Multi-Object Presentations

Back to Story Presentation Ideas

This activity may not feel very comfortable to start with. This is because it is this is not the standard way anglosaxan Australians tend to learn. We learn stories in sequence; we learn by braking activities into sequenced parts, learning the 1st stage, followed by the 2nd and so on; we tell recounts by one person sharing from start to finish.

I came across this idea when learning to work with Aboriginal children. Telling stories by Aboriginal people is a shared activity, with everyone adding in information. It is often not chronological; stories can jump from past to present, then back to the past. For this reason, Aboriginal children will feel more comfortable with Multi-Object Presentations than Anglosaxan Australians.

What to do:

• Find a large bag or box that the children cannot see into. I like to use an old pillow case because you can have a bright patterned one. I call this my 'Surprise Bag'.
• Find objects (or pictures if objects aren't possible) that represent main parts of the story. For example, if doing Noah's Ark, you could get a plastic saw, a boat, some plastic animals, a CD (for a rainbow), a clear bottle full of water or a rainstick, a leaf
• Briefly tell the story if the chlidren are not familiar with the story.
• Get each child to pull an item out of your surprise bag without looking in it. Get the child to tell the part of the story that the object pertains to or tell it yourself, depending on the age of the children.
• Don't worry if the items were in order. Line them up along your board or table in order. Use it to briefly recap the story (a fun way is to put a 30 second timer on and see who can tell the whole story in 30 seconds, mentioning every item on the board).

Copyright kidsministryresources.pbwiki.com, 2007. May not be reproduced without written permission.