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Drama, Puppet and Storytelling Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for the Good Samaritan

Post your Sunday School drama, puppet, and storytelling lessons, ideas, activities, and resources for the Good Samaritan here.

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Luke 10:25-37, Good Samaritan, Road to Jericho, Go and do likewise, etc.

Bible lessons and ideas about the Good Samaritan -with Drama, puppets, scripts, skits, acting, newsroom, etc



Who Is My Neighbor? (Good Samaritan) 

The "Good Spatula" Puppet Workshop 

Summary of Lesson Activities:
Students perform the "The Good Spatula" puppet skit using kitchen utensils. 

Scripture Reference:
Luke 10:25-37


Supplies needed:

  • flip chart
  • markers
  • stuffed animal
  • copies of The Good Spatula skit
  • objects for puppet show (egg beaters, hammers, grill spatula, salt and pepper shakers, ladle, serving spoon, candlestick, band-aid box, cheese grater, measuring cups, ...)

Before the students arrive:

  • Place the stuffed animal in the doorway of the room. Place it where the children will have to step over it. OR have one of the children lay down and see who steps over and who stops to find out if the person is hurt. Discuss how the children reacted to the puppet/child in the doorway. Tell them they are going to learn how Jesus would like us to respond to this scene. (adapted from lesson on Rotation.org/PCBarrington)
  • Gather the materials.
  • Read the story.


Lesson Plan 

Opening - Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. 

Open with prayer. 

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Read Luke 10:25-37

Discuss:
Characters: man on road, priest, Levite, Samaritan, innkeeper; Jesus, listeners, lawyer
What is a Samaritan?

Learn memory verse: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself." Luke 10:27 (learn with hand movements: cross hands over heart for love, point up, point to heart, praying hands, make muscles, point to head, point to others)

Recall a time when you needed help (separated from parents at mall, lost lunch money, missed school bus, forgot a pencil, fall off bike). Who helped you? List problems and helpers on newsprint.

Warm-up activity: With a partner, be the Samaritan and tell your wife/husband about your day. Use your imagination, as there are no right or wrong answers. The spouse should ask questions to help the Samaritan think ("Why are you late for dinner?", "Your clothes are all bloody and muddy -- what happened?", "But you know we have no extra money!", "Wasn't there anyone else who could help?", etc.).

Puppet Show: The Good Spatula: http://www.huntermarionettes.com/rotation-spatula/
Discuss technique to be used for performance: Object theater (see Kurt Hunter's book)
Cast the objects to be used in the performance -- gather around a table with your objects and discuss each character and the characteristics that the object would show. For example, eggbeaters, whisks, hammers, or rocks could be the robbers. If time is limited, use the objects suggested in the script.

Run through the script (the teacher or an older student can read it while the students move the objects as appropriate).

Reassign parts if necessary so everyone has a chance to "act out" the story. The audience can boo and hiss and cheer as appropriate.

Reflection:

  • I wonder what sort of person the teacher of the Law was? (Verse 25: he "tried to trap Jesus." Verse 29: he "wanted to justify himself.") What do you think he did after Jesus told him to "go, then, and do the same"?
  • Are the 10 Commandments still in effect today? What are the most important commandments?
  • I wonder, how can the church be a good neighbor?How can you be a good neighbor?
  • Who are some helpful neighbors we encounter along the road or in our lives?
  • Have you ever needed help and been passed by or ignored? How did it feel?
  • Can anyone share a time when you helped a friend or neighbor in need? What did you do? [It will be helpful if the teacher can provide an example from her/his own experience to get the discussion started.]
  • I wonder, do we have a neighbor who needs our help? What can we do?

Closing:
Dear God, Help us to recognize our neighbors and to reach out to them in love and compassion when they need help. Help us to be sensitive to the needs of others and grant us wisdom we need to know how to help our brothers and sisters in need. Amen.


A lesson was written by Amy Crane for Camp Feliciana, Presbytery of South Louisiana.


For additional information on using puppets and drama to bring Bible stories to life, see Amy Crane's Puppet and Drama Workshop Instructions in the "Rotation Documents: Workshop Manuals" section of the IDEA AND LESSON EXCHANGE.

Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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Summary:"The Good Spatula" puppet script prologue/intro idea:

In our puppet workshop we used "The Good Spatula" script.

On the last Sunday of our Good Samaritan Rotation the children performed it in church during children's time for the congregation. It also happened to be our Remembrance Day service.

