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.

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.

Rahabed!

I was thinking of Tangled when we did this activity. Usually I see something and visualize how we could use it in our lesson, but I was outdone by my co-worker on this one. The story was about Rahab, the spies and the scarlet cord.

Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem

King David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem is another lesson that lends itself to drama. Click here for the outline to act out this story.

I told the story first via power point using Free Bible Images. Then we acted it out in two parts.

A Good Fish Story - Jonah

Everyone knows that fishermen are likely to exaggerate the size of their latest catch, but how many fish can brag of catching a man (aside from the one in Geico's cheesy 2015 commercial)? There is no exaggeration in the size of the fish that swallowed Jonah, and there is a lot of truth in this story to swallow as well. The message in this book lends itself to drama too, a great plus for your tactile/kinesthetic learners.

Props Needed:

In the Dark with Gideon

What kid wouldn’t love the allure of making noise and getting to play in the dark at Sunday School? That’s what happened when we acted out the story of Gideon from Judges 8. This story was very simple to re-enact. 

Here is what you need:

The Day the Sun Stood Still

Balaam’s donkey may be a favorite among kids, but I think the story from Joshua 10, the day the sun stood still,

Joseph Rules in Egypt

Drama is one of the finest ways for children to experience Bible stories. Many passages in the history books of the Bible lend themselves to drama. Here we did Joseph supervising the collection of grain during the 7 good years of crops in Egypt.

You will probably have most of the props on hand for this story. You need:

Fiery Furnace

As promised, here is the rest of the story on Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or “into – bed-you-go”).

I wrote a drama for this story that uses at least 10 people. You can use 20 or more since you need a crowd for all of the scenes. You can also do it with less than 10 people if you allow some people to have double roles. We used our adult teachers along with the students.

Here is the link for the DRAMA.
Here is the link for the IMAGE I used to make the golden idol.

Scene One takes place in the throne room. I actually have created a throne room for other stories, but I did not think of doing it for this one. 

 

Pictured to the left is the throne room I could have used. To make this room, I hang plastic purple table clothes from rods I have installed in my classroom. I will post more detailed instructions next week. The thrones are actually folding lawn chairs (fit for a king and queen -ha! ha!)

In Scene Two, we find ourselves out in the field before the