God’s Covenant With Abraham And Sarah Puppet Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Students will use handle-bag puppets to enact the story of Abraham and Sarah.

Note: This workshop was visited by 4-6th grades.

Scripture Reference:

Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6, 17:1–8, 15–17; 18:1–15; 21: 1-3, and 22: 1-18

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson.
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
• Gather the materials
• Make the signs to be used in the puppet show. One that says “Abram” on one side and “Abraham” on the other; One that says Sarai on one side and “Sarah” on the other; One that says “Another Place” and has an arrow pointing; One that says “One Place.”
• Label 14 Popsicle sticks: Abraham, Sarah, “Abraham” Sign, “Sarah” Sign, Narrator, God, Servant, Sheep (write 2 sticks for this one), “Another Place” sign, “One Place” sign, Tent, Altar, Stranger
• Write the key Bible verse on the whiteboard.

Supplies List:

• Easel with appropriate markers
• Adventure Bibles
• Handle-bag puppets (other Bible times or people puppets could also be used)
• The puppet stage
• Puppet Script – follow link to free (but copyrighted) script
• Scene clapper
• Read With Me Bible
• Signs that are held up during the play (see the script)
• Popsicle sticks (one per child)
• Pen
• Index cards with story events (for extra sequencing task)

Lesson Plan

Opening:
Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Puppets Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

Tell the kids that they will be learning about another covenant today – remind them that they learned about the covenant God made with Noah last month.

Say: In this workshop we act out Bible stories using puppets that are very easy to use. We are learning (continuing to learn) about the story of Abraham and Sarah.

Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Dear God, Help us to always remember that you will keep your promises to us. We thank you for the blessings you always give us. (End with everyone joining in on the Lord’s Prayer) Amen.”

Dig:
Ask: Where in the Bible would we find the story of Noah, the lesson from last month? (The first book of the Old Testament, Genesis)

Say: The story for this month comes from the same place, the book of Genesis. This is the story of Abraham and Sarah.  Let's find chapter 12 in Genesis in our Bibles.

Continue: This is a BIG story – many chapters of Genesis are devoted to Abraham and Sarah. (Using the purple Adventure Bible) Let’s start with chapter 12, and read the notes on pp. 14 and 15 about the main characters in our puppet show, Abraham and Sarah.

Ask: Based on the notes we just read, what was the promise God made to Abraham and Sarah? (they would have many descendants; Sarah would have a son)
Continue: Now let’s flip through the Abraham story – just read the titles at the chapters 12, 15, 18, 21.

(NOTE: We have left off reading the heading at chapter 17 because in these Bibles that heading is “The Covenant of Circumcision.” We are skirting this subject! If someone sees this word and asks about it a good response is to have the kids look up the word in the dictionary at the back of these Bibles. (Good practice in dictionary use.) Have them read the definition and then you can say: Today circumcision is done for hygienic and for social reasons; in those days it was a sign of being God’s people.)

Have the kids read the titles aloud – point out the sequence of events.
(In the later part of the rotation, you can start off by asking the kids if they can tell you the story. Have them fill in any details by looking up passages in their Bibles.)

Say: The puppet show will tell us part of Abraham and Sarah’ story – we are not going to read the complete story now. But we will read our key Bible verse, Genesis 22:17, because it helps us understand God’s promise to all of us. (show picture on pp.42-43 of Read With Me Bible while reading the key Bible verse).

Say: Let’s act out the story using puppets. We can do the puppet show more than once, so that some can be the audience while others are acting out the story; then we’ll switch.

Explain how to use the puppets:
Show the students one of the handle-bag puppets.
Say: We can have lots of fun with these puppets but we need to treat them gently. Like all church property, we will be respectful and careful in our use of the puppets.

