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Preparing a Bible Talk Or Children’s Sermon

Written by Dennis Regling in How To,Volunteer Training

Teaching the Bible to children is why we’re here,

Paul says to Timothy, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” 2 Timothy 3:16.

So, you’ve got the challenge of handling this bit of God’s word and helping the children in your group to engage with it.

God’s word is powerful and He uses it to change lives…so this is a massive privilege. But it’s also a big responsibility. We need to be careful to teach what God intends the children to learn.

So, in this article, we’ll look at some of the most important principles.

Here are those important principles:

  1. Teach the Bible. And don’t just tell Bible stories.
  2. Always use visual aids and interaction to bring it all alive.
  3. Be clear.

So, where do we start?

Well, that’s easy. Read the Bible passage.

It’ll probably be a passage from one of the historical books of the Old Testament or from a gospel or Acts; it might be a Psalm, or from a New Testament letter. And you might be quite familiar with it.

But read the Bible passage – because if you don’t then there’s a big risk that you’ll assume you know it and miss something important.

So, let’s work through an example:

Mark 4:35-41 

“And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Now, you’re probably already thinking about those visual aids and ideas to make it interactive. You might be imagining pictures of boats, models of boats, inflatable boats or even taking the children out for a ride on a boat to make it real. You’re planning how you can use stormy sound effects, water pistols or buckets of water to make the whole thing come alive.

And all of that is fantastic! Ideas like that are brilliant for engaging children with God’s word. Write down those ideas as they come to you. But that’s not all of it.

Because principle Number 1 is that we TEACH the Bible, not just tell Bible stories.

And the difference between telling great Bible stories and TEACHING the Bible is in explaining what it MEANS and how that APPLIES to our lives today.

To teach the Bible you need to include not just knowledge of what happened, but also the meaning of what it means and the application to us today.

Here’s the simplest way to get to the meaning: ask yourself what does this teach about God or Jesus or the work of the Holy Spirit; or us? Or the non-Christian world? Or the church?

Sometimes that’ll be fairly obvious. Sometimes more difficult to work out. So, what’s the meaning of our example passage?

Well there’s a big clue in verse 41 when the terrified disciples ask each other ‘Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him.’

But who is this Jesus? I mean, who is he… REALLY.

” Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.” Job 9:8

They were gradually making sense in their minds who Jesus really is. King over everything. So, the meaning of this passage is about Jesus’ being King over the storm – yes…but much much more than that.

And what’s the application? Well, the application is really about my response. And God works to bring about the response that He wants in our lives.

But we should certainly point the children to right applications not wrong ones. The easiest way to get to this is to see what the challenge or encouragement is.

  • Maybe there’s an example to follow?
  • Or a command to obey?
  • Maybe a warning we need to pay attention to or a sin to stay well clear of.
  • Is there a promise for us?
  • Does the passage lead us to praise or prayer?

So, for our passage here, knowing that Jesus is King over Everything means our response should be to worship, serve and trust Him as our King.

That’s faith.

Did you see the challenge in Jesus’ question to the disciples in verse 40? Why are you so afraid?

Instead of panic and worry trust Jesus, who is King over Everything. He doesn’t promise to take the storm away…but He wants us to learn to worship and serve and trust Him.

So, in order to teach this passage let’s see what we’ve got: we need to plan to communicate what happened, what it means and how it applies to us today. And that is the outline of your talk.

If you divide your sheet of paper into 3 columns and jot down what you’re going to cover under those three headings, probably in that order then you’ve got the basic structure of a great Bible talk.

What about principle number 2? Making it visual and interactive?

Well, that’s where all those wonderful ideas come in. Your only limit is your own imagination – plus the mess that’s left to clear up afterward.

Those ideas will make it visual and interactive – and the children will be much more engaged and will understand it much better when you do that.

For some ideas read the article entitled Presentation Ideas and my article on Creating Great Visual Aids

Animated object lessons create interest and engagement

Now, the third principle was clarity.

That’s really important for any talk to children. It’s better to focus on one meaning and application than try to make five of each and leave them looking bewildered.

If you’ve been given a long passage to teach then you’ll have to focus on the key events.

For example, if you’re teaching the flood from Genesis 6-9 to pre-school children there’s no need at all to go into the stuff about two of every animal or seven of every animal.

This may cause you to lose the key point – God judging sin and choosing to rescue Noah and his family.

