The 6-year-old boy opened his church bulletin and after a moment of intense study muttered, "Oh, nuts. No children's story today!"
This boy had learned that a good children's story made his worship an enjoy able experience—a high point for his Sabbath.
In my position as a church school primary teacher and wife of a university professor who trains ministerial students, I find that church members (and conference administrators) definitely would like to see ministers understand children and be able to help them broaden their world of worship through good children's stories. In fact, conference personnel often inquire of my husband whether a certain student can relate well with children through such avenues as a children's story.
The question then comes to the minister, "How do I tell a good children's story?" Unless you are one of those rare "born storytellers," you have every reason to wonder "how to do it." Storytelling is a creative activity that is learned, with basic rules and techniques to be mastered.
Common misunderstandings about children
Let's first consider some misunderstandings most of us have about children.
We think that children are more like us in their thinking and less like us in their feelings. We tend to overestimate children by thinking they understand our vocabulary and concepts (atonement, resurrection, sanctuary) when they often do not. And, unlike adults, children are not going to sit still and be polite when they don't understand what you are talking about just because you are the minister of the church. Actually, children have feelings (happiness, sadness, sympathy) that are like ours, not thinking abilities.
We think that children learn best while sitting still and listening. It is true that, as adults, we have experienced learning by listening or reading a book, but the young child learns through engaging in real actions involving tangible objects. Something has to be happening in the story you tell!
Planning for your story
1. Determine about how many children will be in your audience. The type of presentation and the size of props and pictures will all be affected by the number of children to be involved.
2. Determine where the children will be sitting in relation to where you will be telling the story. If the children are near you, they can see pictures and other visual aids. Are the children in a position that they could participate in part of your story? Are the children sitting on the floor, which lets them feel more informal and move some muscles when needed, or are they sitting in small chairs (as in a Sabbath school situation), which might fall over at any time during your story? Will you be able to be on eye level with the children to get their complete attention?
3. Determine how long you have for your story. Decide this point early in your planning so that you can use all available time to best advantage, and also so that you will not take up time that is not scheduled for you.
4. If possible, build into your story the children's interests (airplanes, horses, names, and familiar locations).
5. Keep the story on the children's vocabulary level. In other words, keep it very simple. Listen to your words as you practice. If you have a doubt about using a word, pick an easier one. Too many stories are ruined because the teller uses words that only adults can understand.
6. The story must also be on the thought level of children. Youngsters do not comprehend adult theories and ideas. Keep the concept simple.
7. Don't switch from a literal illustration to a simile. If you talk about how strong a truck is and how it carries heavy burdens, don't switch to a simile by saying that Jesus is like a truck. The young child cannot handle this thought process. Unless the transfer in your story is extremely clear and does not need an explanation, it's best not to use it. Stick with a simple story.
8. Try to have as your objective one main point. You don't expect your congregation to comprehend five main themes in your sermon. Remember that children, even more than adults, have difficulty understanding more than one central idea. Don't confuse them.
9. Most definitely, tie your story to your sermon theme. Use the children's story as a means of letting the children understand what the adults will under stand when your sermon is delivered.
10. Your story should be told and lived—not read. Practice enough prior to your presentation so that you feel able to take in stride the child who disrupts the group or the 3-year-old who decides to feel the texture of your tie right at the conclusion of your story! Practice in front of a mirror, with your own children, or with some neighbor children. Remember, it doesn't take much to distract you when you have twenty children in front of you whose attention you're trying to hold.
11. Your story should be a real story, not something made up as you go along. I remember one minister who always told us children stories when I was a girl. It was evident to me even as a child that no time had been spent on the story and that he was creating it as he spoke to us.
12. Be sure to place the correct emphasis on the theology that is involved in your story. One day our 5-year-old son announced that God was always writing down everything we do, good or bad. Each time we do something good, he said, God erases a bad mark from our name. He had conceived of God as a legalistic bookkeeper because of a children's story he heard at church.
13. Eliminate the gory type of mission story—stories where children are beaten by their parents, or in which, as a result of disobedience, they get very sick and die. Children will remember only the horror of the story and not the intended lesson. Also, some children become scared very easily. In fact, you will see the fear in their eyes and in the expression on their faces. Of course, you want to see expression in the children's faces as you tell your story, but not expressions showing real fear and horror.
