RELIGIOUS STORIES (Christian, Jewish, etc.)
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) Of Homilies and Saints: Some Resources for Christian Storytellers
Assembled by Eldrbarry (Barry McWilliams) A Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
http://www.eldrbarry.net/mous/csr.htm
A wonderful and comprehensive source!

2) My Lenten package contains
A box of matzoh -- of course, Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate Passover when he was arrested, tried and crucified. So I usually tell the Passover story. I relate that Jesus was a Jew and would have celebrated as Jews do -- and I always wear my yarmulke for that part of the session.

Jelly Beans -- a few years ago, a poem passed on the internet called "The Colors of the Jelly Beans". I adapted it into a story and use the colours.

A dried LARGE pretzel -- there's the story of the Polish monk/baker who first twisted the pretzel into the shape of praying hands (look at a pretzel and see the shape of the shoulders leading through the elbows into the hands intertwined in prayer)

A sand dollar -- which I used to illustrate the poem/story of the sand dollar and its holes and doves inside.

A blown egg -- that's my piece-de-resistance. I ask the kids about Easter. Doesn't matter their background I always get "bunnies and eggs". I talk about kinds of eggs -- white and milk chocolate, marshmallow, candy -- and lead the conversation around to the eggs that are hollow and have little prizes inside. Here they're called "Kindersurprise". That kind of egg is like a treasure egg. I show them my egg (keeping the holes covered). I ask them what's inside. Kids say chickens, yolk, white. A teacher once said "albumin" -- I fixed her. Then as quickly as I can I toss the egg up and clap it between my two hands smashing the shell. Of course, it's empty - just like the tomb on Easter Sunday morning.

For regular times of year, I use a number of sources and adaptations.

Of course, there's Louis Ginzberg's Stories of the Bible. There are many other story sources as well for those.

One of my favourites but I link to it rarely now because, for schools, the call is the festival times is Charles Kirkpatrick's site Sermons4kids. If you're cruising my site, there's a link to it on my links page.

Finally, I have a rather extensive collection of Jewish stories and a lot of them can be used in both Jewish and Christian settings (which can't be said for Christian stories). You might want to go to the library of my website for some samples that have been posted.
•••••
Dale P.
http://pages.zdnet.com/storysocks/library

(This web page updated 5/30/03)