Wise Men lesson ideas

While we were visiting my family for Christmas holidays, my daughter and niece were blessed to have my mom as their Bible class teacher that Sunday. She happened to be covering the lesson of the wise men visiting young Jesus, and when I saw the different things she was using for her lesson, I asked if I could share her ideas with you, in case you need some for the future.
Something I've discovered, and she has, too, is that children love to be able to "act out" the story in some way. I made her a set of the Bible peg dolls I did for myself and my sister (and an aunt) last year, and she's put them to good use. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that post is here.
The week before, she had used these three for Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. The house behind them is one my uncle made for her. (If I can sweet talk him into it, I'll post those details later.) For the wise men, she used the king figure I had painted as well as two of the other men figures with a small piece of fabric over their heads to make it look a headdress.

She found this neat set of animals in the Christmas products at Michaels and knew immediately that they'd work for her Bible class. Aren't they cute? I wish I'd had time to head to that store, too, but maybe next year ... It seems I always need a camel at least once a quarter. Just a great reminder that you never know where you might find a great prop for a Bible lesson.

For her craft, she printed out a coloring sheet like the one below and just labeled the different containers to say the gifts that the wise men brought. She let the kids color them as they wanted. Then, they added the gifts.
For the gold, she had found some chocolate candies with gold wrappers. They were super excited to get to eat the candy so they could glue the "gold" on their sheets.
For the frankincense and myrrh, she had bottles of those two essential oils in her stash. She cut a slit in the paper and had another paper behind it so they wouldn't fall through. Then, she let the students put a drop or two of the oils on a small piece of felt and stick it in the little pocket she had made. That way, they could smell it and get an idea of what it might have been like. I love that idea. Especially with all the different companies that have now made essential oils more affordable. I keep frankincense in my stash, too. It's great for headaches and mood lifters and wrinkles! Think Mary used it for any of that?

I'd love to hear from you. Have you ever used essential oils in a Bible lesson? Got any other neat ideas that are similar to this? Ever taken a coloring sheet and made it more?