14. Your opening sentence will either arouse the children's interest or lose it very quickly. The first few sentences should make the children want to hear what happens next. Be careful not to use such long introductions that by the time you have gotten to your story, the children have lost interest. An opening line such as "Tommy looked out the window and saw something big and black and furry staring back at him" would attract children's interest and curiosity better than "This story today was told to me by my aunt who lives in Nebraska."
15. Once you have the children's curiosity and interest aroused, do -not lose it! Act out your characters; change the tone of your voice and its pitch. Do what you need to do to keep your audience interested. Remember that you are talking to children, not adults. Don't worry about feeling a little silly if you pretend to talk like a small boy who is crying or if in telling about a boy trying his first shave you pretend to be putting shaving cream on your face as you are telling the story. Be assured that the children will listen attentively and gain more benefit from your story. An extra bonus will be that the adults will also be spellbound!
Make a strong appeal to the senses. If a horse clip-clops, then the storyteller should make a clip-clop sound. If you are talking about something soft, let the children feel something soft.
Some cautions
Since children are honest, they will answer questions with truth and spontaneity. Because of this, they may very well reveal some family secrets. There fore, do not ask questions of children unless you are prepared for their answers! An innocent question such as "Do you have a bike?" may result in such answers as "No, because we have to save all our money for the new baby that my mom just found out we are having."
Questions can also trigger a word-association game. The minister may say, "I have a cute little black puppy." And if he then invites comments, he is likely to hear about pets ranging from black cats to white mice, making it difficult to draw the attention back to the main topic.
Once your story has been told, give a brief conclusion if you feel you must, and then stop. If you have presented your story properly and told the lesson throughout, you should not have to moralize at the end. The children will likely not listen to your moralizations anyway.
Sources of stories
Our Little Friend and Primary Treasure are excellent sources, but remember that the children are going to know the story if it is taken from a recent issue. Save the issues for two years or so and then use the stories. An efficient way to organize these stories is to classify them according to topics (honesty, angels, kindness, stealing, et cetera). Put the topic in the top right-hand corner of your article and file accordingly.
Object lesson books are good if the lesson does not switch from a literal item to a metaphor or simile that the children cannot understand. Be sure to experiment with the object lesson first to be sure that it works for you!
Adventist Book Centers and Child Evangelism Centers have a good supply of children's stories and Bible story felts. Personal experiences that relate to young children are another good source. If you have a good background in science, you can always draw excellent stories from nature.
Special features
There is really no excuse for not using at least one visual aid during your story! Felts, magazine pictures, a small toy object (such as a car, shown when you are talking about the characters riding in their car), are all such simple and easily obtainable items. Be selective and decide which technique and/or motivator you feel would work best for your particular story.
1. Chalkboard pictures. You don't have to be an artist to draw simple pictures for a children's story. Tell your story as you draw on a small chalkboard, and the children will be fascinated to see what you will produce next.
2. Tablet stories. A large paper tablet drawing pad can be used in the same way as the chalkboard. If you want to be sure that you know what you are drawing, pencil in your picture very lightly and then when you tell the story, trace over your etchings with a dark crayon or marker.
3. Props made by the children. Give each child (if your group is small) a glob of clay. Tell one child to make a car, another a tree, another a ball, or what ever props you need in your story. Select items that are easy to make and that children could confidently mold out of their clay. When it comes time for the ball, tree, or car in your story, the child brings up his or her molded object and you create a three-dimensional scene with the items. A caution: Be careful of situations where clay could stain good Sabbath clothes.
The same idea could be used with construction paper. Let the children tear out the form of a tree, a house, et cetera, and then place the finished scene on a flannel board or on a sheet of paper.
4. Ready-made props. Collect small items that represent things or characters in your story. Give an item to each child, and when you talk about that certain thing, the child brings you the item. For example, a small doll could represent a baby in the story, or a stuffed animal could represent the real thing.
5. Recorded sounds. There are many sound-effect records on the market. If you need a rainstorm, you could play the sound on the tape recorder at the appropriate time during your story.
6. Live sounds. Let the children participate with sounds. If the dog barks, let the children add the sound effects by barking. If the cat meows, let the children add the meows.
7. Surprise Box. Decorate a box and label it "Surprise Box." Draw your visual aid from the box as you are beginning the story. The storyteller might say, "Tom loved to play with cars," as he draws from the box some toy cars. Tie in your box items with your story lesson.
With a little effort, you will be able to think of many other imaginative ways to tell interesting, effective stories. When you do so, you will become a lasting hero in the eyes of the children in your congregation. You will always be their friend, and you will be following the example of Jesus.
