There is more to working a puppet than just sticking your hand in and flapping the mouth. Here, I will explain many of the secrets to bringing a puppet alive and making your presentation engaging, entertaining and memorable.
This article is about different ideas for visual aids and making it interactive as you communicate what happens, what it means and how it applies.
That’s because we all remember much more of what we see and hear than what we just hear. And some level of interaction is also pretty crucial because we remember even more of what we do than what we see and hear.
Let’s divide presentation ideas into 3 main categories…all conveniently starting with ‘p’:
Pictures are probably the most straightforward approach. They’re particularly good at supporting knowledge of what happens in a Bible passage.
There are some fantastic free resources on the internet. There are also some superb ones which you pay for.
Most of these sites produce images in sets covering a complete Bible passage. You can print them or insert them into a slideshow depending on the facilities you’ve got available.
The disadvantage of this approach is that it’s 2-dimensional or flat. Useful, but make sure you don’t just use pictures every session. And ask what’s happening in the pictures- that can make them more interactive.
Or why not make a video if you have the facilities. Get hold of some simple costumes, make sure your actors know their lines for each clip, try a few ‘takes’ for each clip and then edit it using something like Windows Movie Maker to make it a bit more polished.
Video can be really entertaining and effective. But remember that video is also 2-dimensional, unless you’ve got some really fancy kit, and it gives you even less chance to interact with the children. So, use it to communicate part of your talk. It’s an aid to support your talk, not a substitute for it.
Props are incredibly powerful in helping a Bible passage to come alive for children. And they can be anything that helps make your point. So, use hats, wigs and costumes to dress somebody up as a Bible character, unless that character is Jesus, in which case probably only use a costume if it’s necessary.
For example, if you’re teaching about Jairus’ daughter and the woman who’d been ill for twelve years, it’s important that your Jesus actor is wearing a cloak cos the woman reached out and touched Jesus’ cloak.
You could make a model of the Ark of the Covenant or the temple if that helps to explain a passage. Rig up a curtain that rips in two from top to bottom; use flood lights for the transfiguration; use flash paper for the burning bush; in short, anything that’s available that will help illustrate your talk.
We’ve already said that interaction is very powerful. So, plan to get other people involved in your talk. That might be the other adult members in your team who act out certain bits of the talk.
More commonly it’s getting some of the children involved; that could be a simple as asking them to hold a prop or picture. But it’s even better if you can dress them up as characters and then asking them to say key lines at the appropriate times.
Even better if you can get all the children involved somehow – maybe write a simple response poem. You say a line, they say it back to you; you say a line, they say it back etc…or ask them to do sound effects, or ask them to show an emotion like fear, anger, or jealousy.
Finally, it’s easy to fall into the trap of using lots of funky ideas to illustrate what happens in a Bible passage.
But what about the meaning? What about the application? A crown can be very powerful in pointing children to Jesus being King over Everything.
A box of toys and gadgets can be equally powerful in warning children of the dangers of greed.
So, there’s a quick look at presentation ideas.
We’ve looked at how to use pictures, props and people to bring our bible talks alive.
How to make your visual aids as effective as possible.
So jumping straight in here’s the key question you need to ask: What is it you need to reinforce?
Remember this above everything else. Since visual aids are visual aids. What they do is reinforce, make more memorable, help to make things clear.
We need to be sure what it is we need to reinforce, make memorable or make clear.
Let me explain with some examples. You might want to grab a Bible to look up the verses.
So imagine you were planning to teach Genesis 12:1-9. That’s where God tells Abram and Sarai to leave their home country and go to a land He’d reveal to them. And he makes them a promise.
And they did what God asked of them. Now, it’s a journey and there are about 7 place names mentioned in those verses. And we know that Abram took Sarai and Lot and probably, although we’re not told, other family members as well, plus a load of animals.
We could spend hours preparing a map of their journey, or writing place names out to go round the room. We could dress the children up as Abram, Sarai, Lot and everyone else, maybe even sheep and cow masks for their animals. That would be creative and a lot of fun.
Well what we really need to reinforce are God’s words, what God says. It’s God’s 3 massive promises in verses 2-4.
It’s about God promising that
Maybe 3 speech bubbles which show the 3 key things that God promised to Abram. And if you’ve got time, grab a dressing gown from somewhere so you can dress up a child to pretend to be Abram.
But the focus is on God’s words.
