonderful idea for Advent with small children.
Small children are curious and love to touch as they learn. With the new board book, My Advent Nativity, little children, about ages three to seven, can press out pieces of the nativity each day of Advent until Christmas and they have a whole pressed-out creche set.
My Advent Nativity Press-out-and-play book is a great idea for little children. It gives them something to look forward to, it helps them use their skills to press out the pieces, and it helps them to have their own nativity set. If you have a special set that you would rather not have children touch, as my mom did, then you could direct them to their own set that they can touch. At the same time, they are learning the true meaning of Christmas and hearing the Christmas story in bite-sized pieces every day during Advent. The wording is simple and easy to understand and the directions are clear and easy to follow. Besides buying one for your own family, this would make a great gift as it is a fairly reasonable price.
I received a copy of this book from Tommy Nelson. All opinions within this review are my own.
This board book tells the story of the birth of Jesus using kid-friendly language. Each page has sturdy cardboard pieces to pop out so that you can build a nativity scene throughout the weeks leading to Christmas. The first two pages are the wordiest, and are not associated with a date. The pop outs on these pages provide the base of the scene. The wording corresponds by providing the foundation of the story: God had a plan from the beginning to be with His people forever, but He knew we would do things that would keep us from Him. So He made a plan and promised that He would send His Son, who would be the Way back to Him. The next page talks about how people waited for a long time for Him, and how God sent a message through Isaiah about His coming. After the first two pages, each spread covers from one to four days with just a few short sentences and one pop out for each day. This is perfect for a young child. While putting the piece in place each day, there is time to discuss what has happened so far and what the day's piece represents. There are clear and easy instructions as to how to put the piece in each day. In this story, the birth of Jesus occurs on Dec. 11th, with Dec 12th through 16th discussing the shepherds and their visit. A few creative liberties are taken, such as, " as the shepherds told their story, a dove fluttered down to the stable, as if he wanted to hear the good news too." Parents could easily edit that if they feel the need, by saying, " there were probably birds in the barn. I wonder if there were any doves there," etc. Dec 17th to the 24th talks about the wise men, Herod, their visit and their gifts. If you are a stickler for the wise men visiting Jesus as a toddler and not a newborn, you can probably find a way to fit that into your narrative, as the pages do not actually depict the wise men with Jesus as an infant. December 25th ends the story by recapping the basic premise of the story: That God promised a Savior, and He kept His promise so we could be reconciled with Him. Overall, I really like this book. I have not used the pieces since I do not have small children at home, but will use it with my grandkids on Christmas day, when they can all have a turn helping put it together. The Book is recommended for ages 3-7. I think 3 might be a little young but I guess it would depend on the child. I like the way the book starts and ends with WHY Jesus came, a piece missing from many nativity books. If your kids don't lose the pieces, you could save them and put it together again each year; once the pieces are popped out they won't go back in, but they are all dated and there are pictures beneath the popouts so nothing will be "missing" from the story. I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review, and all opinions expressed are my own. #sponsored.
This is a unique board book for ages 3-7. The older children may enjoy reading the book in one sitting. But, this book is perfectly set up for the young ones with shorter attention spans.
The first two pages of the text contain an introduction to the story of Christ’s birth. Unlike many other children’s Christmas books, this book begins with God’s plan, before he created the world, to provide a way for His people to be with Him forever. I love how Fortner included this essential component.
Another delightful element of this book is the “press-out-and-play part. The left-hand side of the book contains the text. Located on the right side, are the press-out pieces.
The pieces are sturdy. They pop out, and back into place easily. Clear instructions are printed lightly on the pages directing you where to place the pieces in the scene.
The two introduction pages include pop-out pieces that form the base to which all of the other pop-out pieces will connect. Also, these two pages contain pop-out pieces with different illustrations underneath. After the introduction, the story is then presented in short passages. Each passage is dated from December 1 to December 25. The portions of one-to-five sentences are a perfect length for each day’s reading during the Advent season. Unlike the introduction pages, the rest of the press-out illustrations match the illustrations underneath them. I like this for two reasons. 1) Children can enjoy the illustrations even when the pop-out pieces are removed and in use. 2) If any of the pop-out pieces are lost, you’ll still have the book with all the illustrations.
The Illustrations are beautiful. The colors are rich and bright. It’s nice to see the various shades of skin tones. This book provides a wonderful avenue of interactive learning for children during the Advent season.
We are so excited to use this book at Christmas! This incredibly sturdy board book is Biblically accurate and offers a 25 day countdown to Christmas (Advent) in a fun and interactive way. It begins with Gabriel’s appearance to Mary and follows through Jesus’ birth, the arrival of shepherds and then ends with the visit from the wise men and fulfillment of God’s promise. This is excellent for mature toddlers and preschoolers.
Each page offers a character you can press out, assembling into a stand (also a pop out of the book) to arrange a nativity scene. The illustrations are adorable and there are sweet animals and people alike. The nativity pieces are sturdy for their purpose but will not likely hold up to child’s play. As a result, my intention is to use this as a special “quality time” surprise each day. I do love that after each piece is popped out, there is a matching image behind it so once the nativity scene has been completed, you could still read the book over and over again, year after year.
* I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.
An advent book with pop outs? What a fun and creative twist on a kid’s countdown to Christmas. Keith Allen’s simple and cute illustrations are perfect for the intended audience of 3-7 yr olds. The characters’ big, bright eyes express true joy at the birth of our Savior. Tama Fortner creatively and plainly tells the story surrounding Jesus’ birth. The pop out scene that is being created by you and your child will leave your kids wanting more of the story each day.
My 7 yr old granddaughter enjoyed popping the pieces out of the book and putting them into place. You’ll need to help younger ones with removing cut outs and adding the pieces to your scene.
You’ll have some ‘splaining to do in two places. First, on one of the two introductory pages (pre-December 1) plan to take a little extra time describing who some of the Bible characters are that are mentioned. Second, as with most Nativity scenes, be sure to tell your little ones that the wise men likely didn’t visit Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem; He was a little older by the time they found him.
Your family will love it.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for writing a truthful review.
This is such a fun take on a children's nativity book- turning it into an advent calendar counting down to Christmas. I love even more that it is a pop out, which my kids love, plus it is sturdy, quality printing that will allow us to enjoy this book for years to come each holiday season.
The characters, illustrations themselves, are bright, beautiful and darling. It is a wonderful teaching tool for parents to help their children become more truly immersed in the holiday season with the purpose of it all at heart. To enhance the experience even more I would have loved scripture references to go with each day, but when you know and love this story it also gives us a chance to dig into the scriptures ourselves and teach our children even more. This really is a delightful experience for the whole family to enjoy during the Christmas season and I can't wait to start using it this year.
This chunky book walks little ones through the events leading up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Each day of Advent, the parent reads a small portion of the Christmas story using the provided narrative, then the child adds one or two pieces to create the Nativity scene. These solid figures are perfect for little hands, and the author tells the true Christmas story in sweet, child-appropriate language. An ideal book for little hands!