Why do Christians give gifts at Christmas?

Why do Christians give gifts at Christmas? Throughout this five-lesson RE scheme of work for children in KS1, your class will find out why people give presents to the people they love at Christmas time. It also explores how Christmas presents relate to the story of the nativity and why present-giving is significant for Christians.

With detailed lesson plans, informative and engaging slides for the whole-class teaching input, differentiated worksheets and other engaging printable resources, these Year 1 RE 'Why do Christians give gifts at Christmas?' lessons are the perfect way of introducing your class to the Christmas story in a way they can easily relate to.

A Knowledge Organiser is available to support the learning in this scheme. It is included in the Complete Series download or can be purchased individually.

Feeling festive? You may also like our Delightful Decorations DT scheme of work! 

Giving and Receiving Gifts

The first lesson in this Christianity RE scheme of work for Year 1 encourages your KS1 class to think about their own experiences of giving and receiving gifts and asks them to think about different times of the year we give presents, and who we give them to. It also gets them thinking about what makes a gift precious.

During the teaching input, the included slideshow presentation challenges your class to think about different times when we give and receive gifts, and explores how it feels to get a present and give a present through role-play. They can then explore these ideas further during their independent learning through a variety of engaging and differentiated activities.

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Nativity Story

This Nativity Story KS1 RE lesson explores the story of the birth of Jesus with your Year 1 children as they start to think about how giving gifts relates to Christmas. The slideshow for the whole-class teaching input goes through the nativity story, focusing particularly on the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that the three wise men brought baby Jesus at the stable in Bethlehem.

Your class can then work through a variety of differentiated activities to consider the gifts of the three wise men in more detail.

This lesson contains an easy-to-follow lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas for their independent learning tasks, and a range of worksheets and printable resources.

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Gifts for Baby Jesus

In this interesting lesson your Year 1 class will think about gifts for baby Jesus, both from the point of view of what gifts they think Christians would give baby Jesus today if he had been born in modern times, and what gifts they would personally give to this special baby and why.

This fully planned RE lesson comes with a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the teaching input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support your class as they carry out their independent tasks.

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Invisible Presents

This KS1 RE lesson will teach your class that not all presents can be wrapped and put under the Christmas tree! Your Year 1 class will have the chance to think about 'invisible gifts' that they could give to people they love to show them that they care about them.

This thoughtful RE lesson comes fully prepared and ready to deliver to your class. There's a detailed lesson plan, a slideshow for the whole-class input, differentiated activity ideas and a range of printable resources to support children in their learning tasks.

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Jesus as a Gift

In the final lesson of this RE scheme of work for Year 1, your class will explore the idea of Jesus as a gift from God to the world. They will be challenged to think about why Christians remember the birth of a baby born more than 2000 years ago and explore the idea of Jesus being God's son and his biggest gift to the world. It also teaches them Christian beliefs about what Jesus brought to the world, such as hope and peace.

This lesson is fully planned and ready to deliver to your class. There's a lesson plan with differentiated activity ideas, a slideshow for the whole-class input, and a range of printable resources.

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This Year 1 RE Knowledge Organiser has been created to complement the study of the Christianity strand within our RE and worldviews resource offer. It is designed to support your children's understanding of key vocabulary and big ideas covered in this scheme of work, while signposting prior learning. Children are also encouraged to reflect on 'Ways of Knowing' about religion and worldviews, and to think deeply about the topic through the 'Thinking Questions' provided.

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