Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Bible Alive! Tuesday - Popsicle Stick Theater - The Book of Ruth



For the first time since we started watching Phil Vischer's "What's in the Bible" series, we're finally one step ahead of Mr. Vischer.

The older children just finished reading through the book of Ruth, and are ready to head on into to I Samuel, but episode six, which will cover the Samuels (at least), isn't out in stores, yet. I do see there's a short overview clip of I and II Samuel at JellyTelly.com, one of the websites connected with the series, which we'll probably be checking out later today. But first, I thought we'd do a review, and address one thing from WITB Episode 4, that has bugged us.

I mentioned before, that we just really enjoyed Episode 4 - Battle for the Promised Land, except for the Popsicle stick theater overview of the book of Ruth (click here, to view it). Actually, that's not entirely correct, we did enjoy the performance, but it was lacking a few characters (like one of the sons, and a daughter-in-law), in order to make room for some Veggie Tale like silliness.

The children wanted to do a Popsicle stick theater themselves, with the missing characters, and minus the iguana. They got our doorway, puppet theater, curtain ready, while I searched online for printable puppets from Ruth. They proved harder to find, than I would have thought.

I finally ended up playing the "What's in the Bible" video clip, linked above, pausing and screen printing the scenes, to get the characters. I just printed two Ruths, and one became Orpah, and three sons, to be the father, Elimelech, and his two sons, Mahlon and Kilion, and so on.


We snipped the puppets out of the scenes, and the children attached them to our own Popsicle sticks.


I was going to add a clip of their performance here, but the children opted to read the entire text, straight out of Ruth. T (age 13) did the reading, while the older girls (ages 9 and 11) acted out the story with the puppets, for the younger children (ages 4-8), who seemed to enjoy the show, despite its length.


I did pop over to whatsinthebible.com to put in an email request for some printables to go along with the Bible stories from the DVDs. You might consider doing the same. While I was there, I noticed they are currently having a contest for WITB inspired craft projects, too. So, maybe soon, they'll be lots of ideas on the site.

In the meantime you can find more Bible crafts, activities, and ideas for children, at the Bible Alive! Tuesday link-up over at The Fantastic Five.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

5 comments:

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

No, seriously, I almost want to have 6 kids just looking at all the fun in your house. I say "almost" because I clearly don't have your energy level. Puppet theaters are so much fun, especially with a good story to play.

Christy Killoran said...

In response to Natalie's comment, I definitely think having a big family makes for a lot of fun.

I would have loved to see a bit of the puppet show. I bet they did a great job.

Ticia said...

I've put in that request several times before. The first time they emailed me back saying "That's a good idea, we'll look into it."

And that's all they've done so far. But, your idea is a good one.

Debbie said...

Natalie's comment cracks me up! I always wanted a larger family, since I was one of 5. My Grandmother who had 11 kids always said it was easier the more children one had...I wonder how true that is?

Your children sure look very happy watching the puppet show!

Unknown said...

I SO need to get the WITB series- you talked about it before, and it just sounds wonderful...

AND your kiddos amaze me! I love how they are "sticklers" for the Biblical details. My father, who is an English professor at a Bible college, always says that "Bad reading leads to bad theology." Your kiddos would make him proud...