I wrote the following prologue to go with the skit.  Feel free to adapt it to fit your own church.  A friend used it and adapted the prologue to include things specific to their kitchen & those in charge of looking after the kitchen (in fun). It was a big hit with everyone and a great way for the children to share what they have been learning with the congregation and their parents.

While I began with the prologue, it gave the puppeteers a chance to get themselves in position.

The Good Spatula Skit Prologue

The Kitchen utensils take great pride in their work for God. They work hard at the roast beef dinners, men's breakfast, luncheons, and coffee hour. Assisting the church ladies and men, and in their usefulness, giving their all to serve Jesus. On occasion, the church or Sunday school will hold a barbecue and the Barbecue utensils from neighbouring homes will arrive at the church. Well, you cannot imagine the uproar this causes in the kitchen.  In the Kitchen utensil's small world they have no tolerance for anyone outside of their kitchen."

You may ask, “What caused this hatred between the Kitchen utensils & the Barbecue utensils.”

Well, for one the Barbecues are very tall and tend to tower over the Kitchens. This distinct difference has caused feelings of inadequacy in the Kitchens and superiority in the Barbecues. The Kitchens are bright and shiny, while the Barbecues are often dull and rusty from their time spent outside. The Barbecues love the outdoors and traveling, while the Kitchens don’t like to leave the comfort of the church.

Each of these differences in God’s eyes makes them unique and wonderfully made. But, in their eyes the differences make enemies, not neighbours.

The following Object Theater called “The Good Spatula” written by Kurt Hunter and performed by the Sunday School children is based on Jesus’ Parable “The Good Samaritan” found in Luke 10:25-37.

If performing on Remembrance Day, as we did, you might want to end it with:

It is our way of thanking all those who in the past and present have taken a stand to eliminate prejudice and hatred by fighting for love and justice for all mankind.


Our Puppet notes:  All the utensils (puppets) were purchased at a dollar store and the kids decorated them in the puppet workshop, for example they glued on google eyes, yarn for hair, etc.  Puppets examples we used: wooden meat tenderizers for our robbers; two flat cheese graters for the traveler, one had a black eye and was covered in red and black slash marks (using permanent markers) to give it the appearance of being beaten.

Fall 2022 Update: I was reorganizing my bible story resources/props, at church, and took this photo of utensil puppets the kids had made over the years for The Good Spatula Puppet Skit.

Good Samaitan Utensil Puppts HUC

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  • Good Samaitan Utensil Puppts HUC
Last edited by Luanne Payne

Summary "The Good Spatula" puppet skit additional ideas.

 

I liked the introduction that you put together. As far as the cheese graters go, we bought cheap plastic and metal graters. I let my 2 kids go to town on beating up the one cheese grater with some hammers from our tool box. Very dramatic looking with the bent metal and parts of the plastic casing drooping. We added one other "special effect". When the script mentioned that the Good Spatula paid for the care of the wounded Cheese Grater, someone behind the curtain shook a little bowl with some coins in it to make clanking money sound.

Last edited by Rotation.org Lesson Forma-teer

The Good Samaritan

Storytelling Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

In this workshop the learners will compare the story of the good Samaritan to the Dr. Seuss book, Horton Hears a Who.

Lesson Objective(s): 

  • Learn that God wants us to be Merciful. 
  • With our older children, we will also compare HORTON to JESUS, both of whom sought to save a world.
  • At the end of the lesson with older children, we will also consider an additional way of looking at this Parable.  Instead of just making it a parable about "being merciful and helping others", students will consider if it is WE who are the ones beaten by the roadside, and Jesus (the despised Samaritan) who saves us, and calls us to be like him.

Supplies List:

  • Illustrated Bible of your choice.
  • Horton Hears a Who! by Dr. Seuss
  • Pictures of Horton, The Good Samaritan, and various super-heroes.

Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passage.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan.
  • Become familiar with the Bible story and the book Horton Hears a Who!
  • Gather the materials.


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and introductions:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs if there are new students or visitors.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Lesson Plan:

1. Have the students sit where you would like them to during the reading of the story from the Bible.

2. Read the Parable first using an illustrated Bible book.

3. Hold a very short discussion asking the kids "What they think the point of the story is about," "How each character felt and acted in the story," and "why they think Jesus told this story."

4. Read Horton Hears a Who!  Tell them ahead of time that you will be asking them to compare and contrast the Suess story with Jesus' story. 

Write the words SAME and DIFFERENT in large letters on the board, then start reading.

Younger students will need this adapted a bit with leading questions. Some younger students may not be familiar with how to "compare and contrast" the two stories. 

