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.

Summer Enrichment and Baby Moses

I have had many, many thoughts about how to fill in the Sundays from my scheduled curriculum until the start of the next year's cycle in the middle of August. There were several possibilities I explored, but in the end, I decided to use the four stories that were only lacking in one existing in-print story script with figure patterns. Life in summer is so busy, and this was the simplest path. So for the four weeks we have available we will be covering Moses and David in the following summer lessons:

• Baby Moses
• Moses and the Burning Bush
• David the Shepherd Boy
• David & Goliath

I was so thrilled when I found I Wonder... More Stories for Children and Worship when I was in the initial stages of considering whether or not to adopt the sensorimotor curriculum (since financially it seemed to be potentially out of our budget ability as a baby church), and I ended up ordering it. 

There are many "extra" stories in this book, as well as a sample schedule covering a several year span to incorporate them. The only story not in this line-up is Baby Moses, but I felt confident someone had already done it, so I searched, but again, not much was around. 

I found some wondering question samples in one spot and a couple of simple script ideas in another, but nothing concrete. So, as is my custom, I made one myself. Using patterns in the back of I Wonder... I sketched figures. From the sample story lines I designed a script. I am making them both available to you here to freely use in your homeschool, Sunday school, or worship center. If you'd kindly link back to this blog, I'd be grateful. Enjoy!!

Baby Moses figure patterns

Baby Moses script

Update: June 2015

The story of Baby Moses has been one of the most used stories in our classroom over this past year. I don't know if it is because it is about a child, because it is so "famous", because they really like the little plants to put in the sand or putting the baby in the basket and into Pharaoh's daughter's arms. Whatever the reason, I am so pleased that it was well-received!

I am also thinking of setting out this craft as an example for inspiration of those choosing to do artwork in response time. Enjoy!

Parable of the Insistent Friend

So I had the hardest time getting components and inspiration for this parable. Pickings are rather slim for the less than famous stories of Jesus, and even artwork is lacking compared to, say, last week's. I managed to find a few things, but I had to make up some of my own parts, which, I guess is not terrible.

Story
I used the dark blue felt underlay from last week's parable, since this also takes place at night. I had several wooden figures: a man, woman and three or four children who were all laying in the bed from our doll house. These were set up inside their "house" along the path that was spread over the underlay. Then I had another man figure who was the friend, standing just outside the door. The whole "house and door were just our parable box because I couldn't come up with anything else.

I told the parable using the basic text from Luke 11, then asked lots of questions at the end. You can get the script here:

script: Parable of the Insistent Friend

Song
After the lesson presentation, we sang "Ask, Seek and Knock" by WonderKids, using simple hand motions. One hand was the door and we knocked with the other hand. I sang it with them and it was very quickly learned.

Craft
For our craft we made a moving coloring picture that I ended up creating myself from various components I found online. The friend's hand knocks by the action of a brad attached at his shoulder, and the door is openable as well. The template is available through the link below.

 

download craft template

Coloring

Here is another coloring page that I cleaned up and made available, but they were more interested in the craft, so we did it and I sent the other one home with them.

Video

A nice little animation of this parable was on YouTube, but it was in Spanish, and it was made to go along with the song that was written just for the animation. So I spliced it with "Ask, Seek and Knock" and it was perfect.

Snack

Since preparing went slowly and I ended up spending a while on designing and assembling the craft, I didn't have a snack. However, I probably would serve biscuits or rolls, since the parable ties it in, and I would serve it in a small bread basket.

Lost and Found: The Parable of the Lost Sheep

This week I had an abundance of resources to sift through to prepare for the parable. My only trouble was to find what was best.

So...I looked, and I looked, and I looked, much like the shepherd searching for his little lost sheep. I ended up stumbling upon this batch of ideas, and I am so glad I did!

Story
The method of telling a parable with simple words and objects is ingenius. Preschoolers really benefit from 3-D visuals/manipulatives. This is sort of what I did for the parable of the net and the hidden treasure, so I guess I was onto something.

I already have most of the supplies. I found some plastic sheep at a local thrift store (which was a miracle), and put everything together. The story script is one I found from a British Anglican church (though I can't get for the life of me find how I got to it now, so the link is for a copy off the resource I had saved). I love this presentation.

Script for Parable of the Lost Sheep

But I need to back up. Before I told the parable from the box, I used this preparation object lesson:

Object Lesson

• Have 99 pennies in a large jar. Ask the children to guess how many there are. Tell the children you have 100, and then let them help to count them, say that one is missing. Ask them if it really matters that one is missing when you have so many? Then ask them to find it for you.

It took a bit of prep work time to count them all out, but it worked great. Little children love looking for little things, especially coins. :)

Coloring
After the story, I used this activity sheet , and this coloring page (which was a hit). I like how the coloring page captures the other sheep left safely and the joy of the reunion.

Craft

We did a cute craft that I think the children enjoyed. They are clothespin sheep. (I found the idea here.) The body is cardboard and the legs are two wooden clothespins painted black (or not) and they are wound with yarn. This is an excellent preschool fine/gross motor skill craft, and it is so cute! 

I was happy to find a ball of curly white/gray yarn at our dollar store, so my lesson overall was very inexpensive. 

Snack

For the snack we had shepherd's staffs. I just took the end of the bread sticks and turned them over so they weren't straight. Yummy and well-received. The recipe is from here and it was super easy.

Video Extra

Then we watched this short video clip. I liked it so much, I just couldn't resist showing it. It does have a bit of peril, but of course the happy ending, and it is true to the parable without being too lengthy.

I hope you can enjoy something from this post in the plethora of "lost sheep" findings out there!