When I was in 1st grade, our art teacher, Mr. Osama who was also our substitute teacher, used to draw a character on the board named "El tabasheera el sha2ya" or the naughty Chalk. I still remember how I used to love listening to stories about her and how I always looked forward to Mr. Osama's class. Even when we grew up and Mr. Osama no longer taught us, I used to run to him and ask him about his naughty chalk. I wanted the Sunday school kids to experience the same good memories that I had. After some research, I decided to get a puppet. Meet Tony the puppet, in the picture above. A great companion and a funny friend in sunday school class throughout the years! Now here are 5 reasons why you may want to consider getting a puppet for your class.
1- Catches Everyone's attention
When you start waving your arm with a puppet on your hand, you have all eyes on you! With the addition of a squeaky or a funny voice, you've got all the attention of the class.
2- It's a Great Way for Interaction
You can use the puppet to ask the kids questions about themselves or about the lesson and the kids will love to answer the questions and get high fives from the puppet when they can! My daughter loves to hug him.
3- Great for sharing stories
Who is better than a puppet to share a third person story? Such as the one time Tony told us when he broke the vase, he wasn't afraid to tell his mom the truth and that he didn't Lie. The kids will definitely relate to the puppet's stories and learn from them.
4- A role model
The puppet can teach the kids how to pray, and how to behave in church by showing them how to place their hands, and bend their knees. Since, in this case, Tony doesn't have eyelids, he could cover his eyes with his hands!
5- Help in memorizing the verse and singing along
The puppet is the best person to teach a verse or a new song. Your kids will love to repeat after his/her squeaky voice. Also your puppet can have a competition against your kids to see who can memorize the verse faster or sing louder. However, I must admit singing an entire song with a squeaky voice is painful! maybe try just the refrain at first and see how your throat feels.
Tony has worked great in the classes that I have served in from K-3rd grade. I am sure he would be great in a younger age group. In 3rd grade, however, acknowledged that it was just a puppet, and tried so hard to not fall for him. Eventually, they couldn't resist enjoying his presence in the class.
We the Copts is excited to present you our Coptic Orthodox puppet Characters. Introduce your kid to endless stories about our wonderful fathers and mothers of our church.
Order Puppets here
I got Tony from puppet hut: https://www.puppethut.com