Acting Out Bible Stories With Kids
Adapting Scripture for Christian Plays, Skits, and Sunday School
Whether you're planning a big production for the whole church to see, or a brief Sunday school activity, these tips can help you act out a Bible story with children.
Acting out Bible stories can be a great teaching tool, for both the actors and the audience. Not everyone learns best by listening or reading. By helping kids see and participate in the story, you can give them another way to experience scripture and take to heart Christian truth.
Selecting a Story
You may already have a Bible story in mind based on the occasion or a lesson plan. Here are some things to consider:
Is the story appropriate for the age of the audience?
The Bible contains a wide variety of stories, revealing both the good and bad sides of human history. Obviously, tales of adultery, murder, and battle scenes don’t often make good stories to retell with children. More importantly, the story should have characters, actions, and a life lesson that the audience can understand. Look for a story that has action as well as dialogue.
How many characters are there?
If you want everyone to fully participate, make sure to choose a story that has an appropriate number of characters with speaking parts. On the other hand, shy children may appreciate the opportunity to stand by as part of a crowd scene (such as shepherds, townspeople, or trumpeters circling Jericho) without having to speak. With small skits in an informal setting, you may also have small groups of children take turns acting out the story for the rest of the group, so each child gets a turn to be an actor and part of the audience.
Are there female roles if needed?
The Bible tends to focus on male characters (of course there are exceptions for Mary, Esther, Hannah, etc.). To keep girls involved, consider using a story that includes female characters in a main or supporting role. Or consider adapting the story as described below.
Does the story require props or costumes?
For some stories, you may be able to use pantomime props, such as David pretending to throw the stones at Goliath without actually hitting anyone. Other stories require only readily available items, such as the widower’s jar of oil and flour for Elijah. If you’re considering a larger production, think carefully about required props and costumes, and your available resources, before settling on a story.
Straight Through, Or With a Twist?
You may want to act out the Bible story by closely following the scripture verses. Or, you may want to add characters, such as a narrator, to provide a greater variety of roles and help the audience understand the action and the Bible truth behind the story. You may also want to create a modern version of the story with contemporary characters.
Writing the Script
In an informal setting (such as the classroom or at home), you may not need a script at all. Just coach the kids through the necessary action and dialogue. For more formal productions, write an outline of the major characters and their dialogue and actions. Make sure the script is balanced, so that you don’t have one character doing all the speaking.
Once you’ve got the structure of the script in place, work on fine tuning the dialogue. A children’s Bible can be a valuable tool for maintaining scriptural accuracy while using kid friendly language.
