The Anointing of David
A Puppet Workshop using Everyday Objects
Summary of Lesson Activities:
In this workshop, the learners use “object theater” to act out the story. Object theater is a special type of puppet theater where everyday objects are used instead of "people" puppets to represent characters and characteristics.
Supplies List:- Copy of the Bible story from The Storyteller Series: The Shepherd King
- household objects to be used to represent characters—at least 10 items are needed for characters, but more would give true choices for all characters (choose objects from the kitchen that have various shapes, sizes, and uses for these)
- copies of the script for the narrator and God (see the script at the end of this lesson)
- poster board with the phrase “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside”
- table turned on its side for the staging
- pencils.
Teacher preparation:- Read the Bible passage.
- Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you become familiar with the Bible story and the lesson plan.
- For how to do "Object Theater" check it out here over in our Puppet Forum.
- Place all the objects out in the floor on the table in the blue room. Keep in mind that this is a fun play—if it isn’t polished, that’s ok.
Lesson PlanOpening-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.
1. Gather the children together and begin by asking some questions:
- Do any of you have brothers and/or sisters (or cousins)? Are they older or younger?
- How does the oldest treat the youngest in your family?
- If you are playing a game and need a team leader, would you pick the youngest or the oldest?
- What would you think if someone else picked the youngest to lead a team?
2. Optional Warm Up Activity:
How do we judge people based on looks and appearance? Play a quick game of "line up" with the following questions. (The first question about basketball will likely get the kids to line up by height. ) Let them work it out and listen very carefully to some of the "reasoning" they use to form their line. Stop to ask the "most" or "last/least" person in the line why they are standing in that position.
- Who looks like they might be the best/worst basketball player? Who looks more "kind" and less kind? Who looks like they will someday become the richest/not richestperson? Who looks more/less honest? Who looks like they might have the most faith in God? Let the kids work this out, then challenge how they judged based on appearance.
- Remind students that today's lesson is about how God "judges" people, and WHAT God is looking for (not the richest or best basketball player), and God's way has nothing to do with "appearances," but what's in a person's heart.
- Ask students to relate how they felt when they were "passed over" for being "most kind" or "most honest." Relate that in our story, David was the youngest and smallest. How do you think he felt when he heard that the prophet Samuel had come to his brothers to pick the future king?
2. Introduce the story for today by telling the class that Samuel was a prophet who shared God’s word with God’s people, and that Saul was the king of Israel at the time of the story. God was not satisfied with the work Saul was doing.
3. Read the story from the source provided. When done, review the highlights of the story, prompting the children for the important points:
- God tells Samuel to choose another king, and gives Samuel an answer for the danger in which God places him.
- Jesse comes with his sons for the sacrifice.
- Samuel looks at all of Jesse’s sons, and deems each of them worthy. However, none is the correct one.
- Samuel insists on seeing the youngest son, so Jesse sends for him.
- David is anointed as the new king.
4. Review the characters in the story and talk about their characteristics, attitude, appearance, how they might talk and act. Ask "Why would someone think THAT person might make the "best" King? When you get to David, ask "why God chose David."
- Samuel—prophet; we don’t know much about his physical characteristics;
- God—only a voice in the story, but a strong voice;
- Jesse—father of the 8 sons;
- Eliab—eldest;
- Abinadab—tall;
- Shammah—handsome;
- son number 4—big bulging muscles;
- son number 5—smiling, jolly;
- son number 6—well-dressed;
- son number 7—curly hair;
- David—young, tends sheep, writes songs.
5. Tell the class that today we will recreate the story using an odd assortment of everyday items as puppets. Ask for four volunteers for the play: one will be the narrator that reads the story, one will be the voice of God, and two will be “puppeteers,” moving the objects around in the play (one for Samuel and one for the others.) The rest of the class gets to watch the production.
If you have enough kids, you can do the production TWICE so that everyone gets to do the script and puppets.
Begin by examining the script. Give the actor portraying "the voice of God" a script to go over and the poster board to hold up when God speaks God’s refrain. After the first time the line is spoken by God, the actor should hold up the board and encourage the audience to say the line with God. Give the two puppeteers time to choose objects for the other characters—Samuel, Jesse, and the eight sons. Tell them to make choices that might fit the physical characteristics of the characters, especially each of the sons.
When finished with the script, talk about the play and the choices that the puppeteers made for the characters. Let the audience tell why a certain object might have been chosen for a character, or let the puppeteer explain why that choice was made.
Repeat again if you have more students. Have the puppeteers explain their object choices, ...what they were trying to convey to the audience.
Conclude by inviting each student to pick an "everyday object" that represents THEM, and complete the sentence, "On the outside to others, I may look like ______________, but on the inside I think God likes my ______________ (pick something good about yourself that you think God likes about you).
Journal/Reflection Time
Whether you use "journaling" for closure or not, invite students to create a message to themselves based on what they've learned from today's lesson. Suggest they write their responses in the SHAPE of a heart -- remembering that God looks at the heart.