You can prime the pump with simple questions such as, : Who are the main characters?  And "What is the Danger in the story?"  Then you can further drill down comparing the lead characters (Samaritan, Horton), Who is in need, what is their need, and why aren't their needs being met. Tape pictures of Horton and Good Sam to your lists. This will help all and especially younger children.

Depending on your class, you may want to stop half way through the Horton story to begin comparing/contrasting.  (Note: Draw symbols and pictures for non-readers on the board instead of words).

How were the "Who's" like the beaten man?  (Both needed to be heard and helped!)

How were Horton and the Samaritan unlikely heroes?  (An elephant! and a despised Samaritan).

As you say things like "the despised Samaritan," remember to explain why Samaritans weren't liked by the Jews. (Consult your Bible background notes.)

5. Reflection

After comparing and contrasting, go to the board and write down student responses to the following questions:

Pretend you are a “Who” or someone trying to help a “Who” at your school or in your neighborhood. Who would be the Whos?  ....One might be that they are the people that are not popular.

Who would be the Wickershams and Kangaroos? One answer might be that they are the people who are not nice to them or tease them.

Why do you think Horton did what he did? 

Why do you think the Samaritan did what he did?

Now let's make a big imaginary leap:  How is Horton's RESCUE of the Who's like Jesus coming to earth to save us from our sins?

With older children in particular, you should introduce the concept of "Messiahs" in literature and movies. A Messiah is one who comes to save the people.  They are super-heroes.  Have the students name a few "Messiah" movies.  Then note that many messianic characters in the movies have obvious flaws. Some, like Iron Man for example, started out bad. Some, like Superman, make mistakes.  How is Jesus different?

Closure:
A man came to Jesus because he wanted to know what he needed to DO in order to have eternal life. Jesus told him that he needed to BE merciful. 

Is mercy a thing that you DO, or is it way of looking at the world? ...A way of putting others before yourself?  

Jesus taught us that you become merciful when you realize God has been merciful to you.

Sometime later, maybe that man realized HE HIMSELF was the beaten man in the story --left for dead and left unsaved by others, and that it was JESUS who was the despised Samaritan (rejected by the Jews) who had come to save him, and take care of him.  That would mean JESUS is our neighbor!  And we are called to "go and do likewise" ....BE LIKE CHRIST to the world.

Closing:
Close the class with a prayer of your own, or use the following:
Dear God, thank you for sending Jesus to teach us how we should live. Help us to be good neighbors to all. Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Ask the children to answer the following:
Who is my neighbor?


References:

  • Dr. Seuss. Horton Hears a Who! New York: Random House, 1954, renewed 1982.

 

A lesson posted by Jan Marshall from: Brenthaven Church, 
Nashville, TN

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability. 

 Note: This lesson was modified during our 2013 renovation. All three of our lesson reviewers liked the idea of comparing the two stories and suggested some improvements which we've incorporated above.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

The Good Samaritan

PRAISING PUPPETS

Note: This could be acted out as a drama as well.

Summary of Lesson Activities:

There are 3 skits:  2 scripted, and the third created by the children to represent "Good Samaritan situations in their school, home, neighborhood, community.

Scripture Reference: 

Luke 10:25-37

Key Verse for this lesson: We love because he first loved us.  I John 4:19

Memory Verse:     

“Love your enemies, and be good to everyone who hates you.  Ask God to bless anyone who curses you, and pray for everyone who is cruel to you.”  Luke 6:27-28 (CEV)

Concepts:        

  • God wants us to love God, love our neighbors and love ourselves.
  • We are good neighbors when we show kindness and mercy toward others no matter whom they are.
  • God’s disciples help others in need without expecting a reward.

Lesson Objectives:  

This workshop will teach children to offer love and mercy to everyone, regardless of their own personal prejudices toward that person, because we are God’s children.   (We love because he first loved us. I John 4:19.


Teacher preparation in advance:

  1. Pray:  Ask God to give you the talents, words, assurance and patience you need to teach God’s children this lesson.
  2. Read the scripture passages and attend the Faith Quest Leaders Bible Study.
  3. Make at least 12 copies of each script page.  Cut the scripts into pieces so that each player can have a copy.  You can also post two copies of the script at each end of the stage so puppeteers can refer to it.
  4. Prepare a closing prayer.
  5. If you choose to pre-record the scripts, family members and their friends can have a lot of fun playing the different parts.

