These cute little books are a fab way to explore Bible stories from the perspective of a character in the story. This could be one of the main characters or someone who observed, one of the crowd or the family of the ‘main protagonist’. Thinking about what they saw and heard, what they might have felt or said all helps us get deeper into the story and also discover what the story might mean for us. Of course, you could do this without making a mini book, but they might be just the thing for:
- People who listen and process more easily while doing something with their hands
- People who like to respond in a creative way
- People who like to make something to remind them of what they’ve discovered
- People who like cute little books! (I think I am probably all four of these!)
The books are simple to make, although if you’re thinking of preparing blank ones to use in a group rather than a home situation, I’d recommend using a guillotine! They don’t need glue and you could use a white cover if you prefer, although I think the coloured covers really add something to them.
You can see the video tutorial I used HERE. This lady uses them to create Minion books. I think making Minion-style Bible characters would definitely be up some people’s street (check out my Minion Mary!), but of course, you can create any sort of characters you like. If you’d like to use stickers, you’ll find some useful ones in the book Our Christmas Family GodVenture, plenty to make a whole nativity set, or whatever Bible story you choose. For younger children, this might be a fun way to create the characters. Older children might enjoy colouring or glueing paper on like RedTedArt does.
As for who to choose, you could use this to explore the Christmas story:
- Choose four main characters such as Mary, Joseph, a Shepherd, a Wise man
- Choose four characters who don’t get as much air time, such as Elizabeth, Zechariah, Anna and Simeon
- Choose four ‘silent’ or ‘invisible’ characters such as Mary’s Mum, Joseph’s brother, a shepherd boy, and a camel boy who travelled with the wise men.
As you can see, this can work for any Bible story. Most children will prefer to choose who they create. Some may like to make a set. Alternatively, you might like to make a set to send to someone for them to explore a story in a new way.
What do you put on the inside of your books? Challenge people to create a book which reflects their character’s experiences in the story you are exploring. You could:
- Write a short version of the story from their point of view
- Draw some pictures of them in various parts of the story
- Create a few cartoon-style scenes with speech and thought bubbles to show their words and thoughts
- Draw ‘selfies’ they may have taken as different points of the story
- Draw patterns, pictures or simple colours to reflect how they felt at different points of the story
To adapt this style of book for younger children, you could start with A3 paper which will give you a larger space to work in.
If you use this in an intergenerational group, you could get a team together one evening (with cake!) to make lots of blank books with different colour covers and have them in a basket on a table with pens for people to use them in the way that helps them explore.