Workshop 5 • Participant Notes

Tell It Again:
Effective Bible Storytelling
for Preschoolers
Come On In!
Think of a favorite Bible story and one or two actions (using hands or whole body) that would represent
the story (e.g., flutter fingers downward to represent rain in the story of Noah).

Hear God’s Word!

Notes:

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Workshop 5 • Participant Notes

Guidelines for Effective Storytelling

1. Prepare yourself.
• Pray that God will help you to learn and tell the story well.
• Read the story several times until you are familiar with it.
• Review the main idea or learning aim for the story.
• Become familiar with the use of the story visual, or practice using story-related hand motions.
• Practice the story, varying the tempo and volume of your voice according to the action, and us-
ing the visuals or hand motions.
2. Prepare the environment.
• Remove distractions as far as possible. Tell the story in an area of the room that does not have
other items that would interest children.
• Provide a comfortable place for children to sit. Sit with them on the floor or on a low chair.
3. Prepare the children.
• Use a song or finger play to get children’s attention.
Sample Finger Play: My ears will listen (hand cupped over ear)
My eyes will look (make circles around eyes with thumbs and index fingers)
I’m ready for a story (fold hands together)
From our Bible book. (hands flat together, then open like a book)
• Spark children’s interest with an object that relates to the story.
4. Tell the story.
• Emphasize the main point or learning aim.
• Resist adding Bible story facts to the story.
• Be creative! Use sound effects, wear a costume and tell the story as if you were a character, use
toy animals and/or people, lead children to do motions or walk around the room to demonstrate
story action.
5. Review the story.
• Ask open-ended questions that refer to the main idea of the story.
• Look for opportunities to retell important parts of the story as children engage in other activities.

Notes:

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Workshop 5 • Participant Notes

Video Notes
Make notes of what you observe about the following:
The teacher’s vocal expression

The teacher’s gestures

The types of visuals and how they were used

Any other observations

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Workshop 5 • Participant Notes
Storytelling: Tell Me a Story!
In the world of fast-paced entertainment, hi-tech
effects and outrageous animation, children still
love the eye-to-eye, person-to-person wonder of
a good story well-told! It doesn’t take a special
gift to tell a good story, only a few developed
skills. Good story times are warm and inviting.
Children should be able to see you and anything
you wish to show them without craning their
necks or crowding another.
Prepare and Practice: You won’t tell the details
of the story if you don’t know them—be sure to
read the story enough times to be familiar with
it. If you are nervous about using gestures or
maintaining good eye contact, practice in front
of a mirror to help you see what does and does
not work within the story.
Capture Interest: Use an object or a question
that catches children’s interest to “hook” their
attention. Don’t tell the whole story in the in-
troduction. Tantalize your audience a little!
Keep to the Main Idea: Be sure you understand
what the main idea of the story is so that you can
keep moving in that direction! For young children,
one main point is enough. End with the main idea
to help everyone identify the Bible truth.
Vary Your Voice: You can talk louder, softer,
faster or slower to make dramatic points and
keep kids interested. And don’t be afraid to talk
a little more slowly at times. It gives young chil-
dren needed time to imagine the scene or action
you are describing.
Express with Your Face and Hands: Practice
expressions and gestures while keeping good
eye contact before a mirror. Also practice pan-
tomiming motions and using your hands to
make sound effects. Children who are focused
on your face and hands are likely to give you
their full attention!
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Prepare Visual Aids: If you are using visual aids
(storytelling figures, pictures, puppets, story
props, household objects, etc.), be sure to practice
telling the story while using them. Prepare and
place them so that you can keep good eye contact
with your audience during use. Remember that
the best storytelling keeps props simple so that
children’s imaginations are stimulated!
Creative Bible Storytelling Options: Use
“extra-impact” options to help your kids do more
than listen to a story—help them to LIVE it! Even
if you’re new to storytelling, using these ideas can
help you look like a seasoned storytelling pro. Use
repetition and rhythm, a visit from a Bible-times
character, sound effects, toy people you move to
act out the story, story props or actions done by
your little listeners. These ideas go the distance
to make the story come to life!
Tell It Again: Young children love to hear the
same story over and over again, so once you have
a story well in hand, know that your “perform-
ance” won’t be a one-time thing! Look for oppor-
tunities during activities to tell or retell the story.
“Danielle, what you just did is like someone in our
Bible story. The Bible tells us that . . .” You may
need to condense the story in this situation.
The objective of telling a Bible story is to make
a Bible truth come alive to children. Restate the
main idea and help children understand how it
applies to their lives. (This is done for you in the
teacher’s guide version of the story.) When you
have done that, stop! Give children a moment to
absorb the point. A moment of silence can help
them consolidate what they heard.
As with any other skill, you will find that the
more stories you tell, the better you can do it!
Don’t stop to worry about what the children
will think. They are the least critical and most
appreciative audience in the world!
Workshop 5 • Participant Notes

