It’s time to start planning your Christmas program for kids. Browse our 100% free printable Christmas plays and download the one that’s right for your church. Our free simple Christmas programs for small churches have been used by thousands of congregations and kids ministry programs.
Free Printable Christmas Programs for Children
The Birth of Jesus (simple traditional pageant)
This is is a traditional Christmas play script that’s easy to use and simple for small churches to perform. It’s mixed classic Christmas carols and some light narration. This pageant has been used with a cast of preschool ages 1-5 year olds as well as a children’s church ages 2 – 5th grade. The speaking is done by a narrator (which could be played by one or divided among older children or youth). It’s a simple way to celebrate the story of Christmas.
Christmas Hope (simply script for small churches)
This is another great Christmas option for your children. It has a traditional manger scene mixed with modern day family life set. There are only a handful of actors needed in the cast, but they each have substantial speaking parts. Adding additional scripture readings is one simple way to accommodate more participants. You could pair this simple play script with a children, youth, or adult choir to have a full-length Christmas Pageant.
A Super Christmas (modern & funny Christmas play for youth)
This Christmas play script is perfect to cast with the youth ministry or older children’s group. This story of this skit is about a group of famous super heroes who discover that while Baby Jesus did come to save the world, he won’t be stealing their jobs! It was performed by a cast of teenagers and adults at our 5 pm Family Christmas Eve Worship in lieu of a sermon. It’s something creative if you want to try something more than the traditional Christmas pageants listed above.
Short Christmas Plays for Church
“The 12 Symbols of Christmas” Program
This play script is based off our free “12 Symbols of Christmas” book. The scene is set as follows: A mom is decorating her home with her children for Christmas. As they add different items to their home, they discuss the meaning behind each item and how they all lead to Jesus. This of it as a Christmas object lesson turned into a full performance for the church. It’s a traditional set and your church will enjoy the Christmas story in a new creative way.
Stories of a Savior (Free Christmas Play)
This is a play about 2 scientists giving a presentation about the birth of Jesus. These scientists don’t just tell the story starting with Mary. They go all the way back to Creation and tie it all together through the story of Simeon and Anna. It’s more than a play, it’s a whole Bible history in a Christmas play setting. You can expand the cast to include more parts in this play.
In just a few weeks, we’ll be starting our Christmas Children’s choir to prepare for the annual Christmas pageant. The holiday season is a coming soon and having the kids perform is one of our church’s favorite Christmas activities. But first, we need to find the right Christmas program for our smaller church. The first several we list below are traditional Christmas nativity scripts, after that we have several creative options.
More Free Printable Christmas Play Scripts
- Christmas in Genesis? – free program for Christmas
- Faith Baptist Church shared their Christmas plays online (Doc version or PDF)
- “Who’s This All About” Christmas Play Script & Family Experience
- Easy Christmas Plays for churches with very few kids
- The Christmas Window from a reader’s blog
Need more help? Use these Bible verses about Christmas to make your own play.
I started my research on Google, and soon discovered there were very few free Christmas plays for kids choirs. It looks like many churches simply mix together Christmas poems, Bible verses and Christmas songs music to create a short 30-minute Kids Christmas program. This is what we’ve done in past years, but this year we’re going for something a little larger than a Children’s Christmas skit. I’m looking for music and drama that features Christmas stories. Some biblical costumes would be fun too, and it must come with a complete play script.
Don’t miss our pdf Christmas coloring pages to print.
Independent Plays & Christmas Pageants For Kids
- Cathy’s Music offers several Christmas Musicals for children. This site has over 15 plays for Christmas. You should be able to find the right program for small children’s choirs here.
- Taylor Made Productions has Christmas plays. One major benefit of using an independently published church musical is you can contact the people who wrote the program. This website has pictures from their pageant for Christmas, and hints from the original director.
- Guiding Light Video sells complete kits to host a kids Christmas play
- Pioneer Drama Services also sells a large selection of Children’s Christmas programs. This site sells a large selection of kids musicals for Christmas.
I have downloaded 3 of the plays you have shown on this site and am excited to introduce them to our church kids so that they can have a part in deciding which one(s) to present this year. Do I need to obtain special permission in order to live stream or videotape any of these programs? Thank you.
No permission needed, but we’d love to see the finished product and share it with other readers.
Is it okay to make changes to the script if needed?
absolutely ! Make it work for your church and ministry!
I am from Africa, Namibia. I am so excited that I came across this website and already used some materials for our recent Sunday school camp. I can’t wait to introduce the Christmas plays I downloaded to my Church kids.
Thank you very much
The 12 symbols of Christmas play link goes to another play. Is it possible to fix the link so I can print it or email it to me?
Thanks for letting me know – I just made the update and here are the links
https://ministry-to-children.com/12-symbols-of-christmas-play/
https://ministry-to-children.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/ministry-to-children.com-12-Symbols-of-Christmas-Church-Play-for-Kids.pdf
Do you have a service for decorating the church and nativity to involve the congregation for a small church?
I am trying to print “The Christmas Story” bible skit but can only get page 1 to print.
Can you send me the URL address of that resource?
Do you have anything that can be done on ZOOM, small Church, gap in kids from very young to a couple of teens.
My mom wrote a Christmas program for our Sunday School. I would love to share it. Any idea how I could make it available to the public? It follows the pattern of TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, but follows the biblical account of Christ’s birth,
Would I be able to get a copy of your mom’s play? I think it could work for our Christmas Eve children’s program that I’m in charge of.
I am looking for a Christmas play titled “Bethlehem, Everybodies Hometown
Do you have a play that is on the “12 Days of Christmas using Christmas symbols?