4 Christmas Songs for your Kidmin
Photo by Holly Russo at Church of Hope
It’s almost Christmas time! While the world is ready for Mariah Carey to defrost, we in the kidmin world are busy getting ready for the season. One of the big questions for Christmas prep is what songs to sing.
The good thing about Christmas music is that a good Christmas songs rarely go out of style. The bad thing is that you’ve probably heard the same song a thousand times. (Hello Last Christmas)
To add to the difficulty, many times your church is looking for the kids to perform in the main service. I’ve never been a huge fan of these. Mostly because it’s way outside of my wheelhouse. But after several years of trial and error, I finally landed on a good set of songs you can sing year after year. They’re fun, mostly Jesus focused, and good to sing in kids church or in the adult service.
Before I share these songs, let’s talk about playing them in your church. If you just play from YouTube you’re breaking the user agreement. Those videos are made for personal use, not for your church service. What’s more, when you play them, the artist gets very little payment if anything for the play. To read more about the laws and proper use, look at this very good article from Yancy.
So instead of using YouTube, I suggest you buy the song from a provider like Worshiphousekids.com. The videos cost $5-$15 each, but then you have a public use license, and the artist is paid directly for their work.
Throughout this blog post I will share the YouTube video of the song. But I will also include a link to purchase it from a reputable source. Please consider buying it there before you use it in your church. The artists thank you in advance.
What Christmas is About – Orange Kids Music
This is one of my favorite modern Christmas songs. It’s from Orange Kids and was originally designed for preschoolers, but elementary kids love it too. It’s catchy and fun. If you’re going to perform it in service, you can buy different tracks that include just background vocals or instruments. I’ve used this for a Christmas performance and had soloists sing the verses. It’s great fun.
Christmas Medley – Yancy
This is an old video with older songs. I’ve been singing it in my kids church for over 15 years. But it’s really fun to sing. It combines Jingle Bells, Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree, Feliz Navidad, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.
While this song doesn’t have motions in the video, I made up simple ones the kids to use. For Jingle Bells we pretend to have big bells and ring them on beat. For Rockin’ we play the air guitar complete with guitar solo. For Feliz Navidad we do the Cha Cha. And for We Wish You We swing our arm back and forth like we’re holding a big glass of milk.
The kids love it because they already know the words. And if you perform it in main service, you’ll get a lot of laughs as some of the kids really ham it up with the motions.
12 Days of Christmas – AmberSky Records and Relient K
12 Days of Christmas is a really old song, but a few years back the Christian punk rock band Relient K did a remake. It’s fast, chaotic, and really fun to sing. I make up motions for each day of Christmas. While I won’t share what I do for each one, you can use your imagination. Or watch these two guys.
I’ve sang this in kids church for years and when I’ve done it with the adults, I ask them to try to follow along. It usually ends the song in laughter and a little sweat as you countdown all 12 days.
Silent Night – Yancy
I’m partial to this one because it’s my favorite Christmas song of all time. Every year, I lead my kids in this song, especially on Christmas Sunday. I don’t use motions for slow songs like this because it distracts from the words and the opportunity to worship. I’ve linked to Yancy’s version, but there are many on Worshiphousekids.com
If you’re looking for a sweet easy song to sing for the kids to sing on Christmas Eve this one is perfect.
There are a ton of other Christmas songs out there, but these are my favorites that I’ve used for years. I also put them together as a short kids program. I used the rest of the time to preach about the important place parents have in the discipleship of their kids.
Whether you’re looking for songs to sing on Sunday or put on a little Christmas concert, you can’t go wrong with these four songs. Your kids can learn them in just a few weeks, especially if you use them for Sunday worship as well. Whatever you do, I hope your season is merry and bright and you don’t lose sight of the reason for the season, Jesus.
