Creation and The Bare Necessities

 I used to know all the words to 'The Bare Necessities' because I sang it over and over everyday to a boy that I taught. I don't have an amazing singing voice but you wouldn't know that from his reaction. His delight in my efforts motivated me to sing the song again and again and imprinted the lyrics on my mind.

There's an idea out there that children and young people with additional needs need very specific, specialized and often expensive resources to be able to access anything including church. Generally, I think that this idea is well-intentioned and comes from a place of wanting to serve these children and young people in the best way possible. Unfortunately though I think that it can be easy for companies to take advantage of those supporting individuals with additional needs by marketing resources as specialized or essential when these may not be the case. While there may be times when children and young people do need specific resources to access church I believe it's important not to make the need to acquire a raft of specialized resources yet another barrier to sharing the gospel with this group.

In my experience, as with my 'The Bare Necessities' loving friend, children are often delighted by simple things, carefully chosen based on our observations of their likes and interests. 

I've listed below ten 'bare necessities' for sharing sensory Bible stories. These are simple resources which can hopefully be found in most churches, schools, and family homes or easily acquired. They can be used in a variety of Bible stories and we've used them regularly over the last couple of years. I've also included a sensory story about creation as I think its a good example of a sensory story which can be run with resources readily at hand.

1. Water. If you've got a tap and a bowl you can tell a story about God's spirit hovering over the water during creation. You could also reenact Jesus washing the disciples' feet or John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. You could even add fish or boats to bring all sorts of stories from across the Bible to life
2. Light. A torch or a simple light-up toy could be used to tell the story of God declaring 'Let there be light' and calling the lights and everything else that he made 'good'. We've also used light toys to think about the big star God put in the sky declaring Jesus' birth. Lights could also be used to speak over children the many truths that the Bible gives us about Jesus being light in our broken lives
3. Balloons. Our covid-friendly approach to balloons involves rocket balloons and a pump and it's a big hit! We've used balloons (along with bubbles and party poppers) every time we come across a story that celebrates all that God has done for us, which is often!
4. A device that plays music. We've all got one attached to our hand or in the office at church. We've always had children in our group who love a wide range of music. Playing worship music at the start of the session can set the tone for the story. Having music in the background while children play ensures that the gospel truths we are teaching them are being sung over them over and over again, and they love it!
5. Animals. Animal-related toys, books, etc are fairly easy to find in a church setting. What children's ministry doesn't have a Noah's ark toy and a couple of animal puppets, right? From God creating the animals in the very beginning, to Noah, Daniel and all the times Jesus is described as the Shepherd to our sheep. Animals pop up again and again in the Bible and often seem to capture children's interest
6. Sound buttons.These are a little more expensive than the other items on the list. We've found them really useful though for recording sound effects, short parts of stories or prayers. Children who would otherwise find it difficult to actively participate in story telling can press the buttons and hear the words as many times as they choose and they seem to enjoy this. 
7. Flowers. One of my favourite reoccurring themes in the Bible is gardens. It starts in Eden with the perfect garden ruined by the fall then takes us to Jesus' arrest in Gethsemane, another garden. Mary is reunited with Jesus in another garden, she even mistakes Him for a gardener. Then in Revelation we're promised a perfect new creation and we've used flowers and other garden props to help us think about this too. 
8. Dolls. Again these always seem to be in plentiful supply in churches! Of course there's always a baby doll taking the leading role in the Christmas story, but we've also used them in stories about John the Baptist's birth and Hannah's longed-for baby, Samuel. We've made our doll play a bit more exciting by adding water, sponges and foamy soap and bathing the baby. Puppets and other toy figures could be used for older characters in Bible stories also
9. Blocks. Buildings pop up (and often come crashing down) again and again in the Bible. We've used foam blocks, wooden blocks and cardboard boxes to talk about the temple being built in the Old Testament, Nehemiah rebuilding Jerusalem and the walls of Jericho tumbling down
10. Food. Theres so many great food related stories across the Bible, from the feeding of the five thousand to the first time Jesus shared communion with His friends. We've also used food to remember God's kindness and provision to us. If allergies or Covid regulations are a barrier (or even if they're not) we've found that children really enjoy playing with toy food especially velcro food which they can chop up as well as looking at books about food, 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' being a favourite!

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but hopefully it gives some ideas and inspiration for sharing the gospel with children and young people with additional needs with the resources you have at hand. Please do comment below with any other resources you've found especially useful and the stories you've used them to tell.

A Sensory Story about Creation