1. PRAY: Ask God to give you the words He wants this group of children to hear. He knows their need better than you do. Let Him work through you. This is the most important thing you will ever learn about teaching!
2. TEACH FROM THE BIBLE: Hold the open Bible on your lap, helping the children to see the relationship between God’s Word and the story.
3. GET UP CLOSE & PERSONAL: Sit on a low chair or on the floor close to the children.
4. LOOK THEM IN THE EYE: Maintain eye contact with the children. This is important!
5. GET IN THE MOOD: Use facial expressions to reflect the mood of the story. Look sad when the characters are sad and happy when they are happy. Ask the children to show you how they would feel.
6. USE ACTION: Act out the story with your hands. "Away those big birds flew, right over to Elijah!" (Flap fingers to represent birds flying). "Show me how those elephants went walking to the ark. (Clumpity, clumpity, clump). Show me how the ducks walked." (Waddle, waddle, waddle). "Now all the elephants and ducks come back. Let's see what happened next!"
7. REPETITION IS FUN: Repeat - repeat - and then repeat some more. Children love to hear action words so repeat them as often as possible. "Walk, walk, walk," went the people. "Right across the big Red Sea."
8. A SOFT VOICE GETS ATTENTION: If you really want to get their attention, whisper. Lower your voice confidentially as you lean forward. You’ll find the children leaning toward you expectantly.
9. QUESTIONS INVITE PARTICIPATION: Ask leading questions. "Then do you know what happened?"
10. CREATE SUSPENSE: Just as you get to an exciting part of the story, pause. Look all around at the children. Let suspense hang in the air.
11. SING ABOUT IT: Make up a tune if you don’t know one. Can't sing? Not to worry. Just remember that preschoolers love their teachers, no matter what!
12. MAKE IT PERSONAL: Catch the children up into a personal involvement with the story. "How would you feel if that happened to you?" Or, "What would you do?"
13. COUNT: If all else fails, start counting. "Let's see. How many sick men came to see Jesus? One, two, three, four . . ." Preschoolers love to count. It will get them every time!
14. WATCH FOR A RESPONSE: Eye contact is the secret. Watch their eyes. The response you see there will guide you in knowing which techniques are most effective.
15. HAVE FUN: When something you are doing has their attention, keep going with it. Stretch it out and use it for all it is worth. In this way you will find out what it is that lets you and the children have fun with Bible Stories. And do you know what? More fun equals more learning.
16: CREATIVE STORY-TELLING: Sitting together for story time isn’t the only time you can tell the story! Tell parts of the story at other times of the session. Parts of the story? That is what God says in Isaiah 28:10! Precept upon precept, precept upon precept. Line upon line, line upon line. Here a little. There a little. So plan to work parts of the Bible story into all your work & play activities. Here a little. There a little.
© 2005 by Jodi VanBibber, SUNNY HOLLOW PRESS