Now, of course, if you’re working with pre-schoolers who haven’t yet learned to read that would be more difficult.
But why not find a simplified version of God’s promise and learn it as a series of 3 memory verses? And add in pictures of a family, a home and the word ‘Jesus’ as visuals to support the three main parts of the promise.
Luke 7: 1-10. There, Jesus is asked by a Roman Centurion to heal his servant. So, Jesus heads off towards his house, on the way he gets a message from the Centurion: “You don’t need to come to my house, just say the word and he’ll recover.” And that’s exactly what happens.
So, question is, is it worth trying to get hold of some kind of Roman soldier costume? Well, the answer is, “yes.” And here’s why. The thing we should be trying to reinforce, that is the point of that passage, is Jesus’ authority to command.
The Centurion recognizes that while he can give orders to his soldiers, Jesus has the authority to command diseases and they’ll obey him. That principle is central to understanding this incident.
So a visual aid to help the children understand this point could well be someone dressed in a centurion costume barking out orders to some soldiers. Or if you can’t get a costume then have pictures of Centurions and soldiers.
The transfiguration- that’s where Jesus takes Peter, James and John up a mountain and they see Jesus shine in awesome glory and are joined by Elijah and Moses.
Peter offers to build some tents and God speaks telling them to listen to Jesus. I know it’s pretty obvious but spending your time on putting some tents up kind of misses the point.
That’s because the point to reinforce is Jesus is God’s true son and King.
So a really memorable visual aid could be using a floodlight to give some idea of what it was like for those disciples to witness Jesus’ glory and even better add a recording of a voice reciting God saying ‘This is my Son whom I love.’
These both reinforce the main point- Jesus is God’s true Son and King.
Now in Jesus’ parables with people in them we need to reinforce not just what happens in the story but who the characters represent in real life. So for this, the obvious visual aid would be to dress up the children or your fellow leaders to re-enact the story.
But how to reinforce who the characters represent in real life? Well, how about making some badges or labels to hang around their necks to help explain who Jesus is referring to.
So in this example, the badges would be ‘Father God’ ‘People who realize they need forgiveness’ and ‘People who think they’re good enough’ or something like that.
Read John chapter 21. Think first about what you most want to reinforce, and then the visual aids where you’d spend your time and effort on.
There is a lot in this passsage. There’s a miracle, there’s another of Jesus’ resurrection appearances, there are 153 fish and there’s a discussion between Peter and Jesus.
But what do you want to reinforce- where would you invest your time?
Hopefully it wouldn’t be in making exactly 153 replica cardboard haddock. Hopefully you’re thinking, “This is all about Jesus’ forgiveness of Peter. It’s about how Peter denied Jesus 3 times and was asked by Jesus 3 times to feed his sheep. It’s about how Peter can serve Jesus despite his pride, weakness and his failure.”
So, maybe you could use your visual aids to link back to his failure in that courtyard by showing the children what Peter said then and what Jesus says to him now. And maybe you could focus on Jesus’ question to Peter and all of us: “Do you really love me?”
So, there are some examples where asking the question ‘What do I need to reinforce’ helps us to decide where to invest our time and effort when making visual aids.
But just before I finish here are a couple of other things to consider in making your visual aids more effective.
First, don’t forget that pictures can be very powerful. There are some great websites which provide free images to help communicate Bible passages to children, plus one or two that charge a fee.
Think carefully, however, before using books or children’s Bibles to provide your visuals- they tend to be trickier to use.
Generally speaking, though not always, the pictures are too small to use with groups of children and the other problem is it’s tempting just to resort to using the author’s words. And if you just read the words you’re not thinking it through yourself and the book will almost certainly not teach what it means and how it applies.
Second, there are loads of more ambitious ideas you can do you can do to bring the Bible alive using visual aids if you have the time and the energy.
I love to use illusions and magic tricks to demonstrate Bible truths. In fact I have written several books on how you can do this.
But don’t forget that the simplest things are usually the most useful in Children’s Ministry – a flat bed sheet, a crown and a rough wooden cross are the three most useful items. Never be without them.
For more ideas and how-to information, I have written a book on creative ministry. Thank you.
Teaching the Bible to children is why we’re here,
So, you’ve got the challenge of handling this bit of God’s word and helping the children in your group to engage with it.
God’s word is powerful and He uses it to change lives…so this is a massive privilege. But it’s also a big responsibility. We need to be careful to teach what God intends the children to learn.
