Mastering children's stories

Editor’s note: While this article and the accompanying sidebar are aimed at pastors, the principles therein are also helpful to others who tell stories during the worship service.

Pastors are trained public speakers with a major part of their education centered around effective communication with adults. However, being skilled in homiletics does not necessarily guarantee success when a squirming group of children with an attention span of milliseconds listens to the delivery. Add several babies crawling around your feet to the mix, and you have yourself a real challenge when you are doing the children’s story.

How do we tell a good children’s story—one that will keep the attention of young people? What follows are a few things I have gleaned in my 30-plus years of ministry while seeking to do just that.

Where to begin

Start by accepting that there are few born storytellers, but most of us learn the hard way. We master the art of telling stories just as we learn a subject in school. We commit the basics to memory, and then we move on to do what we have learned. Perfection comes with practice. I vividly remember the first time I stood before a group of young people in a little church in Ohio, and trembled with fear while reading a story verbatim from a book. The young people, the congregation, and I were all greatly relieved when the story was finished. However, this was the beginning of an experience that has been very rewarding and gratifying because I learned so much from it.

Becoming a good storyteller is very much about attitude. I prefer to use the term young people when addressing a young audience. Calling them kids, children, or other such terms may be all right at times, but I have discovered that if you treat the young people with respect and dignity, they will respond positively. You will find that their attitudes become a reflection of yours.

Also, while story lessons are not entertainment, they will be more effective if they are entertaining. Story lessons, as teaching vehicles, can inspire young people to develop the qualities of character that will motivate them to be solid Christian young people and honorable citizens.

Objectives and philosophy

You need to have a definite goal in which you construct a character building point based on a specific scripture reference tied to a real-life experience. There are three steps to follow in organizing a story. First, determine the subject, then select a theme, and, finally, make a proposition to build your story around.

Realize, too, that young people are human beings in development, so keep the children’s story short and simple. Also, even though they may squirm a lot, seem inattentive, or give you “dumb” answers if you ask a question, never embarrass them.

Children learn in a process that leads them from objects they can touch and feel to more abstract things. For instance, a child will understand the word dog to refer to the family pet. Eventually, the child understands that dogs belong in an even larger group called animals. As the process of learning progresses, the child understands the higher and more abstract concepts such as right, wrong, beauty, and truth. Conventional wisdom suggests that most children cannot grasp an abstraction until they are around seven years old.

Know your competition

Realize what you are up against. Children today spend hours in front of the television, playing video games, and surfing the Internet. The storyteller loses his or her effectiveness after five to seven minutes mainly because of shortened attention spans. It is believed that the average person will see some 30,000 electronic stories before they reach the age of 21. However, this does not give the storyteller a reason to give up and simply copy the competition. Instead, storytelling becomes an opportunity to show the young people better alternatives.

To become a master storyteller, consider the positive or negative aspects of your story. Certainly, there are hard lessons to be learned from disobedience, but there are also positive ways of presenting the same lessons. The point is obvious: if your story lessons tell only of punishment, injuries, and mishaps, they soon become dry, juiceless, moralizing lectures that the young people will dread. Indeed, a place for somber reality-based story lessons exists, but they must be liberally surrounded by positive, upbeat messages. Your story lessons need to alternate between positive and negative for a more balanced presentation. However, most important, put your emphasis on the positive.

Methods

If you are telling someone else’s story, read it aloud to yourself, and share it only if you, yourself, can enjoy and appreciate it. Modify the story to fit your personality. Successful storytellers come in many varieties. One person may be comfortable crawling around on the floor, barking like a dog, while another is completely repulsed by the idea. There are no set rules on this, no method that works for everyone.

Speak directly to the children, not the adults. Use age-appropriate language. If you must use a big word, explain the meaning. Describe how the characters look, the clothing they wear, and how they act. Describe the action of the story as if you see it in a series of pictures. Try to see, live, and feel your story.

To be a more effective speaker, stand where the young people can see you and speak so that they can hear you. Whenever possible, use simple props or visual aids: “Make it clear; use the eye as well as the ear.” The more familiar the object you use, the more often they will be reminded of the lesson. For instance, “Every time you see the sun shining brightly, think of Jesus, the Light of the world.”