Possible starter sentences:
- Here's what makes me special to God...
- When God looks in my heart he sees these good things...
- I may be ___________, but with God in my heart I am ______________.
- God, I need your help to become more ________________.
References:- www.rotation.org writing team lesson “David: God’s Chosen King” Drama Workshop.
- Wehrheim, Carol A., editor, The Storyteller Series: The Shepherd King, Age-Level Leaders’ Guide, 1997, Christian Board of Publication, St. Louis, MO.
Narrator's Script - The Anointing of David
(Narrated by the Prophet Samuel)
Adapted by Amy Crane and Jan Marshall
Scripture from the Good News Bible
[Suggested actions and responses are in brackets. Pause in the narration and encourage the students to use their imagination to expand upon the little bit of detail in the Bible. Note that there should be an object portraying Samuel in the drama as well as someone reading as Samuel the narrator.]
[Samuel appears.] Good morning. My name is Samuel. I am a judge, a prophet, and a priest, called by God. I could tell you many stories -- about Saul, the first King of Israel; about his son Jonathan; about a giant named Goliath; and about a great king named David. I don't have time to tell all the stories today, but I do want to tell you a story about David. Did you know that he was not always a great king? It all started like this . . .
God was unhappy with the way Saul, chosen by the people of Israel to be their first king, was behaving. He was not following God's way. One day, God talked to me about it. I was told that God had already chosen a new king and I was to go anoint this new king. I argued with God for awhile, because that’s pretty dangerous! We already had a king, and I was afraid he would kill me if he knew I was going to anoint a new one. But God told me to go on, plan a sacrifice as a cover-up, and anoint this new king—a son of Jesse of Bethlehem.
So, I packed my bag and was off to Bethlehem for an anointing and a sacrifice to the Lord. The town leaders were a bit concerned when I showed up, but I told them it was a peaceful visit. Everyone got cleaned up and gathered for the sacrifice, including Jesse and his seven sons. Such handsome young men! But which one was to be king? I trusted that God would tell me which to choose.
[Jesse arrives "on stage" and greets Samuel.]
Well, I could tell it wouldn't be a problem finding a king in this crowd of fine young men! I started with Eliab, the oldest.
[The Eliab object comes on stage. Samuel faces him.]
This first son of Jesse is such a fine young man. Since he is the eldest and has an important role in this fine family, I was sure this was the chosen one.
But God said, “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.” [The volunteer who is God says this, and holds the poster board up for the audience to see.]
Well, I asked for the next son, Abinadab. [The Abinadab object comes on stage.] I thought, “How tall this one is! Everyone will have to look up to this one as king. Good choice, God.”
[This time, God should hold up the poster board, and point to it encouraging the audience to say the phrase with God.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
So I called for Shammah, the third son. [The Shammah object comes on stage.] He was so handsome, a splendid example of one who should be king. The people would be proud of such a king. I started to ask him to kneel, when God said,
[God should hold up the poster board, and point to it encouraging the audience to say the phrase together.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
So I asked for son number four (by this time, I was confused about all their names. I still can’t remember them all!) [The number four son’s object comes on stage.] This son had big bulging muscles, and I thought he would be a strong leader. But God said,
[Again, point to the poster board.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
Then came son number five. [The number five object comes on stage.] This son had such a wonderful smile. I was sure this would be a jolly king. But again God said,
[Poster board.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
I was getting used to this by this time, so I called for son number six. [Son number six object comes on stage.] This son was very well-dressed. He would make a proper king. But God said,
[Poster board.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
Finally, I called for the seventh son. [Seventh son’s object comes on stage.] This one had such magnificent curls—truly a crowning glory for a king. But once again, God said,
[Poster board.] “No! People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
Well, I knew something was wrong. And I didn't think it was the Lord. I had met all seven of Jesse's sons, and not one of them was the one God wanted. There had to be another son. So I asked Jesse if there were other sons. He told me of the youngest, the one who only watched the sheep and made up songs. [Samuel and Jesse face each other. Then David comes on stage.]
When the youngest son arrived, David was his name and I could see he was young. He had been tending the sheep and had been in the pasture for who knows how long, so he wasn't particularly clean. But I could see he was a handsome, healthy young man. How his eyes sparkled when he came into the room! And the Lord spoke to me again, but this time God said,
“Yes, this is the one I choose. People look on a person’s outside, but God looks on the inside.”
[Samuel anoints David.]
Well, my job was done. I made the sacrifice to the Lord and returned home alone, but with this secret. I could see the spirit of the Lord was with David. David would be okay there in Bethlehem until it was time for him to serve God and God’s people as king of Israel.
Puppetry Pre-K Adaptation:
Have the kid sit in a circle, each holding one of the objects. Use the objects to tell the story, having each kid hold theirs up as you tell their part of the story (you'll have to prompt them). After telling the story this way once, do it again, seeing if they can remember their parts. Finally, ask them to tell you the story, calling on different ones, asking "..and then what happened?".