So, in this article, we’ll look at some of the most important principles.
Here are those important principles:
So, where do we start?
Well, that’s easy. Read the Bible passage.
It’ll probably be a passage from one of the historical books of the Old Testament or from a gospel or Acts; it might be a Psalm, or from a New Testament letter. And you might be quite familiar with it.
But read the Bible passage – because if you don’t then there’s a big risk that you’ll assume you know it and miss something important.
So, let’s work through an example:
“And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Now, you’re probably already thinking about those visual aids and ideas to make it interactive. You might be imagining pictures of boats, models of boats, inflatable boats or even taking the children out for a ride on a boat to make it real. You’re planning how you can use stormy sound effects, water pistols or buckets of water to make the whole thing come alive.
And all of that is fantastic! Ideas like that are brilliant for engaging children with God’s word. Write down those ideas as they come to you. But that’s not all of it.
And the difference between telling great Bible stories and TEACHING the Bible is in explaining what it MEANS and how that APPLIES to our lives today.
To teach the Bible you need to include not just knowledge of what happened, but also the meaning of what it means and the application to us today.
Here’s the simplest way to get to the meaning: ask yourself what does this teach about God or Jesus or the work of the Holy Spirit; or us? Or the non-Christian world? Or the church?
Sometimes that’ll be fairly obvious. Sometimes more difficult to work out. So, what’s the meaning of our example passage?
Well there’s a big clue in verse 41 when the terrified disciples ask each other ‘Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him.’
But who is this Jesus? I mean, who is he… REALLY.
They were gradually making sense in their minds who Jesus really is. King over everything. So, the meaning of this passage is about Jesus’ being King over the storm – yes…but much much more than that.
And what’s the application? Well, the application is really about my response. And God works to bring about the response that He wants in our lives.
But we should certainly point the children to right applications not wrong ones. The easiest way to get to this is to see what the challenge or encouragement is.
So, for our passage here, knowing that Jesus is King over Everything means our response should be to worship, serve and trust Him as our King.
That’s faith.
Did you see the challenge in Jesus’ question to the disciples in verse 40? Why are you so afraid?
Instead of panic and worry trust Jesus, who is King over Everything. He doesn’t promise to take the storm away…but He wants us to learn to worship and serve and trust Him.
So, in order to teach this passage let’s see what we’ve got: we need to plan to communicate what happened, what it means and how it applies to us today. And that is the outline of your talk.
If you divide your sheet of paper into 3 columns and jot down what you’re going to cover under those three headings, probably in that order then you’ve got the basic structure of a great Bible talk.
Well, that’s where all those wonderful ideas come in. Your only limit is your own imagination – plus the mess that’s left to clear up afterward.
Those ideas will make it visual and interactive – and the children will be much more engaged and will understand it much better when you do that.
That’s really important for any talk to children. It’s better to focus on one meaning and application than try to make five of each and leave them looking bewildered.
If you’ve been given a long passage to teach then you’ll have to focus on the key events.
For example, if you’re teaching the flood from Genesis 6-9 to pre-school children there’s no need at all to go into the stuff about two of every animal or seven of every animal.
This may cause you to lose the key point – God judging sin and choosing to rescue Noah and his family.
To keep things clear you also need to think about some of the words you might be tempted to use.
A 6-year-old only understands a quarter of the vocabulary of an adult, and a 3-year-old only about 1-2% …so think about the words you’ll be using.
What about timings? Well, aim for roughly a minute for every year of their age.
So, for under 5s keep it under 5 minutes, under 8s keep it under 8 minutes and for under 12s keep it under 12 minutes; for the youngest ones you’ll want to spend almost all of that time on what happened and then a simple sentence or two on meaning and application.
But for children at the top end of primary school age, we can explore the meaning and application with them in much more depth. So, there ya go.
Think through the meaning and application as well as what happens, make it visual and interactive and keep it really clear. And teach them God’s word – it’s why we’re there.
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Whether it is your weekly children’s ministry, puppet ministry or just putting on a great Vacation Bible School, you need top-notch, committed volunteers.
If recruiting volunteers is up there on your list of things to do, you’re not alone. Attracting and keeping new help is a challenge to most ministries, at least at one time or another.
