Montessori principles
Godly Play uses Monstessori principles in that objects used in the Godly Play room are made from natural materials.
Quailty of materials and construction are also important.
The objects are not just visual aids for a story but are there to be played with and explored.
Objects are then placed upon appriate coloured felt underlays to help keep the focus
Many of the objects are either kept in baskets, on trays or boxes.
It will depend upon the genre of the story.
Sacred Stories often use plain wooden figures with little detail to help the identification of the story of the People of God with our story.
Parables are kept in gold boxes because they are valuable , they are a gift and sometimes difficult to get into.
Liturgical lessons often have small replicas of what might be seen in places of worship or part of the faith tradition.
See the document on the home page under the heading Discussion for more information about dfferent genre.
The Desert
Some of the Sacred Stories use a large box of sand called the desert box.
For those who would like an alternative Peter Privett has devised a desert bag.
Details can be found in the attached document
Olive Wood Holy Family Sets
The Resources Group is currently negotiating with carvers and suppliers in the Holy Land to supply Holy Family sets with figures suitable for use with the Holy Family story. These figures are hand-carved with a beautiful rounded design which shows off the natural grain of the olive wood. Most importantly, they are ethically traded and come direct from carvers themselves. We are hoping to have a workable contact established by the autumn and will publicise it when we do.
Godly Play UK Advice on Volume 6 Stories
Volume 6 of the Complete Guide to Godly Play was published in 2006 and offers 15 Enrichment Presentations on Key Figures among the People of God to enrich the stories found in Volume 2.
These stories are different in many respects from those in Volumes 2-4. The scripts are more detailed – there are more words! Also, apart from two, all the stories are told on a felt strip, in a linear style, with objects being placed along the strip to illustrate the story chronologically.
Since publication, the only way to get hold of the materials to tell these stories has been to order from the US, or to make your own. Godly Play Finland has recently started to make some of the materials (5 story sets so far). Those of us working with Godly Play are well aware of the importance of using the best quality materials and scripts. Of course, with these stories, there are not quite the same tried and tested materials available as yet because they are all new!*
In order to offer practical help and guidance to people wishing to work with these stories in the UK, the Resources Group of the Godly Play UK Trust has been looking at the materials needed and has put together an advice pack. This pack is available to download from the GPUK website (see link below - click on Practical Advice on Materials for the advice pack and on each image file to see a picture of each story set). The pack will soon also be available, on request, by post from the GPUK Administrator, Sheila Rogers: sheila.rogers@talktalk.net The pack includes photographs of the materials needed for each story (except the last two - Daniel and Job – information on these stories will be available soon) as well as practical advice on where to obtain the materials or how to make your own. It includes important information on the scale of the materials as this is hard to judge from looking at the illustrations in the book alone.
GPUK would like to invite anybody using these stories to contribute to the ongoing development of this exciting new work. It would be very valuable to share our experiences with these stories and to hear feedback from people about the materials they used. Where they were obtained from, or how they were made? What do we discover when working with these stories – how does the linear arrangement work? How does it feel using the scripts? How do children work with these stories compared with the Volume 2 stories? Please let us know how you get on, and send any thoughts, ideas, comments, to Michelleacd@hotmail.co.uk
Michelle Dalliston, Chair, Resources Group, Godly Play UK June 2008
* For further information about quality of Godly Play materials particularly with regard to setting up a Godly Play classroom – click on General Principles on the GPUK website to see details about Materials for the Godly Play Classroom. With regard to new stories and scripts, see Peter Privett’s article under Best Practice and Experiences called ‘Creating New Stories’.
Practical Advice on Materials