Shadow Dancer - A Storytelling Convention

This is an artist called named Miwa Matrayek she is a visual artist that does AMAZING things.

The really neat stuff happens at 2:49

Watch the video and then keep reading...

Imagine experiencing Christmas or Easter like this as a child. What if a "shadow" character walked through the world of Jesus and observed those events first hand. Think about "Where the Wild things Are". The boy falls asleep and finds himself entering a new world. How cool would it be if we could do something like this for kids? We could create new worlds or make them come alive for them.

Christmas night? Easter? Creation?

Think of all the possibilities!  Kids could re-live these events vicariously through this shadow figure.

TIPS

-- It would be a great idea to use a dancer/actor as the shadow to insure graceful and artistic movement.

-- To be more literal and less abstract, you might need a narrator talking along with the story.

-- Its important to think about the narrator's voice for such things. A voice like Fran Drescher's would kill the moment completely.

Song Re-mix - A Storytelling Convention

Do your kids LOVE music? Do you have an awesome Worship Leader who would love to be more involved? Do you have kids with musical talent?

Try this...

Take a song that is really well-known and re-write the words to tell the Bible story! Next, perform it for your Large Group!

- Using your Worship Leader, do it acoustic which means he/she can stop and start to interact with the audience. WARNING: Only do this if you can do it well... nothing is more awkward than an awkward worship leader doing something he feels awkward doing!

- Using karaoke tracks, have a talented kid (or kids - Glee style) perform the song! Your LG will love it!! The down side is that this one is less interactive.

You will also need to include and intro/outro/application for this. Don't expect the song to do it all - just to tell the story!

Props In A Box - A Storytelling Convention

So.. this one is a bit self-explanatory.

This one is also great for a young audience.
This is ALSO great for touchy subjects like the Crucifixion. 

Basically, as you are telling the story, you pull out props from a box and hand them out to the audience to be passed around and back to you. As props are being passed, you continue with the lesson.

What makes this SC awesome? Its a great way to interact with the audience without over-stimulation and crowd control.

- Its smart to have an assistant to make sure the objects are passed nicely and returned.(especially with little kids).

Freeze Frame - A Storytelling Convention

This storytelling convention great for Bible stories with a lot of action.

Basically, you have kids come on stage act out the story. You call out "FREEZE" at key moments and the actors stop in their tracks. At this point, you ask the audience what they think happens next. You can also trade out the volunteers for new ones from the audience too. 

Give the audience multiple choice options and create teams to create tension.

Every time "FREEZE" is called, cue some fun music and make it like a game show.

This is an easy and low-budget way to make a Bible story interactive and fun! 

-- When writing this script, make sure you pay special attention to ACTION words. Remember, the kids are looking to the narrator for cues on what to do and how to act!