Crayon rocks available from Amazon or Montessori Services and index cards cut in half. Kids are to draw a scene from the first part of the story on the first one, etc. Then write 1, 2, 3 on the back so they know what order they go in. I suggest the kids challenge their parents to put them in order.
So far, I’ve needed to suggest to the kids what to draw as “first” in the story.
Target Age
Preschool, Kindergarten, and 1st
Contents
3 plastic boxes with filled with sand, blue and silver glitter (stars) and wooden Messiah figure, all from Michaels craft store
Trunk for oak tree of Mamre from Haba Middle Eastern blocks, and top of tree from Constructive Playthings Wood Block Nativity Set
Abram and Sarai figures from Worship Woodworks set 609
Angel figure is sadly not the same size as Abram and Sarai — it’s a good half inch thicker. I wish I had known beforehand that the sets were not interchangeable. But the angel is from Worship Woodworks set 637.
Tent is a square building block with a piece of scrap leather (available from craft stores) draped over it
Explanation
This was inspired by the Godly Play: Great Family story. It sits on the Old Testament shelf in our Sunday School classroom.
Target Age
Kindergarten
Contents
A bunch of Christian books for children placed in a 12 x 12 inch tote
Green pasture underlay
1 blue felt for still waters
2 rocks for valley of shadow of death
1 wolf to stand next to valley of shadow of death
1 shepherd
3 sheep
4 sticks for sheep pen
Explanation
This Bible take-home bag was inspired by Young Children and Worship which combined the Parable of the Lost Sheep, Psalm 23, and the Good Shepherd of John 10 into one cohesive story. Without the storytelling kit, this bag would be pretty bland — three of the books have the same text! But I’m hopeful that being able to act out the story will up the fun quotient.
So far, I’ve told the story of the tabernacle in two ways. The first time was to a group of third graders. I essentially used the story from Young Children and Worship. I like the emphasis on becoming ready to get close to God, and how each line of the story builds on the previous.
Now the priest could go through the sweet-smelling incense and smoke to the Ark and be close to God. But this still wasn’t enough to come close to something so precious. So they made a special table called the Table of Shewbread. … Now the priest could walk between the Table of Shewbread and the Menorah through the sweet-smelling incense and smoke to the Ark and be close to God.
I did make some changes.
The second time was to a group of four-year-olds. Attention span = 10 seconds. That’s two sentences per piece of furniture. So all the pieces were placed in a cloth bag, and we went around the circle. Each child got a turn to draw out a piece and place it where I instructed — sort of a non-chronological storytelling approach. To read the report of that lesson, see Of Torn Curtains, and Other Joyful Thoughts.
Otherwise entitled How To Get Awesome Materials for a Tabernacle Story
Worship Woodworks sells a wooden tabernacle set designed for use with the Young Children and Worship book. Church Publishing sells a similar set for use with the Godly Play curriculum. Both are gorgeous wooden sets, and both induce sticker shock.
So instead of buying either of those, I purchased a far cheaper (yet far more detailed) set from The Tabernacle Place.
The picture is how the plastic looks when it has been painted. Being a perfectionist, I spent a weekend painting my pieces until the set looked roughly like the one above. Explaining to myself that we do not live under the law, but under grace, I did do a few things differently than what was described in Exodus.
The fence posts were supposed to be painted bronze, as well as the washbowl. Most of the other items were to be painted gold. I bought a solo can of gold spray paint, and decided no one knows the difference between bronze and gold anyway.
Each fence post should have a silver top. This would mean hand painting every last one. I didn’t.
Twelve separately colored jewels on the breastplate of the high priest? That thing is less than an inch tall!! No. Way.
I wanted to be able to easily remove the tent covering, so I didn’t lace the elastic through the edge or screw in those hooks.
The fence posts stay up just fine without the thread ‘n’ hooks, so I left those off. In my opinion, leaving out the hooks makes the set look less cluttered.
I am especially glad I used the can of textured spray paint for the base, and that I painted the sashes and robes of the priests. Those two things alone changed the look from ordinary to exotic.
Response time follows the Bible story. The child may respond with prayer, by retelling the story to himself, or with art.
Art is not free play…
The children may choose to use art materials to retell a story or express their response to it. Art responses enable the children to express feelings and work through critical issues they cannot or do not wish to express verbally. ~ Sonja Stewart in Following Jesus
…and not prescribed projects…
The children need the freedom to choose their own response instead of everyone doing the same artwork prepared by the leader. ~ Stewart and Berryman in Young Children and Worship
…but personal response.
Here are two pictures of art response centers.
Courtesy of madarajo
Notice:
Courtesy of Sharon Chapel
Notice
Although these two centers are different, they both have simple materials. There is a place for everything and everything is in its place. The materials (paper, colored pencils, glue) encourage freedom of expression.