To keep things clear you also need to think about some of the words you might be tempted to use.

A 6-year-old only understands a quarter of the vocabulary of an adult, and a 3-year-old only about 1-2% …so think about the words you’ll be using.

What about timings? Well, aim for roughly a minute for every year of their age.

So, for under 5s keep it under 5 minutes, under 8s keep it under 8 minutes and for under 12s keep it under 12 minutes; for the youngest ones you’ll want to spend almost all of that time on what happened and then a simple sentence or two on meaning and application.

But for children at the top end of primary school age, we can explore the meaning and application with them in much more depth. So, there ya go.

Think through the meaning and application as well as what happens, make it visual and interactive and keep it really clear. And teach them God’s word – it’s why we’re there.

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How To Cut Foam For Puppet Making And Other Crafts

Written by admin in How To

In this article, I will be dealing primarily with upholstery foam, but the same techniques will work with EVA foam and other closed cell foams as well.

Foam can easily be cut with a razor blade or scissors. Thicker foam is more easily cut with a serrated knife or even an electric knife like the kind use to carve a turkey. Hot wire foam cutters are also available.

For foam 1″ thick or thinner, razor blades and scissors work great. With thicker foams, you may want to use an electric knife or a foam cutting saw or hot wire foam cutter.

Although scissors are great for cutting 1/2″ foam for puppet making, poly foam will dull the blades of scissors very quickly. I only use old scissors for trimming foam.

Razor blades are my preferred way to cut foam for heads and bodies. They cut straight and quickly. Like scissors, they too will dull quickly, but they are inexpensive and disposable.

For thicker foam, or for cutting a stack of foam hands, I prefer to use my hot wire cutter. With it, I can cut 4 hand patterns in 1/2″ foam quickly, precisely and they all match up perfectly. I have a Hercules Tabletop Foam Cutter that works great. You can get the current Amazon price HERE.

Puppet pattern cut out and ready for gluing.

When cutting foam, you will want to get a square edge. Hold your razor blade straight up and down when cutting. If your blade leans to one side, you will get a beveled edge.

To get a square cut with thicker foam, 2″ or more, mark the foam on both sides. Cut about halfway through the foam, then flip it over and finish cutting all the way through.

This works well on thicker foam where it’s harder to keep the cut straight all the way through. You can also cut on curves.

Foam is often covered with fleece or other cloth, so don’t worry too much if the cut looks a little messy, you can use scissors to trim the foam.

If you want to create a rounded edge, or if you want to cut foam professionally, it’s worth investing in a foam cutter like the AccuCutter 350 foam cutter, which has two blades to produce a fine, reliable cut.

HOW TO CUT FOAM WITH A BREAD KNIFE

You know, foam is kind of like bread, a bread that you should not eat, but it’s kind of like bread. It’s bubbly. When they make foam, they put it into a great big bread pan, if you will.

And they cook it and it bubbles up. And the great big piece that comes out before they slice it into pieces, they actually call a bun. So you see there’s a bread analogy.

So if you think about cutting bread, what would you use to cut bread? A bread knife. This is like a bagel knife, a cake knife, any kind of serrated edge type of a knife. Actually the longer the blade, the easier it is to work with.

You can use an electric bread knife or just a plain bread knife.

How do you cut foam? Well, what you need is a Sharpie marker and you want to mark off the line that you want to cut. I have traced my patterns onto my foam. I will then use my bread knife very simply to cut the pieces out.

Foam ready to be cut.

With thick foam, 2″ or more, what you want to do is you want to score the foam rather than saw the foam.

So to score the foam, you’re just going to go straight across and don’t press too hard, press lighter. It’s better to do a number of light strokes than just one or two heavy strokes. You’ll get a smoother cut.

Depending on how thick the foam is, you can cut right through it. Now, the key thing is you want to make sure that your knife is at a 90 degree angle.

Otherwise, you’re going to have a kind of jagged piece of foam, so make sure you’re keeping it at an even angle and make nice and light strokes, and you can see that it cuts a very smooth, reasonably smooth line.

Foam is going to be under pressure in most cases with the fabric anyway. So you don’t need perfection, but for joining edges you do want them square.

You can also cut a curved line. Now, if it’s a gentle curve, you can still use the same method of scoring and sawing. But if it’s a sharper curve such as a circle, you may have to put your knife at the side and cut up and down, similar to how a jig saw works.

