Summer: Ruth

I told the story of Ruth this past Sunday, and I am absolutely pleased with how it was received.

Almost everyone ended up doing artwork related to the text or made something to give to someone else, as we wondered about showing kindness to family and strangers. I love observing this spontaneous response.

I had no source for this story originally, and I didn't want to purchase a script blindly. I did find a very nicely told story of Ruth in this video by Alvan Kaunfer, a Jewish storyteller using the same method, and I made a transcript of his presentation verbatim (minus the Hebrew, of course). I thought it was that good. 

You can easily see the pieces necessary to tell the story. Instead of skittle people, we combined figure patterns from all of the books I own. They turned out beautifully. 

We had a bit of trouble finding something to use for "barley"  that would hold up to repeated handling by curious hands, but eventually we got some rubber-plastic wheat filler at Michael's. The bits I cut off are very small in comparison to what I bought but I plan to use other parts of it for a couple of the parables. Real grain would have been fun, but this is also less messy; always a plus.

The wondering questions were something I had to give some thought to. Our time of wondering wasn't as free flowing as it was last week with Moses, but everyone had interesting insights. It did take some time for a few of the children to think about how they had been kind or how God had been kind to them, but it was worth the wait.

The script with all the wondering questions is below. Our scripture reading was Ruth 2:8-12.

script: The Story of Ruth

This is such a beautiful story. I hope you enjoy telling it and watching the response unfold.

Summer: Joseph

I was so pleased to find a version of Joseph! I found a fantastic script and presentation for the life of Joseph here. I particularly like the story cloth (pictured below).

This was a more involved story to prepare for, since I needed to buy the fabric and make a pattern for it and sew it together, but it really gave me alot of time to meditate on the story itself. I used fabrics like those pictured, but just cutting and gluing felt onto a larger felt back would probably work just fine for people who don't sew.

Figures

My husband is a gem and cuts all my figures. I used an image of the same Pharaoh who was ruling at the time of Joseph, but I didn't color it in (contrary to the photo above). We also just used his figure without the paraphernalia in his hands and on his belt. 

For Joseph we used the priest figure from Young Children and Worship session 13 and for his father Jacob we used the nativity Joseph from session 22 (hope that makes sense). The Ishmaelite trader is Zaccheus from session 34, and the camel is also from the nativity session 22. Some mix of Jesus' disciples from the New Testament stories works well for Joseph's brothers.

Due to copyrighting, I can only say where I got these from in the book.  Of course, you don't have to have cut figures at all. They can all be skittle people, as suggested for Joseph's brothers, but I have found that when the figures are less realistic they are not used (tried it once in a pinch for time and NO ONE used it until we cut realistic figures). This may not be an issue for you.

A jig saw is a low cost tool, and clear pine from a home improvement store, some safety gloves and sandpaper are all you need to make figures cheaply yourself, possibly more cost effectively than skittles. But again, it is not a necessity.

"Dreams"

I also have the images for the dreams in the story of Joseph here:

Joseph's first dream

Joseph's second dream

The chief butler's dream

The chief baker's dream

Pharaoh's 2 dreams

I am taking two weeks to tell this story, as suggested, to keep them from getting lost in the length of the narrative. It kind of builds suspense. Hopefully soon I can get my things together for Ruth to share with you, as that is just 3 weeks away. We already have Baby Moses and Moses & the Burning Bush from last summer. Until then, enjoy this version of Joseph's story.