As we approach the Christmas season, it’s important for my family to focus on Christ as the center of this holiday versus the many other things that distract us from Him as the focus. This post is a round-up up Spanish Christian Christmas resources for your bilingual family to use this year to keep Christ at the center of the holiday.
In this post: An abundance of Spanish Christian Christmas resources including books, activities, crafts, and music including Christmas carols in Spanish
Spanish Christian Christmas Books
Una fiesta de cumpleaños para Jesús
Your child will learn from these forest animals that Christmas is not about Santa Claus or asking for gifts. La Navidad is about celebrating Jesus’s birth with family and in community.
La navidad es un regalo de Dios
This polar bear family reinforces that God made Christmas, that Santa serves as a reminder to be generous towards others, but Jesus is our gift at Christmas. “Gracias, mamá, por mostrarme a Dios.” “NO hay otra cosa en el mundo que quisiera hacer por ti, Osita” dijo Mamá Osa… My heart swells when I read these words to my child.
This bilingual book will allow you to teach your children about the true meaning of Christmas at a very young age. It’s a season to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and show appreciation by giving.
This book has Bible verses and a devotion on each page that will teach your children the unique history of Christmas starting with the creation story and sharing how Jesus always has been present and that God always had a plan for Christmas.
Celebrate the family fun and blessings of the Christmas season with the young artic fox while your family remembers that Jesus is the best gift of all. A great book for babies through preschoolers.
Children will learn the true meaning of Christmas through the individual stories of the characters present at Jesus’ birth – the Donkey, Cow, Sheep, Shepherd, Angel, Camel, Wise Men, Joseph, and of course, baby Jesus – intended to be read each day in the 9-days before Christmas. Stories are read alongside corresponding Nativity pieces, which are to be wrapped and hidden for children. See my Nativity suggestion below that you could use in coordination with this book.
Your child will love this bilingual A-Z Christmas book as it teaches a Spanish Christmastime word for that letter. The illustrations are bright and fun and support what the text is saying to reinforce new vocabulary comprehension. This book is filled with various Latino cultural traditions including many being religious including Las Posadas and Los Tres Reyes Magos.
El milagro de la flor de nochebuena
In Maria’s town in Mexico, as part of her Catholic faith, she wants to bring baby Jesus a gift but can’t successfully prepare one. What she ends up bringing, miraculously turns into the most beautiful gift because she brought it to Jesus with all her heart. A sweet bilingual book great for an elementary aged child.
Spanish Christmas Books
The following Spanish Christmas books aren’t specifically focused on Christ; however, many of them are rich in culture and fun to read making them worth adding to your bookshelf as well.
It’s the 12 Days of Christmas with a Latino twist! Each day the child receives a new item from Latino culture. On each page when the text is in Spanish, the author includes phonetic pronunciation for those families and children that are learning to read Spanish. It’s a fun Spanglish read for any elementary aged child.
You won’t be able to read this book without singing the ever-catchy Feliz Navidad by José Feliciano. The cultural incerpt at the beginning helps you to understand Puerto Rico’s cultural tradition of “parrandas” which are reflected in the illustrations.
The Christmas Tree/El árbol de Navidad
This fun bilingual book rhymes in Spanish as each family member adds a decoration to the tree. The repetition is great for reinforcing vocabulary and illustrations reflect what the text is saying.
Spanish Christian Christmas Activities & Crafts
Make the story of Jesus’s birth playful for your little ones with the following activities and crafts.
Enjoy bringing the story of Jesus’s birth to life by interacting and playing with the nativity figures. This is great because you can play in any language.
Find Baby Jesus Game
Take your baby Jesus from the above nativity. My child loves finding hidden things, so I just hide baby Jesus and she finds him. We work on vocabulary development of close – “cerca” and far away -“lejos” while playing.
¡Feliz cumpleaños Jesús! cake
Celebrate Jesus’s birthday in true birthday fashion with a cake! This has become my favorite tradition with my family. It’s an easy way for us to stay focused on the fact that it’s his birthday. You can celebrate with a birthday cake or cupcakes or any dessert.
Make it a family event and get your children involved in the decorating. Here are a few creative ideas:
- make the J in Jesus name out of a candy cane
- make the T of birthday as a large cross
- spell Jesus with M&Ms
- decorate with icing and sprinkles
- add a baby Jesus from a nativity
Whatever you do, even if it’s grabbing a premade dessert from the store, have fun with it and celebrate su cumpleaños! Make sure to sing Feliz Cumpleaños and all!
Baby Jesus in a Manger: Footprint Craft
Your children will giggle while getting their foot painted in order to make this simple but Christ-centered Christmas activity. Idea was taken from here.
The back of this colorful image of the Noche de Paz is filled with small windows, one for each day of Advent. Open one each day to reveal a little bit of Scripture, printed in Spanish to tell the story of the Nativity.
Spanish Nativity Color by Number
Check out Spanish Playground’s FREE color by number of a nativity scene. Especially helpful if your family is learning the words for the parts of the nativity. Lots of fun for young elementary children.
Star From Afar- Spanish replacement for Elf on a Shelf
My friend over at BabyDevotions recommended this resource, and I’m so intrigued. I personally am not into the Elf on the Shelf concept or rather it’s never really been explained to me. However, this Estrella Lejana de la Navidad is a great replacement for that concept and gets your children interacting daily with the real story of Christmas.
Spanish Christian Christmas Music
Looking for Spanish Christmas carols? Here are a few suggestions that will help you learn and sing along with your child.
Feliz Navidad: Learning Songs and Traditions in Spanish
This fun bilingual Christmas book is full of Spanish Christmas songs and teaches about Christmastime traditions. The back includes a CD for each of the songs in the book, a glossary and even recipes!
A book of bilingual Christmas carols. If you know the song in English, it’s easy to sing along in Spanish as well. In the back of the book, there are a handful of songs that include the musical notation for you to learn how to sing the songs. Throughout the book, there are excerpts explaining various traditions of the countries included from Latin America to Spain.
La Navidad Spanish Spotify Playlist
Follow my La Navidad playlist for a combination of children’s and adult Spanish Christmas songs for the whole family to enjoy. This playlist is always growing and I try to keep it more focused on Christ-centered songs although not all are. íFeliz Navidad!
May these Spanish Christmas Christian resources serve as a blessing to your family this year and keep you focused on the reason for the season. íFeliz Navidad!
