Act Out The Story With Toys

by Rebecca

This idea is suitable for preschool children and may have some early graders.

Before the lesson you will need to look around the Sunday school or your home for small objects and toys that can represent characters in the Bible passage that you are going to discuss. Model animals and small dolls and figures will be particularly useful. It does not matter if the animals and figures come from different sets of toys or have very different scales to each other. Young children do not usually notice this. It is important that the objects cannot be easily broken. When you have collected the things that you will be using, put them in a small bag or box.

When you start the lesson, read the passage from the Bible to the children. Ask if they have any questions about the passage. When you are sure that they have understood the passage, open the box or bag and show them the things in it. Ask if they know what the animals or figures are. When you have identified all of the things with the children, ask if they recognize them from the passage you have read. Give each child an object and ask them to explain what that 'character' did in the Bible passage. When each child has an object, let them place the objects together to act out the story.

When the children have finished acting out the story, read the passage from the Bible one more time, indicating each character or animal as it is mentioned. If the class is small enough, you could let the children act out the story as you read.

For example, imagine that you want to explain the story of The Good Shepard or discuss Psalm 23 (The Lord Is My Shepard). Then you would need a collection of toy sheep and figures and some fences.