The Birds of Bethlehem Felt Story

For November, the Virtual Book Club for Kids is featuring books by Tomie dePaola. I’ll be honest. It took me a long time to choose my book for this month. Tomie dePaola has just written so many books. I was pretty well settled on Bill and Pete Go Down the Nile (Bill is a crocodile, and Pete is a bird who happens to be Bill’s best friend and toothbrush), but I wanted to check out even more books just to be sure. Our library just got in The Birds of Bethlehem. We read it and fell in love. I created a felt board to retell the story. Affiliate links are included in this post.

The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola Felt Story {Virtual Book Club for Kids}

The Birds of Bethlehem


The Birds of Bethlehem by Tomie dePaola tells the Christmas story like it’s told in Luke from the viewpoint of the birds. The birds are telling each other about the strange things they’ve seen around town. They tell of lots of people travelling to the city, the inn being full, a couple being led to a stable, an angel appearing to the shepherds, heavenly hosts singing, and shepherds visiting the stable. They decide to all head to the stable to see what has happened. They see the couple with a newborn baby.

Maybe I fell in love with this story because it’s one of my favorite stories of all time – the birth of our Savior. But I really liked the added viewpoint of the birds and so did my son. The art in the book is very colorful and inviting. The curious birds and simple text make this book a great introduction to the Christmas story for children. I know I am adding this book to our collection.

Felt Board Story

I cut out silhouettes of different characters from the story with various colors of felt. I also cut out buildings and strips of color for the backgrounds. I didn’t have all of the exact matching colors of felt, so I used colors I thought would work.

Here are some scenes from the story.

The Birds of Bethlehem Felt Story
The birds see visitors travelling to Bethlehem.

We talked through the story and moved the felt pieces around.

The Birds of Bethlehem Felt Story
The inn is full. Where will Mary and Joseph stay?

The book doesn’t actually mention who the people in the story are {because the birds wouldn’t know}, so I made sure to talk to Aiden about what was happening in the story.

The Birds of Bethlehem Felt Story
The angel appears to the shepherds.
The Birds of Bethlehem Felt Story
The birds visit the stable where Jesus is born.

Virtual Book Club for Kids Co-Hosts

Here are the blogs co-hosting the Virtual Book Club for Kids. Be sure to see what Tomie dePaola books and activities they chose. You can also check out the group’s Facebook page.

Toddler Approved – Rainy Day Mum – Adventures in Reading with Kids – 3 Dinosaurs – Royal Baloo – The Educators’ Spin On It – Inspiration Laboratories – Pleasantest Thing – Edventures with Kids – Two Big Two Little –Playing With Words 365 – Kitchen Counter Chronicles – Outlaw Mom – Mommy and Me Book Club – Crafty Moms Share – No Twiddle Twaddle – The Good Long Road – Ready. Set. Read 2 Me – Reading Confetti – Mama Smiles– Juggling with Kids– Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas – Creekside Learning – Creative Family Fun – The Usual Mayhem –Teach Preschool – PlayDrMom – CraftoArt – Here Come the Girls – Being a Conscious Parent – Smiling like Sunshine – Crayon Freckles – Train Up a Child

 

Virtual Book Club for Kids
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/VirtualBookClubForKids" title="Virtual Book Club for Kids" target="_blank"><img src="https://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae323/toddlerapproved/virtualbookclub-2012.jpg" alt="Virtual Book Club for Kids" width="125" height="125" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 

Now it’s your turn! Link up your posts about a Tomie dePaola book you read and your related activity {project, craft, recipe, etc.}. Grab a button and spread the word.

 

Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links. See disclosure policy for more info.


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *