Involving children in a
story through opportunities to play can be a great way to help them engage with a story. A great place to start exploring the
bible through play is through the
nativity as there are loads of nice child friendly sets available (it's probably a good idea to not use a family heirloom version).
Using props when you read a story together can help young children focus. As you tell the story you can pull the relevant character out of a sack (or pillow case).
You could try reading the story together, then re-telling the story with the figures. Children will respond differently to this according to their level of development/ age. Big little girl (5yrs) loves to act the story complete with songs she has learnt from her school nativity. Little big boy (2yrs) tends to name the characters as he plays whilst randomly shouting 'Good News!' Whilst it might seem that Little big boy is too young to understand much of the story he know the essence of the story (i.e. it's Good News) and that Jesus is a 'special baby'.
Leaving the toys set up and available during free play has the added benefit that children can come back and revisit the story when ever they choose (it can also lead to the house being slightly cluttered but that's a whole different post!)
You might also like to try
Sensory story telling from The Fairy and The Frog (our 'other' blog)
Nativity tree from Sun hats and Wellie Boots
