Baby Jesus in the Manger SVG

About this design

Instead of a full scene, this one moves in close on the center of the story. A deep wooden trough fills the middle of the design, its two slanted legs crossing out of sight behind it and landing on a straight brown ground line. Golden hay is heaped over the rim, the baby lies on top in a smooth cream wrap, and a gold circle sits behind the small round head. High above, a single star marks the spot.

With only nine parts and big, simple areas of color, it is one of the easiest layered designs in this collection and works well when children are helping. The head is a plain tan circle with no features.

Sunday school craft

Pre-cut the shapes and let each child build a manger on a sheet of dark blue card. Older children can glue the hay over the trough themselves, and short strands of raffia pressed onto the gold piece give it a texture they will enjoy. The wrap and the head go on last. Younger classes manage nicely if a helper has already assembled the trough and legs, so the children only add hay, baby and star. Write each name on the reverse, and the craft goes home ready for the fridge door.

Pieces and weeding

The solid file has 9 pieces and no cut-outs: a trough, two legs, the ground line, the hay, the gold circle, the wrap, the head and the star. Each part is cut separately with a fine channel around it, so the group will shift unless something holds it. Vinyl will want transfer tape, and paper will want a card to rest on. It passes our cut checks from about 3.5 inches wide.

Color layers

• Base and lines in deep navy: the full backing sheet, which appears as the outlines and a narrow border
• Stable and animals in warm brown: the trough, the legs and the ground line
• Cream parts in cream: the baby’s wrap
• Faces and hands in warm tan: the baby’s head
• Star and gold in gold: the hay, the circle and the star

Size guide

Under 3.5 inches the gold circle becomes a very thin crescent. Printing with Print Then Cut avoids that problem at small sizes.

More ideas

• Christmas cards with gold shimmer card for the hay
• Ornaments on a round or oval card blank, at 4 inches or wider
• Vinyl for shirts worn at a children’s program
• Wooden yard signs, where the broad shapes are simple to paint

Color ideas

Try a pale, natural birch for the manger and a straw yellow for the hay, or a dark walnut with a warm copper star. A sky blue wrap also looks gentle if you want to break up the cream.

Pairs well with

Together with the Little Christmas Lamb, this forms a sweet pair for a children’s corner. It also drops into the empty trough spot of our Stable with Star Silhouette for an Advent board.