The good news is, it is a problem with lots of possible solutions. You might not solve the issue overnight, but even if you do not end up with a giant roster of new names immediately, plugging away at volunteer recruitment can add to your ranks and let your crew accomplish more of what it wants to do for your church and for children.
Recruiting new volunteers is a year-long process. It is great to set up a table at the back of the church, but don’t stop there. Other key recruitment times include other church events such as fellowship dinners or Bible studies.
Even at times you feel you don’t need more help, invite church members to sit in on an event and see what you are doing with the children and young people. They may be more willing to help out in the future once they see what you are doing.
You will open yourself up to a wider pool when you get comfortable with the idea that not everyone is interested in or cut out for the same volunteer commitment. Your time available and reasons for volunteering may be totally different from someone else’s. That’s okay. No reason is better than another.
It is a big No-No to put out your volunteer sheets and not then follow up with every single person who signs up. Even if you do not have an immediate task for someone, reach out enthusiastically and sincerely. Let them know you are glad you will be in touch soon with a task.
It is a good feeling to have someone to call when one of your people must miss an event at the last moment.
If someone is only available every 4th Sunday for 2 hours find a way to involve them. If someone has an infant, look for job where they could bring the baby along. Flexibility creates good vibrations and that makes people feel valued.
Matching people to their interest or skill can make volunteering a better experience overall that, in turn, will encourage that volunteer to help out again. You can get a jump on this by providing a space on your volunteer sign-up sheets for new volunteers to write in what they would like to do.
Teenagers and college students make great volunteers. They have energy and enthusiasm that can be contagious. But, if you have a teen doing puppets when they would rather lead singing, you will have a teen that will be less committed in the long run.
Reaching past your immediate Church community to Christian friends in like-minded churches can add to your ranks. Think about the kind of opportunities you could offer people outside of your regular Church attendance. This could include helping in the nursery on a Wednesday evening, helping in the classroom, or bringing a special devotion.
My wife and I have driven an hour to a pastor friend’s church several times to provide babysitting for the children of members of their Reformers Anonymous group.
This weekly meeting brings in non-church members, often non-Christians for help with addictions. The lack of a babysitter can keep these people from getting the help they want, so the church always provides a sitter.
At times, their regular volunteers to watch the children were unavailable, so my wife and I have driven down to do the job.
Sometimes a job needs to be done, and your church, especially if it is a small one, may not have the personnel to help. Extended family members of your church members may be Christian and willing to help. Reach out.
Sweeten the deal by offering a reward. Teenagers will often be more involved if they know there is a special party or special trip for the young helpers once or twice a year in appreciation for their help. Teenagers make great volunteers for puppet ministry and Vacation Bible School programs. A special reward will help motivate them to have consistent and prompt attendance.
Often, a new volunteer feels like ministry leaders talk to them as if they already know the ins and outs, but they probably do not. Even what you consider basic might be new and foreign to them.
Freely share the types of things that would have made it easier for you when you first started. For example, give as much detail as you can when you ask someone to help with a task or event.
With puppet ministry, new volunteers may not know the proper way to manipulate and handle the puppet. A little extra knowledge will help your new volunteers have a lot more confidence.
A fellow evangelist once helped me build a couple decks for a church I was a member at. Surprisingly, and slightly frustrating, too, he had no concept of basic carpentry skills. He actually wanted to eye-ball the length to cut a board.
I assumed everyone knew enough to measure a board before cutting, or how to drive a screw, but I had to teach him even those things.
Realize your new volunteers may not have the background, knowledge, and skills you take for granted.
Sometimes it takes several conversations before someone will become full-time volunteer. That said, try to recognize the balance between gently encouraging someone and accepting when someone isn’t ready or committed.
As they participate more and more over time, volunteers usually become more committed and want to take on new and challenging tasks, too. Give them time to develop.
There are many ways for church members to pitch in for short durations, either while they are learning the ropes or because they have only time for short-term tasks. Allow them to take on those opportunities early on, and it can encourage them to take on more gradually over time.
From updating a website, to cutting out paper shapes for crafts projects, stuffing envelopes, to designing flyers and lesson pages, there are plenty of ways people can pitch in from home make it hard for them to come to the church.
You should even get into the habit of setting aside those kinds of jobs and delegating them as opportunities come up. This is a great way to get senior citizens or those with limited transportation a chance to be involved in the church in the ministry.
