Sharing Time Idea: Comic Strip
Friday February 22, 2008
Over the years I've added ideas for primary sharing time lessons and received the following submission the other day. It's a great idea to help involve primary children in a lesson and could be easily adapted in other ways to teach about missionary work. Many thanks to Amy S. for sharing her successful idea with us.
This worked well for senior primary. I used this sharing time idea to teach the story of Abinadi, but you could use this concept for other stories as well. First, I had a clear jar full of marbles. I had the kids guess how many there were. Then I set the marble jar aside.To learn more about the story of the prophet Abinadi please see Mosiah 11:20-29 through Mosiah 18 from the Book of Mormon.
I had moved the primary chairs out of the way before church started (in a circle around the room's perimeter). Then I unfurled a giant roll of paper about 23 feet long. I had divided the paper into 23 segments with a marker, one segment for each child, somewhat like a giant blank comic strip. Each segment had a scripture reference along the top--references I had chosen, chronologically, that highlighted Abinadi's story. The kids were given a segment each. Their assignment was to look up their assigned scripture and illustrate their segment. When all of the kids had finished drawing, we had the kids sit back in their chairs, then come up in sets of 4 or 5 and tell their portion of the story of Abinadi. The kids were quite involved, and each one had a chance to participate. The best part was that they got to research their own scripture and retell it to the group in their own words and show how their picture went along with it.
When they had finished, I took the marble jar and dumped it out on a cloth. I said that Abinadi may not have even known that he had even one convert (in Alma, the former priest of King Noah), but that these were the results of his work. Each marble represented a person who, through Alma's relaying of Abinadi's message, had joined the church (Mosiah 18:35). 450 souls! The kids loved it.
I loved this sharing time idea, but was wondering what scriptures she chose to use.
Here are the scriptures and info Amy sent me:
We had 23 kids, so I chose 23 scriptures. A primary leader would need to adjust her scripture selections according to primary size. Below are the 23 I used. (The notes to the side are not for them–but for me to use as a reference if the kids got stuck):
1-Mosiah 11:1, 3 replaces his father as king, taxes people 1/5th of their possessions for his gain
2-Mosiah 11:8, 9 builds fancy buildings and palace
3-Mosiah 11:5, 11 appoints new priests and gives them fancy chairs to sit in while they lie to the people
4-Mosiah 11:15 he is a wine-bibber
5-Mosiah 11:20-21 Abinadi enters scene and declares repentance
6-Mosiah 11:26 Noah and priests seek to take Abinadi’s life, but Abinadi escapes
7-Mosiah 11:28, 29 King Noah hardens heart and commands people to find Abinadi and slay him
8-Mosiah 12:1 Abinadi shows up in disguise and calls them to repentance again
9-Mosiah 12:17 Abinadi is cast into prison, priests meet to decide what to do with Abinadi
10-Mosiah 12:19 The priests ask him questions to find something to accuse him of, he answers boldly
11-Mosiah 13:1-5 After questioning Abinadi, the King commands people to seize Abinadi, but they cannot—Abinadi’s face shines as Moses’s, Abinadi says he must deliver the words the Lord commanded him to
12-Mosiah 15:1 Abinadi says God will come down and dwell among His people
13-Mosiah 17:5 King Noah commands guards to imprison Abinadi
14-Mosiah 17:8 They punish Abinadi because he said that God would dwell among man
15-Mosiah 17:9,10 Abinadi will not take away words he said, but will die to defend them
16-Mosiah 17:2-3 Alma, one of King Noah’s priests, tries to defend Abinadi. King Noah’s men seek his life too.
17-Mosiah 17:13, 19-20 Abinadi is burned to death
18-Mosiah 17:4 Alma hides and writes words Abinadi said
19-Mosiah 18:1, 3 Alma repents and goes around privately spreading words of Abinadi. Many believe.
20-Mosiah 18:5-7 Alma’s people gather in secret
21-Mosiah 18:16 Alma baptizes people
22-Mosiah 18:24 Alma’s priests work with the people
23-Mosiah 18:27, 29 Alma’s people share with one another