I am a product of flannelgraph teaching. Many of you are the product of flannelgraph teaching.
If it was done well, you most likely have very fond memories. Used poorly? Not so much!
Since beginning ABCJesusLovesMe, I desired to add flannelgraph as a technique to help families and churches teach Bible stories. I believe flannelgraph is still one of the best ways to teach Bible stories to children – when done well.
Why Flannelgraph?
The use of flannelgraph is not new. My Grandma remarkably used this technique in Sunday School 70 years ago. By using flannelgraph scenes, characters, and props, the children are given a visual picture as the Bible story is told to them. When you allow the child to help place the flannelgraph items on the board, they are actively involved in the story. If you allow the child to tell the story using the props, learning has been taken to the very highest level. All of this helps children retain the learning.
On the ABCJLM Facebook Group, I continue to hear more and more of you express your love for teaching the Bible with flannelgraph as well. While it isn’t for everyone, I want to help those who desire to add flannelgraph to teaching materials. Each of the ABCJLM lesson plans include page numbers associated with the Betty Lukens Through the Bible in Felt Teacher’s Manual which contains the Bible story as well as a list of the needed flannelgraph scenes, characters, and props listed to help you tell the story.
Because the teacher manual is written for elementary-aged children, I encourage you to shorten the stories for preschool-aged children. But don’t worry. I have already done this for several stories and am working on adding the rest. You can find these scripts on the Bible Stories pages in the Supportive Ideas tab. For example, here’s one for Jesus Calms the Storm and another one for The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.
Yet, some of you are still skeptical. Understandable!
So, I thought that I would give you an example of what teaching a Bible story for one week looked like in our home a few years ago. As stated on the “How To Teach Your Child” page, this particular Bible story was taught (retaught if the child already knows the story) the first day, the child helped me tell the story the second day, and the video below is Little Man (at age 3) telling the story the third day.
If you can not view the above video, click here.
Still have more questions? Check out the following pages and be sure to leave your questions below.
More info:
Review: Betty Lukens Through the Bible in Felt
Using Flannelgraph with ABCJLM
Using Flannelgraph on a Tight Budget
This is great! I don't have a flannelgraph (too expensive right now) but I do make felt board/magnetic pieces to go along with stories and my boys LOVE them. It really helps them to remember the story when they can make it their own. I sometimes will leave our magnets on the fridge or dish washer for a week and my boys will go and "play" the bible story. Thanks for sharing!