Stick horses in action

We used the paper bag/stick horses in a lesson about Paul's escape from Jerusalem with my K/1 class. The horses were a BIG hit! They were moving pretty quickly, too, so it was hard to get a photo.

I suppose the activity was more of a drama reenactment than a game, but my small group of four thoroughly enjoyed it (we repeated it four times so each person could be each part/character in the Acts 23 story).

• There were four "parts": Paul, his nephew, the jailer, and the crowd of people who were unhappy with what Paul had to say. My co-teacher was part of the crowd, and I was the facilitator/director. The jailer got to hold a pretend sword; you could certainly add more costumes/hats/props to make it more interesting for all of the kids.
• Paul tells the crowd about Jesus. (A good chance to practice sharing the Gospel about Jesus' love and how he died for us.)
• The crowd doesn't like what Paul has to say and starts grumbling and shaking their fists at Paul (I did not let them beat him up, which is what happened in the Bible story...)
• The jailer rescues Paul from the crowd and puts him into jail (we made a small walled area with blocks.
• The grumbling people make a plot to kill Paul, which the nephew hears.
• The nephew goes to the jail to tell Paul.
• Paul tells the nephew to tell the jailer.
• The jailer hands Paul a horse and they race around the room back to the jail (which is now another jail).
• Switch parts and do it again as time and interest permit.

Field test note on the horses: I did not attach the paper bag head to the stick - it was just wrapped around and gravity held it in place. Which means when the horses were galloping quickly around the room the head bounced off. Headless horses still seem to gallop pretty vigorously, but I plan to tape the heads onto the sticks before I use the horses again.