A story is basically a patchwork quilt of words, woven by the storyteller. Many very effective story lessons often begin with a statement that builds a relational bridge. For instance, “When I was about your age, I . . .” Do not worry if the age comparison is not perfect; the young people will have no trouble imagining themselves in your place.

Experts tell us that 40 percent of what your hearers learn comes from nonverbal communication. This includes body language, clothes, hair styles, and other such factors. The use of your body to communicate becomes crucial. Establishing eye contact with the young people is the first thing you should do. They should know that you are talking to each of them personally. Your gestures should be natural and appropriate to the story you are telling. The six basic gestures of the hands include cautioning, clenching of your fist, rejecting, dividing, giving or receiving, and pointing. These, along with gestures of the head, shoulders, and facial expressions, should be practiced until they become a natural part of your presentation.

Use your face as a picture of your story. If the story is sad, look sad; if the story is happy, appear that way. This may take some practice, but if you live your story, it will naturally reflect from your face and the young people will immediately respond. Many people use a mirror or a video camera as an aid in practicing all gestures. As in all of the arts, through practice, you perfect. A good place to start, if you have young people at home, is to practice by telling them your own personal story.

Putting on a hat, a pair of gloves, scarf, or some appropriate prop (silly or not) can inspire the imagination without ever saying a word. Also, young people of all ages always respond to plenty of action and presentations in which they can participate. They like hands-on things they can touch and feel. This is especially true of live animals and pets. If you can put it in a sack and rattle the bag a few times, you will always have the undivided attention of your young people. Persons commit to memory and put into action about 10 percent of what they hear, 50 percent of what they see, and 90 percent of what they do. The need for hands-on learning cannot be overemphasized. It is almost impossible for a person to forget a great object lesson in which they had a part.

Tips on presentation

Beginners should seriously consider using an assistant to help tell the story. Novices, especially, who are nervous and unsure, find it very comforting to have someone standing nearby to prompt them if they forget a detail in the story. Writing out an outline on a small index card that you hold in the palm of your hand is always a good idea as are cue cards laid on the floor. Even if you do not use them, the security of knowing they are there will help to be a better storyteller.

There is another reason for using an assistant. Often parents expect miracles of storytellers and bring the smallest of children to hear the story. They smile and sit the baby down and leave them unattended in your care. Since most of your story lessons will be roughly targeted at children ages 5 through 12—infants and toddlers are an impossible assignment. An assistant can be invaluable in seeing that your story gets heard by most of the children.

And never forget the possibility that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong. That especially applies to visual aids or props. So keep them as simple as possible, and be sure to test them beforehand. Young people are unimpressed with the statement, “Well, I thought this would work.”

After the story is told

Get constructive criticism. Was it too short, too long, or just boring? Did you use too many big words? Was your story beyond the experience of a child’s world? Was the story good? If so, what made it good? Ask your critic, “If you could change the story, what would you have changed?” Most of all, learn from your experiences, but do not take your storytelling too seriously. If you messed up on the story line, chances are the young people never knew it. Keep on trying to develop your skills into what they should be—a vehicle that will enable you to laugh and have fun with a great group of young folks, all the while teaching them principles that will positively affect their lives eternally.

Other story sources

Life is full of character building story lessons. The problem is finding good story lessons and then being able to present them in an unforgettable way. The best story lessons come from everyday life, using everyday examples, just as Jesus did.

After finding a story with potential, ask the questions Who, What, When, Where, and How. For the sake of accuracy, be sure and write the information down. While good, true story lessons may not abound, a diligent person can glean a good one here and there and then polish them into treasures that the young people will always remember.

There are also many books that contain an excellent collection of weekly children’s stories and sermons. Consult Christian bookstores nationwide and online. And of course, these days you will find an abundance of material to sift through on the Internet.

Conclusion

Sharing story lessons and inspiring young people to develop the qualities of character that will motivate them to grow up to be solid Christians should be viewed as a blessed opportunity. Not everyone receives the blessing of being allowed to do something of eternal value for our young people. What a privilege to be a Christian storyteller! Make the most of it.