Draw and Tell Visual Aids Made By Children

This activity has children draw simple, pre-decided drawings that go along with each part of a story. It’s a great way to engage children and encourage their creativity.

The video above uses the example of the “Death of Samson.”

Materials:

1. One pencil, crayon or marker per child
2. Blank paper
3. Draw out your own grid for the scenes. If you would prefer to print, use these:
   1. Draw and Tell with 4 scenes.  (print on A4 paper)  (print on letter size paper)
   2. Draw and Tell with 6 scenes.  (print on A4 paper)  (print on letter size paper)
4. Patterns for drawing: (print on A4 paper) or (print on letter size paper)

Instructions:

1. Select a Bible Story on your own or choose one of the Bible Stories on this website.
   
2. Before class, plan how you will divide the story into “scenes” and plan what the children will draw for each scene. For example, if you tell the story of Joseph in Egypt, you might use:
   1. Scene 1- Joseph lived in Egypt, so draw a picture of something you might see in Egypt (like pyramids or mummies).
   2. Scene 2- Joseph was in prison with Pharaoh’s baker and butler, so draw three men and prison bars.
   3. Scene 3- Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream, so draw a bunch of ZZZZZ’s to represent sleeping.
   4. Scene 4- Joseph became Pharaoh’s special helper and he wore Pharaoh’s ring, so draw a hand with a ring on it.
3. Be sure and practice this before class. Keep the number of scenes small for younger children. Older children might like to draw a number of them.
4. To start the activity, give one piece of paper and a pencil/crayon to each child.
5. Ask the children to mark off one square or shape for each scene in the story. If you planned for 4 scenes, then the child will have 4 squares/shapes on their paper.
6. Read the story from the Bible (or tell it in your own words), pause at the end of the “scene,” and help the children draw the scene.
7. Continue reading, pausing and drawing until the children have completed the story.
8. Have everyone share their drawings and explain it to the group. Each time they tell the story, they are reviewing it!

Applications:

1. Make it a group effort: Draw the squares on a chalkboard, whiteboard or large paper and assign the children to various scenes.
2. Draw the scenes yourself as you tell the story.
3. Invite a guest artist to draw the scenes as you tell the story.
4. Draw a part of each scene in the squares and let the children complete the picture. For example, draw several faces in the squares and ask the children to add facial features to each one depicting the story characters’ expressions.
5. Be imaginative and think of various shapes instead of squares. For example, ask the children to draw big barrels while telling the story of Jesus turning water to wine at the Wedding at Cana, or five fish shapes during the story of Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand.
6. A pre-printed version of this activity is found in the story: Peter and John Heal a Man Who Could Not Walk.