Category: Visual Aids

image_pdfimage_print

Telling a Story with Pictures

Published on by MaryLeave a comment

Angry at Stephens preaching

I often tell Bible stories without using pictures at all.  My careful description of the event, dramatic inflections of my voice and appropriate gestures help the listener form mental pictures in their own minds that are better than any I could draw on my own.

Sometimes I let the children draw their own pictures (see Draw and Tell Visual Aids Made by Children).  Besides being a great way for children to express themselves the pictures give me an insight into whether or not I have communicated the story well.  The pictures also often reveal the child’s understanding and reaction to God’s word and I learn a lot from that.

But, if I find really good illustrations from other sources I like to use them.  The old saying “a picture says a thousand words” is particularly true with illustrations of Bible events and I want to make sure the “words” the picture is saying are true to what God is saying.  For this reason I am careful in using such illustrations.  Here are some tips:

  • The illustration should be biblically correct.  If the Bible describes people, settings and actions then the picture needs to depict them as it is written in the Bible.  Occasionally I will use a picture that strays from this in a small way but I am careful to point that out to the child I am showing it to.
  • The illustration should be age appropriate.   Children are quick to tell you that they are not “babies”.  A picture that looks too childish for the age you are teaching shows a lack of respect on your part.  But, on the other extreme graphic pictures can be too mature for a younger child and they could be traumatised in some way like having bad dreams.  A picture that alludes to the event is more appropriate for young children.
  • Facial expressions should make sense.  The stories of the Bible involve many different emotions and children study the facial expressions in illustrations to make judgements about the characters.  (Note the angry expressions of the synagogue leaders in the picture above.  I used this picture in teaching the story of the Stoning of Stephen.)
    And not every story has a “happy ending” for every character.  For instance, if you are telling a bible story that involves suffering or temptation it would not make sense for the characters to have smiling faces.  This trivialises the Word of God and does not actually prepare children for real life situations that Christians face.
  • Illustrations should reflect the culture and time period of the event.  Artistic license allows an artist to interpret events into modern-day settings.  I personally enjoy some of this artwork but children are usually more literal in their thinking so they can be confused by this.  For this reason I try to use illustrations that depict the biblical characters in clothes and settings of the time in which the event took place.
  • A few illustrations can be better than many.  One good illustration might be enough to use while you tell the entire story.  As a teacher you could cover up part of the picture and reveal it in stages or simply point to different parts as you tell the story.  You might even choose to combine the visual aid with a craft or other activity.  Try these ideas at New Ways to Use Simple Colouring Pictures. 
  • No picture can replace good teaching.  Finally, remember this…even if you choose perfect illustrations you must not depend on them to tell the entire story.  Children need to hear God’s Word for a growing faith.

Free Illustrations from Sweet Publishing

Today I wanted to share with you a great resource for illustrations that I have stumbled upon.  It is found at https://www.unfoldingword.org/sweet-publishing/.  Good quality illustrations can be downloaded and used in an unlimited number of ways.  Sweet Publishing has made a vast number of illustrations available for public use and free of charge.  The terms of use say

“These free Bible illustrations are © Sweet Publishing and are made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.”  

The user can even distribute the works as long as they are attributed to Sweet Publishing according to the instructions provided.  I’ve been working on lessons from the Book of Acts and have used the illustrations for slide shows and visual aids.  I’ll include them below and am quite happy to attribute them to http://sweetpublishing.com.  

I hope you will give the Illustration Website a try and use the illustrations as you share the Word of God with children.

Illustrations from “Free Bible Images”

Another wonderful resource for visual aids is http://www.freebibleimages.org/  If you have used the illustrations from Sweet Publishing then you will notice that Free Bible Images has made use of many of their illustrations.

At this website you will find downloadable flip charts and illustrations for many Bible Stories.  I like that you can download in a number of formats.  When you download you will be asked to agree to their terms of use.  These are generally quite generous but you will need to read each one.

 

Teaching Alongside the Creator

Published on by MaryLeave a comment

Teaching with the Creator

In the rush to find scissors and glue we should not neglect the natural supplies God has provided as teaching resources.

We do not teach alone.  We join the Master Teacher, the Creator, who is already using his creation to draw people to Himself:

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4, NIV)

and…

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20, NIV)
 

A student I supervise, Cristy, recently encouraged a group of teachers to bring God’s teaching resources into our classrooms.  Cristy sent a group of teachers outside the building to find and bring back items that teach about God.  (She only allowed them 3 minutes!).

Here are the types items these teachers found:

We thought this might be more of a challenge when we taught the same workshop in Metro Manila (Philippines).  The church building we were in was surrounded by a parking lot devoid of plants and next to a busy street.  Still, when Cristy sent the teachers out they quickly adapted and came back with a wonderful collection of both natural and other teaching items including items such as:

Pointing out God’s creation when we teach brings a profound richness into what we are sharing.  In the years to come children may forget a picture used for illustration or a worksheet.  But, for the rest of their lives they will continue to see leaves and stones and soil.  Connecting these things with spiritual lessons now will mean that the lessons will be reinforced over and over.

I can just imagine the future when one of my students, as an elderly person, picking up a stone and telling his or her grandchild about how the stone was rolled away from the tomb.

