Sunday, May 27, 2012

DIY Pentecost Materials / Godly Play Pfingsmaterial

I hope you all are having a wonderful Pentecost Sunday!  Before I share with you about our celebration here in Berlin, I would like to share with you about the materials that I made to celebrate this special day. Ich hoffe, dass ihr einen schönen Pfingssonntag gehabt habt! Bevor ich von unserem Feier hier in Berlin erzähle, möchte ich ein bisschen von der Vorbereitung teilen.

Last year, I told two stories from Young Children and Worship at Pentecost, because I felt that the Godly Play story might be too abstract for the younger children in my group. But this year, I read through the GP story again and decided that I hadn't given it a fair shot. So, I stayed up until 1 am on Friday night doing this . . . Letzes Jahr habe ich 2 Geschichten von Young Children and Worship zu diesem Fest erzählt, weil die Godly Play Version mir zu abstrakt für die Jüngsten in meiner Gruppe vorkam. Aber dieses Jahr habe ich die Geschichte wieder gelesen und wollte ihr eine faire Chance geben. So bin ich am Freitag Abend bis 1 Uhr wach geblieben um das Material für die Geschichte selbst zu fertigen . . . 


In this GP story, the disciples are represented by their historical shields, which are very interesting to older children. There are also blank shields for the male and female disciples who would have been present, but whose names we don't know. The shields are usually cut using a handsaw. In dieser Geschichte werden die Jünger Jesu mit den historischen Wappen anstatt Figuren dargestellt. Es gibt auch "leere" Wappen für die Jünger und Jüngerinnen, die anwesend waren, aber deren Namen wir nicht kennen. Man schneidet die Wappen normaleweise mit einer Handsäge.

Though I have many talents, sawing wood is not one of them. So I rushed off to the local hobby shop to find something that I could paint the shields onto that would still be attractive and true to the story. Obwohl ich viele Talente habe, ist das Sägen wirklich nicht mein Ding.: ) Deswegen beeilte ich mich am Freitag zum Hobby Shop um eine passende Lösung zu finden. Etwas, das immer noch attraktiv und treu der Geschichte und der Montessori-Pädagogik wäre.

Here are the things that I bought. Red felt for the underlay. A cardboard box to be painted red. (The box for the Pentecost story mimics the gold parable boxes, but it red.) And then I found wooden discs that were probably meant to be used as game pieces in a board game. Perfect for painting the apostolic shields. Ich habe das Folgendes gefunden: roten Filz für die Unterlage, einen Schachtel aus Karton (die Kiste für die Geschichte gleicht dem Schachtel für die Gleichnisse, aber sie ist rot), und Holzscheiben für die Wappen.  


Painting the box red. Der Schachtel wird rot.


After I painted the symbols, I outlined them with a black Sharpie pen and Pitt artist pens. Nachdem ich die Symbole gemalt habe, habe ich den Umriss mit einem schwarzen Edding und Pitt Filzschreibern gezeichnet.


My on-line friend, Leslie, from Thoughts from the Sheepfold, tells me that the storytellers in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd are encouraged to make their own materials in order to know the story in a deeper way. I think this is great advice for Godly Play storytellers as well. I actually didn't know all of the symbols for the apostles and would not have been able to tell a child each of their stories had I not made these shields myself. I used this helpful website as my guide. All of the materials for this project together cost 18 Euros, which is definitely more cost-effective than what is in some of the on-line shops. So, if you are on a budget and have the time, give making your own materials a shot! Meine On-Line Freundin, Leslie, von Thoughts from the Sheepfold, sagte mir, dass die Erzähler bei Kathechese des guten Hirtens immer ihre eigene Materialen herstellen um die Geschichte auf einer tieferen Ebene kennenzulernen. Ich glaube, es tut Godly Play ErzählerInnen auch gut dies zu machen. Ich habe selbst die ganzen Symbolen der Jünger nicht gekannt und hätte sie einem Kind nicht erzählen könnte, ohne dass ich dieses Projekt angenommen hätte. Dabei hat mir diese Webseite sehr geholfen. All das Rohmaterial für de Geschichte hat insgesamt 18 Euro gekostet. Viel preiswerter als das, was man in On-line Shops findet. Also, wenn es euch an Geld mangelt und ihr Zeit habt, kann ich das Selbstbasteln nur empfehlen.


Stay tuned and I will share more tomorrow about the actual story and the children's reactions to it! Morgen werde ich von unserem schönen Fest berichten!




Linked to Keep Calm Crafting On at Frontier Dreams

5 comments:

  1. Sheila,

    I love your disciples' shields. Did you free-hand sketch the symbols onto the shields? This is a wonderful way to teach the kids about Jesus' first followers, and I like the fact that the symbols on the shield provide a tangible thing that can help them remember who the various disciples are and a bit about each one's life. Can't wait to hear about the presentation. Happy Pentecost to you and your family.

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    1. Thanks, Cheryl! Yes, I did draw them freehand from the website, but simplified them a bit, so they are easily recognizable. For instance, James' symbol is a seashell with a sword behind it. When I first saw it, it looked like a sword going through a man's head until I read the text. So, I tried to make it more obvious on my version of James' shield that this was a seashell. Happy Pentecost to you as well!

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    2. :D I think that bit about the sword going through a man's head should have made it into the main text! :) :)

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  2. What an encouraging and helpful post! (although I think you need to add the link to the website in the English paragraph)

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  3. Oops! Thanks, Storyteller, for alerting me to the missing link!

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