Introduction
Have you ever wanted to make a Bible story come alive by giving the children Bible characters to handle and use to retell the story or event you have told? Having manipulatives is very important when you work with children. They love being able to handle objects and be engaged with the materials.
Several years ago, I realized I needed more characters for the twos and threes that I worked with to handle. Luckily, Mr. D came up with a great solution that is versatile and easy to manage.
Creating the Bases and Characters
From a good quality of wood cut 3/4 inch thick by 1 inch wide by 1 3/4 inch long blocks. Sand the wood to remove any sharp areas and round the edges. Using a band saw, cut half way into the wood block. The thickness of the cut will be the thickness of the band saw blade which is about 1/32nd of an inch.
Look online to find the figure you want to use and duplicate enough so that each child in your class has one. Print these and laminate using heavy laminating film. On a home laminator, we use 5 mil laminate. Cut these out and then add enough layers of clear tape to the bottom of the figures so that these will fit snugly into the bases. You now can make numerous characters for your Bible stories and use the same bases. These work really well.
