7 Ways To Add Variety To Your Puppet Ministry
Puppets are great tools for entertaining and teaching, but if that's all you do they'll soon lose their effectiveness.
If you use puppets for 30-40 minutes every week in your children's church the kids will soon tire of them.
To be truly effective in ministry you need a variety of teaching activities, maintaining a balance between them.
We were once asked to minister to a group of children at a campground while the adults were in a worship service.
We were told to plan for about an hour and a half, but wound up having the kids for 2 1/2 hours.
The children were excited about the puppets at first, but after 2 hours, when I introduced our last puppet play for the evening, there was a collective groan in the audience.
In our children's church weekly ministry and in our traveling programs, we've always used a variety of teaching methods even though we called ourselves a puppet ministry.
Here are 7 things we include that you may want to consider for your ministry.
Object Lessons Take a simple, everyday object and use it to teach a timeless spiritual truth.
With a bit of prayer and thinking, any object can be turned into a lesson.
I've used tools, coins, ornaments, broken pieces of metal, records, sticks, and many other items to teach children.
When you teach with an object, the children use more of their senses in the learning process and it helps them retain the teaching for a longer time.
Gospel Tricks There are many low-cost, easy to perform tricks on the market today, so this is a fairly easy addition to make.
They are basically object lessons with an unexpected outcome.
It's the unexpected part that makes them a great teaching tool because the children will remember it for a long time.
When using them for the first time with a group, I simply state that there is nothing mystical or magical about them but they are simple tricks to help teach important truths.
Balloon Sculptures You can purchase balloons designed for sculpturing in most party supply stores along with instructions on basic twists and techniques.
These work well because of the element of suspense they bring into your teaching.
While you make the sculpture the children will try to figure out what the finished object will look like and you'll have their attention.
They make great object lessons and you can use them as a reward for well-behaved children.
Ventriloquism This one takes time and practice to develop, but is well worth it.
If you have someone on your team who is really interested in learning ventriloquism, I'd highly recommend the Maher Ventriloquist Studio's 30 lesson course.
I took it years ago and had a great time using my vent figure Franky with audiences all over.
Bible Stories The Bible is full of exciting stories and when told with enthusiasm and energy, they can captivate audiences of all ages.
People love to hear well-told stories and when you combine that with the truths found in the Bible, you have a winning combination.
Missionary Stories CEF Press, Bible Visuals International, and other companies have visualized missionary stories that have anywhere from 1 to 5 parts.
The ones with 5 parts usually have cliff-hanging endings for the first 4 parts which serve to bring the children back next week to hear more.
They are not only informative, but help the children understand the need for missionaries.
Game Activities Games are great to use for lesson reviews and learning activities.
They are fun for the children, help keep their attention, and provide a constructive way to channel their energy.
There's 7 ways you can add variety to your puppet ministry.
When you have a variety of things included in each program, it adds a sense of anticipation which leads to increased learning.
If you're not using some of these, why not give them a try and see what God does?
If you use puppets for 30-40 minutes every week in your children's church the kids will soon tire of them.
To be truly effective in ministry you need a variety of teaching activities, maintaining a balance between them.
We were once asked to minister to a group of children at a campground while the adults were in a worship service.
We were told to plan for about an hour and a half, but wound up having the kids for 2 1/2 hours.
The children were excited about the puppets at first, but after 2 hours, when I introduced our last puppet play for the evening, there was a collective groan in the audience.
In our children's church weekly ministry and in our traveling programs, we've always used a variety of teaching methods even though we called ourselves a puppet ministry.
Here are 7 things we include that you may want to consider for your ministry.
Object Lessons Take a simple, everyday object and use it to teach a timeless spiritual truth.
With a bit of prayer and thinking, any object can be turned into a lesson.
I've used tools, coins, ornaments, broken pieces of metal, records, sticks, and many other items to teach children.
When you teach with an object, the children use more of their senses in the learning process and it helps them retain the teaching for a longer time.
Gospel Tricks There are many low-cost, easy to perform tricks on the market today, so this is a fairly easy addition to make.
They are basically object lessons with an unexpected outcome.
It's the unexpected part that makes them a great teaching tool because the children will remember it for a long time.
When using them for the first time with a group, I simply state that there is nothing mystical or magical about them but they are simple tricks to help teach important truths.
Balloon Sculptures You can purchase balloons designed for sculpturing in most party supply stores along with instructions on basic twists and techniques.
These work well because of the element of suspense they bring into your teaching.
While you make the sculpture the children will try to figure out what the finished object will look like and you'll have their attention.
They make great object lessons and you can use them as a reward for well-behaved children.
Ventriloquism This one takes time and practice to develop, but is well worth it.
If you have someone on your team who is really interested in learning ventriloquism, I'd highly recommend the Maher Ventriloquist Studio's 30 lesson course.
I took it years ago and had a great time using my vent figure Franky with audiences all over.
Bible Stories The Bible is full of exciting stories and when told with enthusiasm and energy, they can captivate audiences of all ages.
People love to hear well-told stories and when you combine that with the truths found in the Bible, you have a winning combination.
Missionary Stories CEF Press, Bible Visuals International, and other companies have visualized missionary stories that have anywhere from 1 to 5 parts.
The ones with 5 parts usually have cliff-hanging endings for the first 4 parts which serve to bring the children back next week to hear more.
They are not only informative, but help the children understand the need for missionaries.
Game Activities Games are great to use for lesson reviews and learning activities.
They are fun for the children, help keep their attention, and provide a constructive way to channel their energy.
There's 7 ways you can add variety to your puppet ministry.
When you have a variety of things included in each program, it adds a sense of anticipation which leads to increased learning.
If you're not using some of these, why not give them a try and see what God does?
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