Central Florida Green Guide

If your spiritual or religious tradition(s) put you in the market for a child friendly Nativity set, I’d go with the Haba Limited Edition one.

I bought it at Oompa.com for Julia when she was about 3 years old as a Christmas gift. It is a bit of a splurge, but I fully expect it to go throughout her childhood and then some.  Three years into it and the set looks new except for the unfinished stable.  That got some crayon on it somehow — nothing a little sandpaper won’t fix.

The Haba set is made in Germany. Each solid hard wood piece is reasonably chunky,   easy on the eyes, and decorated with non-toxic, child-friendly paints and finishes.  Julia had no trouble with it at 3 years old, but back then I kept a sharp eye on the shepherd.  His staff sticks up and could be pokey.  The laying down sheep with no legs is a bit small… could be a choking hazard. The angel’s halo could also be a worry.  But those are the only pieces and could be reintroduced later when the toddler/preschooler is  bigger.

ADVENT TABLE IDEA

I bring this out each year for her to play with during December and January.  When she’s done playing with it each day it all gets left out on a table as our Advent and Epiphany calendar.

For Advent, we cut out yellow construction paper stars and number for Dec 1 – Dec 24.   We use a piece of tan microsuede fabric to be “sand” and tape the stars down on it.  Then Mary and Joseph can “travel” each day along each star until arriving at the stable and we pull the Baby Jesus piece out of hiding.   Other years it is the Baby Jesus piece that “travels” to be “born” but whichever way you do it, the point is that the whole family is in the stable by Dec 24.

For Epiphany (the 12 days of Christmas up to Jan 6), we cut out orange stars from construction paper.  This is so the Three Wisemen/Three Kings can travel to visit the stable too now that the baby is born.

At our house, Julia opens presents from extended relatives on Dec 24 and 25th and doesn’t get her stocking from us until Three King’s Day on Jan 6th.  We like that this spreads it around a bit so she isn’t overwhelmed and neither are we. The table display keeps her busy with pretend play and counting off the days.

Other than wishing that  the stable had come in natural but finished in the low gloss like the other pieces to make it easier to wipe and clean, I think this set is just about perfect for a kid!