Show the kids how the “bag” or body, slips off the rod or handle. Show them how you hold the rod with one hand. Now slip the handle through the top of the bag. Show them how one hand is on the handle and the other hand is in the far corner of the bag – it becomes the “hand” of the puppet. Demonstrate how the puppet can wave, cover their puppet mouth to cough, and pick up something.

Enact the story using puppets:
Start off by picking characters by drawing sticks (add additional Popsicle sticks to the written supply so that you have a number equal to the number of students).
[If you have fewer than 14 students take out Popsicle sticks for: “Abraham” Sign or “Sarah” Sign – ask the student with the puppet for Abraham and for Sarah to also do the sign. Next if needed, take out “One Place” sign – ask a student to do both the “place” signs. Or take out one of the Sheep.]

Take the Popsicle sticks in your hand with the written part hidden in your palm. Have students each draw a stick. This is the part that they should play for the entire “production.” Switch parts only if you do the play a second time.

Characters: (*means non-speaking roles)
Abram/Abraham puppet
Sarai/Sarah puppet
Sign with Abram/Abraham*
Sign with Sarai/Sarah*
Narrator (not a puppet)
God (not a puppet – just a voice)
Servants (we used pictures on a sign; held by a student)*
Sheep puppets (2)*
“Another Place” sign*
“One Place” sign*
Tent (we used a picture pasted on a sign; held by a student)*
Altar (picture on a sign; held by a student)*
Three strangers (picture on a sign; held by a student)*
Isaac (puppet held by Sarah puppet)*

Pass out copies of the script.
Have them pay attention to the words in italic letters. Whatever is in italic letters, they can act out. For example: when it says, “Abram builds an altar.” Abram would go through the motions of building an altar.

Run through the script.

Discussion
After the first puppet show, use these questions to help guide discussion:

• Remember at the beginning of class we said this was about a covenant. How would you define a covenant? (a promise or an agreement) What was the covenant God made with Abraham? (if he obeyed God and left his home for a new land, God would bless him with many children) How did God honor the covenant? (He blessed Abraham and Sarah with Isaac)
• How does God keep that covenant with us today – how are we blessed by God? (answers vary – families, homes, food to eat, pets, etc.)
• Tell about how your faith journey is similar to Abraham and Sarah’s – can you think of times when you trusted God?
• Describe how illogical God’s promises to Abraham and Sarah seemed – think about what Sarah was promised.
• What do you think this means, “With God, all things are possible.” How does it relate to the Abraham and Sarah story? Does that statement relate to your life today?

Repeat the script with different puppeteers if time permits.

If there is time, you can do this activity with the kids:
Say: Using the supplied index cards, put the major events of the story in order. (Make 2 sets of index cards; leave the numbers off, and be sure to mix them up before handing them out!)

Story event sequencing cards:
1. God calls Abram and Sarai to leave their home to travel to a distant land.
2. God promises Abram that he would have many children and grandchildren.
3. Abram and Sarai’s names are changed to Abraham and Sarah.
4. God promises that Abraham and Sarah will have a son.
5. The three strangers come to visit.
6. Isaac, the promised son, is born.

Reflection:
Say: For each Bible story we study as Sunday  school Disciples, we try to learn a Bible verse. Let’s say our verse together.

Say the verse together once.

Resources:

• Hunter, Kurt. Puppets, Kids, and Christian Education. Augsburg Fortress, 2001.
• ---. “Abraham and Sarah.” 1998. http://www.huntermarionettes.com/rotation-model/ (Script for use with Handle Bag puppets. It is not included here because it is copyright material. We made some changes to this script - for example instead of having the narrator have so many words to read we changed it so that the characters spoke some of the material.)
  
  Scripture quoted is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

A lesson written by Debbie Houghton and Beth Pascoe from: First UMC, Ann Arbor, MI

Copyright First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material.
If you use this material, even in a modified form, please include the following reference:
Houghton, Debbie and Beth Pascoe. "God’s Covenant with Abraham and Sarah: Puppet Workshop ." Oct. 2007. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

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