It is a little more tedious and you have got to pay closer attention, but you can still do it. Just do little nibbles at a time, making absolutely sure that your knife is at a 90 degree angle.

Don’t try to cut too much at a time, just a little nibbles and you’ll find even on a somewhat radical curve, you can get pretty good line.

HOW TO SHAPE FOAM

The foam can be shaped in a variety of ways. Professional upholsters will often use an angled die grinder or a drill with an abrasive pad. Those electric powered tools make quick work of shaping foam.

Angled die grinder for shaping foam.

However, mistakes can easily be made and all of a sudden you have a divot rather than a smooth, consistent surface. If you want to avoid those possibilities, you may want to consider making your own shaping tool.

The easiest way to cut a wedge from the side of a block of foam is to use a foam saw. Remember, the more consistent the cut is, the easier it will be to shape the foam.

Foam saw for general shaping.

An alternative is to use an electric kitchen knife that is used often for Thanksgiving dinners. Here it works fairly well. It’s a little bit more difficult to control the blade and it doesn’t cut nearly as well as the foam saw, but it does work.

The electric kitchen knife works fairly well, but you will get a lot more inconsistencies in the foam. This will only work with a medium density or lower density foam.

It will not work well with a high density foam, whereas the blade foam saw, is much more consistent than the electric kitchen knife. And this works with medium density, high density, low density foams and you will get more consistent cuts with it.

Now it’s time to shape the foam

Once you get a basic shape cut out it’s time to shape it. A jar lid works well as a sander. A spaghetti jar lid or other jar lid is all you need to make this tool.

Jar lid upholstery foam tool for shaping.

Use a screw put some holes in it. Screw the screws in from the inside of the lid. This will leave rough metal edges on the other side. This is an excellent shaping tool for your foam.

A tool like this actually works quite well because you can’t make a mistake. It is such a slow process. Just come across the foam and shape the edges so they are round.

Now a good cut makes this job much easier because you don’t have to worry about all the gouges he electric kitchen knife might create.

So using a tool like this, you can shape the foam slowly and because it’s not on a tool, it’s nearly impossible to create a gouge in your foam so you can shape foam slowly.

This is almost like being an expert sculptor. That’s basically all you’re doing here is you’re sculpting the foam, making sure that you’re not creating any gouges or indents in the foam as you go and giving it a rounded look.

This tool actually works well with medium density foams and high density foams as long as they’re a polyurethane foam and you can make it yourself,

With a 60 grit sanding block, you can do your final shaping. It’s not going to take off much, but it is going to take off all those loose fibers. It does take off a little bit at a time.

So if you want to do your final shaping and make sure everything still looks good, you can use a sanding block.

If you want to know which foams I use and where I buy them, be sure to check out my resources page HERE.

Using Foam Clay To Make Puppets: Foam-Mo For Features

Written by admin in How To,Arm&Rod Puppets

Foam clay is a moldable clay that is used in making Cosplay costumes and other lightweight sculptures. It is soft and pliable but dries to a flexible foam.

Puppet makers can use foam clay to sculpt noses, facial brows, chins, animal snouts, ears and other detail pieces for their foam puppets.

I love using Foam-Mo foam clay for puppet features. Many puppets have carved features, such as cheeks, forehead brows and noses. Although regular cushion foam can be used, the sculpting with scissors and razors can take a while and is messy.

The same pieces can be sculpted with Foam-Mo quickly and precisely. The Foam-Mo will need to set for a few hours (more if the piece is large), so this is one disadvantage if you are in a hurry.

Soft foam features ready to be trimmed into shape. The same features can be sculpted with clay foam.
Same features covered with Antron fleece.

FOAM–MO can be stretched, sculpted, shaped, or pressed into molds.

It can be sanded, sculpted with a Dremel tool, and painted.

Foam-Mo is great for making noses. Carving a nose and nostrils out of EVA foam is a standard way to make a human puppet nose and great results can be had. But, I like how I can get a more exact shape and detail easier with the foam clay.

I have a detailed article and video HERE which goes into carving EVA noses, foam clay noses and other methods, too.

Foam-Mo foam clay puppet nose
This puppet nose was sculpted from Foam-Mo

To make a nose or other feature with foam clay, roll it a little in your hands, this will soften it. Then shape with your fingers it as you would any modeling clay.

