Make Your Own Cardboard Manger for Baby Jesus

I had a vision of our Jesus baby doll at the foot of all Christmas trees, in a little manger, ready to be greeted by the children when they woke up. I wanted him to be so cute that children were drawn to him. Beside the manger would be The Smallest Greatest Gift and it would become tradition that this book would be read before any gifts were opened. I imagined this tiny Jesus doll would orient the day toward him and the joy of the day shared with the Light of the World.

I wanted to create a manger template so that you could make a little cardboard manger for your baby doll Jesus to put out on Christmas morning! You can download the template for free. 

You can watch a little tutorial here. 

Download the template here.

What you Need:
- cardboard
- Pen
- Templates
- Tape
- Scissors and Exacto Knife (I use this electric cardboard cutter)

• Print out templates.

• Cut out the templates.

• Tape together A1/A2, B1/B2, and C1/C2.

• Trace two A shapes onto a cardboard box and cut them out. Don’t forget to cut the slots out.

• On a large piece of cardboard, trace a B shape, a C shape, and another B shape. This will make one large shape.

• Only cut on the edges. The two inner lines will be FOLDED.

• Fold the two sides in.

• Slide the slots of the B shapes into the slots on the A shapes.

• Fill the manger with blankets or crinkle paper or craft paper.