I want to teach with the Creator!

Simple Truths- Sam’s Drawings

Published on by MaryLeave a comment

I’ve seen and used quite a few very elaborate visual aids and presentations in the 35+ years I have been teaching Children’s Bible Classes.

I’ve used…

Once I even convinced a wonderful man at church that he should construct an amazing “feat of engineering” whereby a young man was lowered, on a stretcher, down through an air vent in the ceiling, into the church auditorium to teach the story about the Man Lowered Through the Roof.  That was just awesome (thanks, Steve!).

Even though these times were memorable for the children and great fun for me and others involved they could certainly not be done every time I teach.  That would be both exhausting and expensive.

Jesus used amazing miracles but what did he do day in and day out as he taught people?  It seems to me that he made use of situations and teaching tools on hand.  Once it was lilies in a field.  Another time a coin in the mouth of a fish.  In John chapter 8:6 Jesus even wrote on the ground using his finger.

Very simple.  Very effective.

Recently, Samer (Sam) Samlertaree, a student at the South Pacific Bible College offered to help add to this website.  Sam had seen some simple line drawings and thought he could create some more to depict Bible stories in a way teachers might find useful.  The drawings could be used for flip charts or included in Power Point presentations.

Knowing Sam was a great student of the Bible I challenged him to tackle some stories that teachers sometimes can’t find visual aids for.  Drawing what the Bible says is much more difficult than it appears and I challenge you to give it a try.  At first glance this picture here seems simple.  But have a closer look.  In a simple drawing Sam has captured the essence of 1 Samuel 8:4-9 by showing the people’s desperation for a king and Samuel’s confusion at their request.  Sam has proved that a simple visual aid can say it all.

Kids love simple drawings!   I’m no artist but that has never stopped me from using stick figures to teach a lesson.  Once I have set aside my self-pride and make attempts I find that children encourage and even want to help me give it a go.  And simple drawings inspire children to listen to the story and draw their own pictures.

Click the links to view the Bible story pages where you can view and/or download the pictures Sam has drawn.  (The pictures appear in the lower sections of each Bible story page so be sure and scroll down once you are there.)

Achan’s Sin Joshua 7-8:1
Achans Sin Flip Chart Cover

Saul Becomes Israel’s 1st King (1 Samuel 8-10) 

Jehoshaphat and the People Pray 2 Chronicles 20:1-30

After Easter: Empty Eggs and the Empty Tomb

Published on by Mary3 Comments

Sometimes it seems like the resurrection of Jesus is just mixed in with the Easter bunny and Easter eggs and that makes me uncomfortable.

I remember, as a young mother, what the “after Easter slump” felt like.  The children were grumpy after their sugar high.  Little bits of fractured egg shell were in the carpet.  I would find candy wrappers and Easter basket grass in all sorts of secret hiding places for weeks to come.

I don’t want to put away the story of Jesus along with the Easter decorations!  It has occurred to me that the days following Easter are a great time to review the story of the resurrection and talk about the impact this event has on our lives every day of the year.

You might notice how shops tend to put all of their Easter decorations on sale after Easter.  How about buying a dozen of those plastic Easter eggs (the kind you open and put things inside)?  You can use them to review the story of the resurrection.  Of course you don’t have to use plastic eggs at all if they are not available.  You can just show the items to the children one after the other.  The eggs are just easy to use and store away.

Here’s what you do:
(click here for printable instructions)

  1. Collect 12 plastic eggs and a used egg carton to store them in.
  2. Use a permanent marker to number the eggs from one to twelve.
  3. Collect representative items (listed below) and put them inside the eggs.  Place the eggs inside the egg carton.
  4. Introduce the story by asking the children how they would feel if they went on an Easter egg hunt and every egg they found was empty.  Lead into the lesson by saying sometimes it is GOOD if an egg is empty.  Sometimes an empty egg is the best egg of all.
  5. Open the egg carton and begin the lesson by opening egg number one.
  6. As you open the eggs one at a time you re-tell the story to the children.  You might let them guess what each of the items might represent.
  7. After you tell the story distribute the eggs to the children and let them take turns re-telling the story.
  8. If you are able and have fewer children then you might help the children make one of these sets each to take home.

Here’s a list of items for inside the eggs:

This idea is not new with me.  I’ve listed some sites below that explain some other variations.

Draw and Tell: Children Make their own Visual Aid

Published on by MaryLeave a comment

All you need for this visual aid is a bible, 1 piece of paper and a pen or pencil for each child.

  1. Before teaching your class you will read over the Bible story and divide it into main points.  I suggest you draw these yourself as practice so you know it will work!
  2. Provide each student with a piece of paper and something to write with.
  3. Tell them how many parts of the story there are going to be (your main points) and ask them to draw that many squares on the paper.
  4. As you tell the story (or read it straight from the Bible) the children will fill in the squares with drawings.  Guide them in this as much as is needed.
  5. Older children could read the story from the Bible themselves and draw.
  6. When everyone is finished they can tell the story to the class using their own pictures.

I think you’ll like this teaching idea because it can be adapted to any story.

For full instructions, templates, examples and other ways to adapt this idea click here.

As an example I used the Bible Story: Death of Samson from Judges 16:21-31.