Once you sculpt your nose from Foam-Mo, it will take a couple hours to dry. Give it 48 hours to completely dry if you will be doing additional shaping with your Dremel.

It will dry into a flexible foam. Much like EVA but a little softer. Once it dries, you can paint it or cover it with fleece.

Difficult shapes like pig snouts and the noses of animals can be sculpted with Foam-Mo. Getting the exact shape working with puppet foam can be difficult, but the foam clay makes it easy.

Image result for foam clay animal snout
Foam clay rabbit snout

You can also create your piece from the Foam clay, and then, using masking tape, create a pattern to make the piece out of regular foam. This would be handy for making multiple pieces.

To make the pattern, put little 1/2″ squares of masking tape on your sculpt, overlapping the pieces. Remove the pieces, and cut darts where needed to make your pattern lie flat. Place your masking tape pattern on card stock and cut out. This pattern can be used over and over to replicate animal snouts, etc.

Tips for working with foam clay

  • Lay some cling wrap on your work surface or use a silicone mat to keep the clay from sticking to everything
  • Store the foam clay in an airtight container and it should store for a year
  • If your sculpt cracks while forming, dip your finger in water and smooth it out
  • If your sculpt starts drying out while working on it, dip it in water and it should restore to its original consistency
  • Foam-Mo dries to about 1/3 its original weight, so larger pieces like antlers can be made and will be very light-weight
  • A sanding drum on a Dremel tool can be used to smooth rough spots and wrinkles after your piece dries.
  • You can paint the dried foam with acrylics, but Rub ‘n Buff works great for painting your foam piece if you want a metallic look.

Is There A Substitute For Antron Fleece?

Written by admin in Arm&Rod Puppets,Uncategorized

FLEECE COVERED HUMAN PUPPET NOSE

Antron fleece is the mainstay of foam and fleece puppet building among professional puppet makers. It was made popular by Jim Henson in its use in building the Muppets.

I have found Puppet Pelt’s new polyester fleece to be a wonderful substitute for Antron. It is not quite as fluffy as Antron, but it hides stitches well and is much better than the Polar fleece available at most fabric shops.

Created with Puppet Pelt’s new polyester fleece

Antron fleece is only made by one mill. Antron fleece is getting harder to get. Distributors are facing problems with the quality being provided by the mill.

Antron fleece was originally made from Antron’s nylon fibers made by the Antron® Company. Antron nylon fiber is used to make carpets.

At one time Antron fibers were also used to make Antron® fleece. Antron fleece was a fluffy and shiny fleece fabric that Jim Henson used to make his Muppets. It soon became the go-to fabric for puppet makers.

Because of its fluffy nature, Antron was perfect for hiding stitches when sewing a puppet. On camera, TV shows have close-ups of the puppets and being able to hide the stitches was important for a professional look.

In about 2006, the original “Antron fleece” was discontinued when the smaller yarn that was used to knit the fleece was discontinued by the Antron company.

After 2006 real Antron fleece was no longer available. A new 12 oz nylon fleece was made, and although it was no longer made with the Antron fibers, but a new nylon fiber, the name stuck among puppet builders.

We have continued to call it Antron fleece, even though it is. Antron has become a generic name among puppet makers for the new nylon fleece.

In about 2017, the mill started having problems with the consistency and thickness of the 12 oz nylon fleece.

According to Puppet Pelts, “In 2018, the fleece company was sold and the 12oz fleece was discontinued. The new company started knitting the 14oz fleece with a new fiber. The initial runs of this fleece were great. The samples we were getting were really thick and nice to work with. The difference was, the finish was not as shiny as the old 12oz so it was clearly made with a different fiber.”

In July 2019, the fleece was again made in the 12 oz weight and problems ensued. Companies like Puppet pelts were having trouble dying the fleece, as were those who dye their own fleece at home or in their shops.

The thinner nylon fleece has problems with streaking, and does not dye evenly.

The Alternative To Antron/Nylon Fleece

Because of the quality problems, Puppet Pelts began looking for alternatives to the nylon fleece. In conjunction with Polartec®, Puppet Pelts developed a new polyester fleece that has many of the qualities of the Antron fleece. It is not quite as thick as the original Antron fleece but is working really well as an alternative fabric.

The new Puppet Pelts polyester fleece has a good stretch to it, for getting a great fit on your puppet, and the material hides sewing seams very, very well.

