"Look, but don't touch" used to be the edict given to children when it came to a nativity, but that's not how things work in the home of Sean and Patrick Swain.

While their mom Lisa keeps a delicate ceramic nativity stored away, the boys, ages 5 and 8, can play with a sturdy Fisher-Price manger.

She loves the Fisher-Price set. The bright and well-made pieces are small enough to handle, too large to swallow. Lisa feels that hands-on touch reinforces the meaning of Christmas.

It's the same at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Newark, where she teaches in the Sunday youth program. Creches are in classes so children can enact their own version of Jesus' birth.

"Children learn a lot through play which uses all the senses," says youth educator Lynne Turner at Wilmington's (Del.) Trinity Parish.

Turner has explained the importance of storytelling and play in parishes throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. She teaches a Montessori-like program called "Godly Play."

Even educators and parents not involved with the program believe children can be enriched when storytelling is combined with the inner world of pretend.

"As the mother of two toddlers, I am very much in favor of toy nativities," writes Rebecca Clyde of Phoenix in an e-mail.

Any play activity stimulates a child's imagination, says Brenda Nixon, author of "Parenting Power in the Early Years" (Wine Press, 2001, $12.95).

With young children, the Mt. Vernon, Ohio, resident suggests parents repeat the name of Jesus and explain in simple terms the story of the birth of Christ while children are playing.

Last Sunday at St. Thomas, interim pastor the Rev. Sarah Brockmann brought in sets of nativities from her collection. Kindergarten and early elementary kids were soon on the floor with Mary and Joseph finger puppets, a cloth manger and more.

Yet not all nativities are created equal. A Playmobil nativity frustrated the students. There were too many small pieces. Children were unable to figure out how some of caps, hats and other details should be put on characters.

"The hair is confusing and everything is falling apart," says 7-year-old Sara South.

It's not all fun and games. Teachers say limits should be set in how children play. For instance, kids shouldn't be making football passes with the baby Jesus or having war tribunals with the wise men.

Brockmann also points out that some creches are so kitschy as to be of questionable taste. Does the world really need a rubber duckie or snowman nativity?

"Obviously, we've discovered children as a lucrative market," she says.

Still, it's a big thumbs up to most nativities made today for kids. Children learn by stepping into a story. Turner says you can see this when children journey with the wise men from one side of the room to the other.

"The children have a felt sense of the wise men coming from very far away," she says.

And watching them play after sharing a Bible story, Turner's reminded that there is merit in looking at the world with the innocence of a child. Or, as Jesus said, to enter the kingdom of heaven one should become like a child.

"I often think children at 4 have more spiritual wisdom than most adult theologians," Turner says.

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