The Christmas story, in one grid
The Nativity is the story at the heart of Christmas, and this word search gathers its cast and setting. You'll be finding the holy family — MARY, JOSEPH and the baby JESUS — the visitors who came to the STABLE, from the SHEPHERDS to the WISE MEN, and the details of the night, from the MANGER and the DONKEY to the guiding STAR.
Each puzzle pulls a fresh selection from the list, so the scene changes every time you play — gentle on Easy, and a longer-word challenge once the diagonals and backwards words appear on Hard.
The cast of the very first Christmas
The grid holds the whole Nativity scene. There's the holy family — MARY, JOSEPH and the BABY JESUS, often shown with a HALO — and the journey to BETHLEHEM from NAZARETH by DONKEY for the Roman CENSUS, only to find no room at the INN. There are the night's visitors: the SHEPHERDS, the ANGEL GABRIEL and the heavenly 'GLORIA', and the WISE MEN who followed the STAR by CAMEL with gifts of GOLD, frankincense and MYRRH — while King HEROD and the kindly INNKEEPER play their parts, and the baby is wrapped in SWADDLING clothes in the MANGER.
A story acted out every December
For Christians, the Nativity tells of the birth of JESUS, and it's drawn from the gospels of Matthew and Luke in the BIBLE. It's become one of the most-loved and most-retold stories in the world — every December, children around the globe put on Nativity plays dressed as MARY, JOSEPH, SHEPHERDS, angels and WISE MEN, and families set out little Nativity scenes (called crib sets or 'crèches') in their homes and churches.
Some familiar details are filled in by tradition rather than the Bible itself — the number of WISE MEN isn't actually given, and the friendly INNKEEPER and the DONKEY come from the way the story has been retold over the centuries. Their gifts each carried meaning: GOLD for a king, frankincense for prayer, and MYRRH, a precious perfume. A calm, gentle activity for the run-up to the holidays, this puzzle pairs nicely with our Christmas puzzle in the Holidays category.
Great for a Christmas topic
It's a great fit for a Christmas or RE lesson, alongside our Christmas puzzle — most words are short and familiar, and Easy mode uses a small grid with no diagonals or reverse words. Play online, print a PDF pack, or use Make Your Own to build a grid from your own Nativity words.