Materials:

  • Copies of the script.
  • Puppets OR Costumes


Presentation

Opening - Welcome and Introductions:

  1. Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your nametag.
  2. Tell the children that today they will use the puppets to learn about how to behave with love and mercy toward other people.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Bible Story:

The Bible story can take up to10 minutes of the workshop period.  For the first two weeks of the lesson, you might need to be more thorough; after that a quick review should suffice.  You can use a telling/asking approach to talk about the scripture.   A note about reading the Bible:  when you are reading the Bible passages, you can ask a child to read, but I have found that having an adult read makes the passage more understandable—it goes faster, has emphasis in the right places and keeps the interest up in the class.  The children can follow along in their Bibles if they brought one.

Here’s a suggested approach for telling the story.  You can start by setting the scene for this scripture:  people are gathered around Jesus asking him questions.  One person in the audience is an expert in the Law of Moses.  Does anyone know what the Law of Moses is?  Moses received the Law from God.  It includes the 10 Commandments and a lot of other laws and rules found in the Old Testament that the Israelites or Jewish people lived by.  For example, it even includes rules for what to do if your house has mildew!  (Leviticus 14:33-53)  So what does it mean if someone is an expert in the Law of Moses?  He knows all the laws in the Old Testament very well.

In the passage I am about to read, it uses the word, “Scriptures.”  Does anyone know what “Scriptures” means?  Bible, Old and New Testament.  At Jesus’ time it would have only been the Old Testament.  When the expert asks his question, he calls Jesus “teacher.”  Do you think of Jesus as a teacher?  more of a thought question—any response is appropriate.  Jesus knew God and the scriptures before he came to Earth, so he also was an expert in the Law.

(Now read Luke 10:25-28.)  What does God want us to do?  Love the Lord your God completely, love your neighbor.   Who is your neighbor?—let’s read more to find out.  (Read Luke 10:29-37.)  Jesus doesn’t just define neighbor, he gives an example of a real neighbor.  Who is the real neighbor?  Good Samaritan.  What makes him a real neighbor?  He helped someone who really needed help.  He saw to the man’s every need.  So do you think being a neighbor has anything to do with where you live?  No

What is a Samaritan?  Children will probably not know the right answer.  It is a Jewish-like religious group from a place called Samaria.  This group was separate from the other Jewish groups, believing a slightly different version of the Scriptures.  The two groups (Jews and Samaritans) did not think good things about each other.  Each group thought they were better and knew more than the other group.  You will probably want to tailor this information for the different ages.  Probably the main point to make is that the two groups of people did not like each other.

Who were the other two men that did not behave as a real neighbor to the injured man?  Priest, Temple helper.  These men would have been men that the expert would have liked and respected.  Again, tailor the information you provide based on age. 

Why do you think they didn’t help the man?  Another thought question—any response is appropriate.  For your own information, the priests and temple helpers might have been afraid for their own safety on this dangerous road and afraid of disease and uncleanliness, based on laws they believed they had to follow as temple workers.

Would you have helped the man?  Does anyone know what mercy is?  showing kindness and help to those who need it even if the person doesn’t deserve it.

Which man showed mercy?  Samaritan.

Puppet or Drama

Note:  There are 3 skits:  2 scripted, and the third created by the children to represent "Good Samaritan situations in their school, home, neighborhood, community.

You may have to repeat one or more of the skits to give everyone a chance to perform.  Let each child have a chance to operate a puppet or they will be disappointed.  There are a lot of questions provided, probably more than you could possibly cover.  Choose the questions you feel are most relevant for your age group, but ask enough questions to relate these skits to the concepts we are teaching about God.

