Teaching Technique: "Back in Time"Another
fun way to engage children in the lesson is by taking them back in time, whereby the listeners travel with you; as the story progresses the listeners move according to your directions (bold and italicized). It’s ok to pause while the kids walk or run in place and before moving on to the next section of the story. You might select a few kids to stand by you as you lead the class and tell the story.
You might even decide to have the children dress in Bible-time clothes. The
following story-telling technique is from my book, Choose
This Day Whom You Will Serve.
"Everybody stand up, because today we’re going to travel back in time with Jesus.
Let’s begin walking (walk in place or begin patting legs).
The Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more followers than John, but it wasn’t Jesus who baptized, it was his disciples. When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and hurried back to Galilee.
Let’s get moving. (walk faster)
Now Jesus had to go through Samaria, which was quite a long ways away from Samaria.
Let’s get running so we’ll get to Samaria before lunch time. (Run in
place)
Look, there’s a shortcut through that wheat field. Let’s go! (Clap hands through the
wheat)
Now climb the hill. (Arms climb up)
Now down we go. (Arms climb down)
Keep running. Oh my! There’s a snake. (Jump over it)
Here’s another hill. (Up we go. And back down. Keep running)
Finally Jesus came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. He was very thirsty, hungry and tired. So he sat down by a well, named Jacob’s Well, and his disciples went into town to buy some food.
Let’s have a seat and rest with Jesus. (Sit down)
When Jesus looked up he saw a Samaritan woman coming to the well to get some water in the middle of the day.
Do you see her? (Shield your eyes from the sun and look to the left. Now look to the right.)
Jesus walked over to her and asked her for a drink. (Say, May I have a
drink?)
Stand up and walk to the well. (Cup your hands for a drink of water.)
The Samaritan woman was surprised that Jesus spoke to her and said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. You shouldn’t ask me for a drink because Jews and Samaritans hate each other.’
(Have a seat now and listen closely to what Jesus said to the woman.)
Jesus said to her, ‘If you knew who I was, you would ask me for living water.’"
This
lesson continues in Lesson Three of Choose
This Day Whom You Will Serve.
Have you used this technique? Tell us about it! Reply to this email or send it to: submissions@sundayschoolnetwork.com
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