Personally, I am having great success with the new polyester fleece and I certainly recommend it to other builders.

Polyester Fleece
Click Picture To See All The Wonderful New Colors Of Polyester Fleece
10% off Puppet Pelts
Save 10% on Puppet Pelts

My Favorite Ways To Make The Perfect Puppet Nose

Written by admin in How To,Arm&Rod Puppets

There are many ways to make puppet noses. From something as simple as a button to as complex as a realistic human nose carved out of foam. Here are some of my favorite ways.

Cloth Stuffed Nose

Making a little bag of fleece and stuffing it with batting is a simple and common way of making a puppet nose.

This girl’s nose is an oblong shape stuffed with quilt batting.
  • Cut a round or oblong shape from the nose material.
  • Loosely stitch around the outside of your shape.
  • Fill your bag with batting
  • Draw your stitches tight and sew closed
  • Glue or sew to the puppet’s face.
Another cloth nose filled with stuffing.

Fold, Pinch & Glue Foam Nose

This fellow’s nose is made from pinched and glued polyfoam, then painted.
  • Take a square piece of 1/2″ Polyfoam and fold it into a triangular shape.
  • Pinch the bottom into nostril shapes.
  • Insert hot glue into the folds and clamp with clothespins or hold folds firmly with your fingers until hot glue cools and sets.
  • Trim the nose to final shape with scissors.
  • Paint or cover with liquid latex or fleece.
Before and after being covered with latex. This nose is pinched *& folded foam.

Cloth Covered Balls

Styrofoam balls, Ping-Pong balls and Plastic Eggs can be covered with fleece of cloth to make a nose. Wrap the cloth around the ball and glue in the back.

This puppet’s nose is fleece glued over a Styrofoam Easter egg. The back was cut to create a flat surface for gluing to the face.
Free Puppet Head Pattern
This nose is fleece glued over a hard plastic half circle.

Carved Polyfoam Noses

This is a great way to make a realistic nose for a human puppet.

Carved foam nose covered with Antron fleece.

Using 1″ EVA or closed-cell foam, carve the shape for your nose. EVA can be carved with scissors, razor blades or a Dremel tool. I also use my bench grinder to smooth and shape the nose.

Once the desired shape is carved, I cover the nose with fleece using hot glue. The fleece can be pushed into the glue with scissors or a popsicle stick to retain the shape of nostrils or other features carved into the nose.

Fleece covered carved foam nose.

Foam Clay Puppet Nose

Foam clay can be sculpted and shaped into human and animal noses. It is rubbery and pliable.

Once you shape the foam clay, you will need to let it sit overnight to harden. After it hardens, foam clay has the properties of EVA or closed-cell foam, it bends and is soft, yet firm.

Sculpted out Foam-Mo clay. Will be covered with fleece.

Your sculpted nose can be painted or covered with fleece or other cloth for a finished nose. You can also sand the finished sculpture for a smooth finish or to further shape it.

It is lightweight and allows for interesting and unique shapes you cannot get with other methods.

I use Foam-Mo foam clay. For the current price on Amazon, click HERE.

Doll Noses For Puppets

Doll noses and teddy bear noses available at craft shops can also be used for puppets.

Buttons, pom-poms and other items can also be used for puppet noses. Drew Allison of Grey Seal Puppets has been known to cut the end off plastic toy bowling pins and use them for noses.

Bowling pin puppet nose. SOURCE: https://www.theartscouncil.com/artist/grey-seal-puppets

Be sure to check out my puppet building videos!

Free Puppet Patterns For Foam Puppets

Written by admin in How To,Arm&Rod Puppets,Patterns

Free Puppet Head Pattern

I will be adding body, arm and leg patterns soon. Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter for updates.

3 Piece Foam Puppet Head Pattern

This is the 3 piece head pattern assembled and covered with fleece.

This is is my 3 piece pattern for a simple Muppet-style puppet.

CLICK HERE FOR PATTERN

PDF Files of Head & Chin and Mouth patterns can be downloaded here: DOWNLOAD

Puppet Nose Patterns

FLEECE COVERED HUMAN PUPPET NOSE
Puppet features covered with Antron fleece.

PDF Files of Nose patterns can be downloaded here: CLICK FOR NOSE PATTERNS & INSTRUCTIONS

Free Puppet Shoes Pattern

Easy to make foam puppet shoes: CLICK HERE FOR SHOE PATTERNS