  1. Divide the class into groups of children for each skit (2 or 3 children).
  2. You have several options about who will read the parts.  You may pre-record the entire skit on cassette tape before Sunday (this always worked well for me when I was a puppet workshop leader). You can choose a narrator (use a shepherd or workshop leader) to read all the puppet parts while children act out with the puppets.  You may also allow each child to read and act out his/her own puppet part (this works well with good readers, probably 3rd grade and up). 
  3. Give out scripts to each group.  Let children choose a puppet.
  4. Allow the groups 5 minutes or so to practice their script.  Grades 1&2: The shepherd and workshop leader should help with the scripts, perhaps even “speaking” the voices while the children act them out. You may want to do this for the other grades as well to keep the pace moving and to allow the children to focus on what is being said and not the mechanics of reading.
  5. When performing the skits, you may use the pre-recorded version.
  6. If you have a large group of children, you may repeat one or more skits so everyone has a turn.
  7. Perform Skit 1.
    After the skit, the workshop leader can ask a puppet a question about some aspect of the skit scenario.  Ask the performers to sit down and have a brief discussion with all children about what happened in the play.  Some possible discussion questions follow.  What do you think about Adam, the boy who hurt his arm?  Was it right to help him?  Do you think you could help someone you don’t like?  How do you think the other children felt after helping him?  God wants us to help anyone—friend or enemy—who needs help.  Our memory verse tells us that.
  8. Perform Skit 2. 
    After skit 2, discuss it together.  Who was like the Good Samaritan in this skit?  Why did the runner stop to help?  What did the runner give up to help?  Did he/she get anything in return?  Did the runner seem to mind giving up the medal?  Do you think the runner would really stop again?  Could you do this for someone?  Think about how you would feel if you saw someone really hurt and no one else was helping?  Would your heart go out to them?
  9. Skit 3:  Assign and give students several minute to come up with a contemporary skit:
  • A new kid in school is in need of a friend but everyone seems to be ignoring him.
  • A little kid (she looks like she's barely 3 years old) can't find her father at the mall.
  • The person in front of you at the grocery store doesn't have quite enough change to pay for their purchase. (Let's say they need 50 cents).
  • A friend invites you to his birthday party. However what he requests for birthday gifts is rather strange: he wants donations for the local dog shelter. You and your other friends discuss this concept.
  • If you have to repeat a skit to give everyone a turn, you may hold the discussion until the last time you have repeated the skit.

Wrap-up:

Review the concepts covered:

  • God wants us to love God, love our neighbors and love ourselves.
  • We are good “neighbors” when we show kindness and mercy toward others no matter whom they are.
  • God’s disciples help others in need without expecting a reward.           

Reflection Time:

Ask the shepherds to pass out the journal sheets and pencils/markers.  Tell the younger children to draw a picture of a Good Samaritan (either the one in the Bible story or a modern day one).  Ask the older children to write about the most important thing they learned today.  Then they can draw a picture of a Good Samaritan (again, Bible or modern day).

Closing:

Prayer:  Have the PUPPETS form a circle and each offer a simple prayer about love, thanking God for his love and asking him to help each of us feel God’s love and feel like sharing this love with other people—both friends and enemies.


References:

This lesson was created in part based on ideas gleaned at rotation.org.




SKIT 1

Kevin:  “There’s Adam riding his scooter.  I hope he doesn’t come over here.  He is always so mean.”

Annie:  “He just fell down!  Wow, he’s holding his arm kind of funny.”

Ethan: “I think his arm is broken.  I saw a kid at the skate park whose arm looked like that.  It was broken.  Should we help him?”

Kevin:  “Are you kidding?  I don’t like that guy.”

Annie:  “As much as I don’t like him, I think we should help him.  He looks pretty helpless, and he has tears running down his face.  Let’s at least tell his Mom.”

Ethan:  “OK, I’ll go tell his Mom.”  (runs off)

Kevin:  “I guess I could wheel his scooter home for him.”

Annie:  “I’ll go with you and tell him his Mom is coming.”

Kevin:  “You know, as much as I don’t like that guy, for some reason I feel kind of happy about what we’re doing—like it’s the right thing to do.”




SKIT 2

Frank/Faith:  “How was your race?  Did you win?”

Matthew/Millie:  “I didn’t really finish the race.  There was a kid ahead of me that tripped and fell.  His knee was really bleeding.  So I stopped to help him.”

Carl/Carrie: “I thought you wanted to win a new medal.   Why did you stop?”

Matthew/Millie:  “I did want to win, and I’m still disappointed that I didn’t.  But at the time, I just felt more like helping that kid.  Everyone else just kept running by him and that just seemed kind of mean.  I didn’t want to be mean like that.”

Frank/Faith:  “I bet you would have won.”

Matthew/Millie:  “I definitely was ahead in my age group.  I’m planning to enter another race soon.”

Carl/Carrie:  “Next time you can keep running.”

Matthew/Mildred:  “Yea, if nobody else gets hurt.”

Frank/Faith:  “You mean you’d drop out to help someone and give up a medal again?”

Matthew/Millie:  “Maybe—you probably would too.  You’d just have to be there to understand.  It just didn’t seem right not to help him.”

Carl/Carrie:  “That sounds like my Mom.  She says you should act nice to everyone and help anyone in need, no matter who they are or how they treat you, even if you don’t feel like being that way.”




A lesson from Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

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