A Fun Way to Teach Bible Stories
Did I ever tell you about my FLASH DRIVE of DIGITAL Bible Backdrops, Digital Download Characters and Digital Download Props Set? Well, I’m popping in here to tell you about a teaching aid I wish I had when my children were younger. I have six kids, all who are ages 12 and up, so they are a bit old for this now. A few years back I designed a Bible Character Set - it took me weeks and weeks to make, no, make that months, almost a full year! It has over 180 characters and 290 props…that’s a LOT of drawing! In fact, I got frozen shoulder from being hunched over at my desk for days on end, and had to go to physical therapy when it got so bad I couldn’t pick up a glass of water. Someday I’ll do a post on the best posture for illustrators - I learned what to do and what not to do.
Anyways, the project began when I was thinking how short the years are that children are young and absorb things like sponges. I thought about the time we sat in a recliner reading The Children’s Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones, and my kids were fascinated with the stories. I also remember reading from the real Bible and thinking how cool it would be if all the details were illustrated so the kids would get an idea of what an ancient Egyptian palace looked like when Moses went before Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go!” Or what Esther’s palace looked like, the fiery furnace, Bethlehem city or a 1st century Israeli home and jail.
I love history and archaeology, and as a kid wondered about things like this. When scripture said Abraham and Sarah lived in a tent, I didn’t have any books showing what a Bedouin tent looked like, though we have the internet to see things around the world today. I had no idea they are often made of goat hair and that the desert is blazing hot during the day and frigid at night.
So, I set out to draw a few of the main Bible story settings as backdrops for what I call Bible Theater, or Tabletop Theater for Kids. In my husband’s workshop in the basement I fashioned a small, portable wooden theater which can hold the backdrops and is easily interchangeable. It was so much fun to create, though I did inhale a bit too much sawdust during the process.
I also made a cardboard box theater from an Amazon shipping box, and painted it like a stage theater. I cut a slit at top to insert characters taped to long champagne straws, and there is also two holes on the left and right to slip a wood dowel for the backdrops. Maybe someday I’ll make a video showing you my process so you can make one - they aren’t difficult, but take some time to paint.
I have these sets available in several forms:
Giant Bundle of entire set with Fabric backdrops and printable characters
Fabric Character Sets (select sets, available from time to time on my website)
My hopes is that your kids enjoy learning Bible stories with these sets.
Read the story to them, or let them read it themselves
Note setting/environment, people mentioned, nature, events, time period, culture, outdoors or indoors, etc.
Let kids cut out the paper characters (or sew them with my Spoonflower fabric) and make paper stands for them
give kids crayons, colored pencils, and markers and let them draw props of their own
Have kids tell the story in their own words, with YOU as their audience!
LET THE FUN BEGIN!
Oh, I forgot to mention that you can make paper stands for the paper and fabric characters using cereal boxes or toilet paper rolls.
