Parable of the Mustard Seed

We are now using the book "Young Children in Worship" by Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome Berryman with our godly play at church and I highly recommend it.  I think it is much crisper and easier to use than the curriculums, plus there are a lot more stories for your money and templets for making materials (some you could just photo copy and laminate if you wanted).  That said, many stories are very similar and have the same materials in both the curriculums and 'Young Children in Worship'.

I made this set last spring for the parable of the mustard seed.  And as we begin Christ life and parables again in this pre-lent season it was so nice to just take the box down and use it again.  Right now I'm needing the traditions and materials that are made and ready to grab from the shelf (perhaps why I am sharing something I made last year in this space.)  

Wool felt works so well for making these parables and the children love putting the birds on and off.  (Rowan is really loving hearing stories and enjoyed making the birdies fly around while I attempted to photograph this yesterday.)

After the story the children go to their work.  There are many options and one is always art.  This week I cut out paper pieces for them to glue and make their own story.  I always feel torn when I make something so ready-to-assemble.  I love their original drawings/creations and generally hold quite strongly to not giving children coloring pages and other 'busy work' as art.  There are two reasons why I am now doing more of this with our preschool godly play at church.  First, through my experience with my little boy who doesn't choose drawing most of the time, I've learned that some children need a jumping off place in these early years.  Jonah enjoys assembly and is likely to draw part of a picture (i.e. many of the children drew the farmer as we didn't have one for them to glue on) even though he wouldn't tackle drawing the whole scene.  Second, I find it very helpful for the parent and child (2-5 year olds) if they have something they can recognize as they try to retell the story later in the week.  That said, we do a lot of play-dough modeling and always have other art supplies available should they chose to respond to the story in a different way.