It is tempting to rely on emails or flyers or church bulletins to get the word out about your ministry and volunteer opportunities. But it is way more effective to get personal. Just discussing the ministry and the things you are doing with church members after church or at fellowship dinners can create interest and get more people involved.
Inviting people to become involved personally and not just hanging a flyer will give you much better results and help you recruit the people you really want.
You may have felt tempted to cancel an event due to low volunteer response, but using guilt to entice people mostly just makes them feel bad. Even if they show up for that one event, they won’t be inspired to keep helping.
There are lots of ways to do something right. Offer some guidance, but allow new volunteers to try things their own way. It builds their confidence, which can encourage them to keep at it.
From the start, make sure your volunteers know how much you appreciate them.
It does not have to be complicated, even an email that says” thanks so much for everything” following a big event means a lot. When volunteers are truly appreciated, they are more likely to spread the word and encourage others to become involved.
Here are six comments that discourage involvement and SIX positive alternatives to use instead.
No ministry leader would purposely turn away an eager volunteer. But sometimes the most innocent of comments can have that result. When you are busy planning for six activities, behind on a deadline, and hurrying home after a meeting, the last thing you want to do is listen to a new idea or walk through how a new member can get involved.
Those conversations take so much time. But that is pretty much what you need to do if your ministry is going to thrive in the future though.
To help your group change its habits, I have collected six common lines guaranteed to kill the enthusiasm of even the most enthusiastic newbie, along with what you should say instead.
We all know what this really is. It is a complete brush off. Be careful about using “we” as a generalization, too. It depersonalizes the statement so no one is accountable.
A better way to end the conversation is “do you want to talk to Joe about that? Here is his phone number.” Or, set up an appointment to call ot meet with the person.
By opening a line of communication, where your volunteer can have his questions answered, you encourage the volunteer.
No one wants to repeat mistakes, but sometimes ideas that failed before can be successful with new people or a new situation.
Instead, respond with “we had a bad experience once with a similar idea. Maybe it is time to reconsider and take in your approach. Would you please detail your idea and how you would implement it?”
Allowing your enthusiastic team member to detail their idea and formulate it into a plan let’s them know their input is valued and appreciated.
They may discover for themselves why it won’t work, or they may discover exactly what needs to be done to make it work.
Their detailed plan will also allow you to discuss it with them without appearing dismissive.
Just because your ministry has settled into a comfortable pattern, that does not mean it is perfect. Change is hard, it is disruptive, and it takes time. It can also energize of the group.
A better response would be, “we are so used to doing things a certain way, it is hard to consider changing it. Can you explain how your new idea might improve the ministry?”
Again, by listening to the idea rather than just quickly dismissing it, you make your team members feel valued and this will encourage them to present ideas in the future. Ideas that just might be invaluable to your ministry’s growth and success.
Rather than cut off the volunteer, find a better place or his or her skill. Try this line next time, “I think there are already enough volunteers for the amount of work in that committee. But we could certainly use help in this area. would that interest you? We would love to benefit from your talent.”
My family once belonged to a church for five years. Although we were active in a traveling children’s ministry and prison ministry, our church never had anyway w could help.
We asked, again and again, to be involved with the children’s ministry, with cleaning the church, with maintenance, (I have carpentry experience), but the pastor never found a way for us to serve in the local church. Every need was met by other members. For the 5 years we were there, we always felt like outsiders.
We have belonged to other churches where from day one we were asked to participate in one way or another. If someone wants to help, find a way to involve them.
You might as well finish the sentence, “ because this is all the training you are going to get.”
You might intend it as a sincere offer to provide help without micromanaging, it can also sound like a dismissal.
Try closing the conversation with” I will give you a couple of days to look over the material and then I will check in to see how it is going. In the meantime, here is my phone number and email address if you have questions.”
Why does every little decision have to be run by the pastor or children’s minister? That is what a committee or a delegated volunteer is for.
Make sure your volunteers know the mission and know what decisions they can and cannot make. Let them take ownership of the project. Your volunteers develop a sense of pride in their accomplishment, and a sense of responsibility for the project or program.
This will build better leaders and better children’s ministry.
Our words and statements send a message. They do not always send the message we wish to send, so it is important to consider how your words will be received.
Remember volunteers are just that. They are giving of their time, and finances, to help your ministry be a success and to reach children for Christ.
Be an encourager, not a discourager.
Build a better children’s ministry with these books by Dennis Regling, available at Amazon
