Using Cardboard

This was a fun project to build and use for the earthquake and Paul's escape from jail.

We used a large piece of cardboard for the front of the jail. We knew that we were going to prop it in the corner of a room with brick walls, so we didn't worry about side or back walls fo the jail. We cut a swinging door out of cardboard, and hinged it in place with duct tape. We also cut a large rectangular hole in the cardboard, similar to a window, but then found empty shoe boxes for bricks to fill the hole. (Note: on the inside of the jail, number the boxes in the order that they fit in the hole, so it will be easy to put them back in place.) In the weeks leading up to the presentation of the drama, the kids in the art workshop painted the jail, bricks, etc.

The most fun was making the shoe box bricks fall in the earthquake. To prepare for this, the teachers set up the jail and bricks, and tied pieces of yarn about 18 inches long to some of the bricks in the bottom row. The kids acted out a skit with the jailer, Paul, and Silas, and a narrator. At the appropriate time, another student played sound effects of an earthquake, and Paul and Silas (who were inside the prison at the time), pulled on the yarn to make the bricks fall in. After a pause for the audience to settle down, the skit continued with Paul and Silas converting the guard and his family.

It would be fun to video tape and replay the skit. Of course, the kids wanted to act out the skit again with different kids playing Paul and Silas, so they could make the walls fall down, too.

Credit for the design of this jail goes to our art leader Kathy Collins, aka the "Cardboard Queen."

(Edited for typo.)