Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Butterfly Project



My regular readers may be aware that we retired from full time ministry in September. This entailed finding a new church and then getting involved. Hence, not many new posts...until now. Our new church had a genius idea I want to share with you during this COVID-19 crisis. This will still be great after the pandemic too, but it is particularly useful now.

This project was a mailing, but not just any mailing. The church purchased magic flying butterflies. If you aren't familiar with these babies, they are paper butterflies with wind up wings. The sender "winds the wings" up and places the butterfly in a card. When the receiver opens the card, the butterfly comes "flying" out.

You can order these butterflyers all over the internet, but we got ours at this website.
Cards were purchased at the Dollar Tree where you can get them 2 for $1.00. You could also make your own.

To make this project really special, parents were notified ahead of time that the card would be coming in the mail. You could email or text the parents, but they simply posted it in the Facebook group for their children's ministry. The children's director announced that something would be coming in the mail for the children and asked parents to film them as they opened their cards and then send the video to the church. Someone at church put the footage together and made one video which was shown during the online church service. It was a delightful surprise, and we got to "see" some of the children we hadn't seen for quite awhile. Below is the video that was shown in church.



This is a win-win project. It sends joy into the home where it is captured on film and then sent back to the church where it is shared with all. It benefited the congregation, the children's ministry, the children themselves and families.
  • The congregation benefits by getting to see the children's ministry (it created an inter-generational moment during the church service). 
  • The children see themselves shown during the "big peoples" church and thus feel a part of it. 
  • The ministry is kept before the church (they often do not see what goes on in kidmin). 
  • Finally the children & their families receive joy when they get the cards in the first place.
Have you done any mailing projects? Let us know in the comments below.

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Tube People Starring in Isaac & the King


When I was in college my roommate gave me a note that said, "Procrastination is the thief of all time." Yes, I am a procrastinator. I kept thinking that I would redo the video for this post, but I realize that is not going to happen so, without further ado, here is part 2 of my tube people special.

I must admit, when I rolled these babies out I wasn't sure if they were going to go over or not. After all, "tube people," really? I like them, but I am a bit of a nerd. Not cool. Not a hipster. So I have been thrilled to see that this post has actually been more popular than my green screen post, which is, uh, more for the techy generation. And that encouraged me to do part 2 of this post.

I videoed myself acting the story of Isaac and the Wells (Genesis 26) to give you non-thespians an idea of how to use these tube people for story telling. Basically, you get the narrative down in your mind, and then you can even add lib a little. Like Rebecca telling Isaac that if they have to move one more time she's not coming. Maybe I took a little too much liberty there, no woman would have ever said that in those days, but it does sort of bring Rebecca to life for the kids. Once kids understand a story, you can let them act it out themselves. The key is to be uninhibited.



As I wrote in the original tube people post, you could use peg dolls, Lego people, or many other things to be "people" to act out Bible stories. Below are a few pictures of other ways I have made characters for story telling.

These "tube people" are made with Ian and Sue Coate's images. They are free on the websites listed below.

You can download the Coate's Bible images on Free Bible Images or on their own website, Free Christian Illustrations . Both of these sites are worth exploring for a multitude of good illustrations and Bible figures. You can find them for almost every character and event in the Bible.


The images I used for these are no longer available, but you can use images from the sites listed above
As I became more advanced in making the paper action figures above, I would make a copy of the image and then "flip" it in Word or Publisher. I ran off both copies and pasted them front and back so you could see the figures from both sides. These were a lot of work, but I saved them in a tote to reuse. You could also flatten the paper clip for storage in file folders.

Here I made flannel-graph figures with free printable Bible people.
Same printable people made into "tube people."
You can find the free download for the Bible people printable at The Activity Mom.

If you would like to see another demonstration of dramatizing a Bible event with paper figures, check out my Elijah and the Prophets of Baal post.

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Tube People for Acting Out Bible Stories


Make these tube people from things you already have around your house.

I coined the term "tube people," because that's what these are. People made from tubes. Complete instructions are in the video.

As parents or teachers, you can use these people to act out Bible stories. Kids can use them for the same, or just for imaginary play. In this day of tech, playing with hands on, kinesthetic items is so important. Tech is great, but I still don't think there is any substitute for good old fashioned creative play to develop the imagination. So during this time of staying at home, here's a great activity for the whole family.

Supplies:
  • empty paper tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, gift wrap) AND/OR empty chip board boxes. You can also use card stock, manila file folders or anything stiff that can be rolled into a tube.
  • stapler or tape
  • pieces of cloth (can be old rags, sheets, t-shirts...you can even use tissues)
  • Sharpie (black)
  • rubber bands, yarn, twine, strips of cloth for tying on the "head dress"
Directions:
  1. Roll your cardboard into a tube shape and staple it
  2.  Cut the size head dress you want
  3. Cut a length of twine, yarn or cloth for tying on the head dress
  4. Put the cloth over the top of the tube person, and tie it on as pictured
  5. Draw a face on with the Sharpie and you are done
  6. If you want to get fancy you can draw on clothes
Here is the instructable in video form:
These people can be used in any number of Bible story re-tellings. Sometime in May 2020 I will post some links below to scripts I have that could be acted out with tube people. I will also have a link to a video where I actually use tube people to re-enact a Bible story so you can see how to do it (for anyone who feels inhibited, or thinks they are not creative enough to do this.) Keep checking back.



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