Visual Aids: Make the

Most of Posters and Figures!
“Let me see!” is the cry of the preschooler. While
we adults learn primarily through hearing or
reading words, young children take in informa-
tion most effectively when they use their senses.
Visual aids, or resources, of any kind increase a
child’s learning as he or she listens to a story.
Posters and Pictures
Posters and pictures can effectively draw children
to the large-group time as you play question-and-
answer games that involve them in searching the
picture for shapes, colors, numbers of items or
other details. “If you can see a blue circle in this
picture, put your hand on your head.” “How many
people can you find in this picture who are help-
ing? What is this person doing to help?”
Hold posters and pictures either in front of you
or beside your face to maintain eye contact with
children and minimize distraction. When you
want children to pay attention to you, lay the
picture facedown in your lap.
Try posting a picture or poster at eye level on a
wall for use as an activity. Invite children in groups
of three or four to come close to look at it.
Put a picture inside a large envelope. Slowly pull
it out and let children take turns guessing what’s
happening in it.
Cover a picture with large Post-it Notes. Children
take turns removing notes to reveal the picture.

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Workshop 5 • Participant Notes
Storytelling Figures
Storytelling figures, whether placed on a flannel
board or simply shown to children, should be
large, brightly colored and simple enough in de-
sign that children can immediately tell what a
figure represents. Because they are individual
figures, they are easy for a child to focus on and
can be moved around to hold interest. For chil-
dren who often complain of not being able to
see, storytelling figures can be a good solution.
The figures themselves have many more uses
than simply sitting on a flannel board during a
story. Figures can be taped to craft sticks to be-
come impromptu puppets. Additional figures
and set pieces (such as hills, clouds, forests or
houses) are also easily drawn and cut from back-
ing fabrics such as interfacing or from flannel.
Place a flannel board just above children’s eye
level. (If children sit on the floor, a low chair may
be the best stand.) As you tell a story, use an ex-
pressive voice and face. Maintaining eye contact
is essential for your expression to be effective! To
avoid having to look down or away from children
too often, lay out the figures in order on a small
table or area near the flannel board (or even in
your lap or in your Bible), so you will not have to
hunt for a figure. Move the figures to reflect the
action of the story (walking, moving to talk to
another character, etc.) as you tell it.
Retelling the story will be a favorite activity, with
children taking turns to place the figures on flan-
nel board.
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Equal Access
If you want to hold a young audience’s attention,
it helps for every child to have a front-row seat!
If children complain “I can’t SEE!” try one of
these ideas:
• Lay a masking-tape line in a semicircle at least 2
feet (.6 m) from where you plan to tell a story or
show a picture. Instruct children to sit on the
line. That way, even if you need to make a second
row, children in the front will stay where others
can see over or around them. (Note: Remove
masking tape immediately after use.)
• Depending on the number of children in your
group, bring a small rug or a large beach towel to
class. Lay it out at story time. Invite children to
sit around the edge of it. (This will take repeated
practice with younger ones.) This creates a story
space where everyone gives you a little space.
With a small group, storytelling figures can also
be laid on the rug or towel as you tell the story.
Objects
Enhance the “you are there” feel of a story by pass-
ing a story-related object for children to touch, see
and explore. If a story involves eating, consider
serving a snack of that food or a similar food. The
more senses you can involve during story time, the
greater the learning! Your curriculum provides cre-
ative storytelling ideas for each lesson.
To keep an object moving through the group, as-
sign a helper the job of making sure the item keeps
moving. Don’t interrupt your story to police the
passing of the object. Instruct your helper to tell
a child who wants to keep an item, “We will leave
this out on the table after the story, if you want to
look at it again. Now it is time to pass it to Diego.”