A Sensory Bible Story for Palm Sunday is used as the model for this post. Download the whole story from https://www.bdeducation.org.uk/product/sensory-stories-for-easter/ Along with many others!
This is the Palm Sunday sensory story. And this is a video I did of how to prepare and present a sensory story at a training session last year.
Summary and helpful tips
A sensory story is a story with minimal language. We write only the key sentences and try to keep to between 8-10 where possible. Then each sentence is matched with a sensory experience and throughout the story we try to engage all the sensory systems, but just one at a time. As well as sight, sound, smell, touch and taste, we can engage our sense of movement, balance and our internal sensations of hunger, thirst, emotions and temperature. Some are easier than others but in any one story we try to have a variety of different sensory experiences.
Sensory stories can be used with all ages. I used them when I worked in a special school all the time for literacy lessons, RE lessons, history lessons and the teenage children I taught were really engaged with them. I have used them in our adults with learning disability church group (The Good News Group) for years too. They can be used in children’s groups of all ages and even with growth groups or other small groups. Anything that gives us space and time to engage all our senses with God’s word can be helpful in many different spaces.
If possible, know your children’s sensory triggers. Find out before you start the story if there are any particular triggers such as certain noises. If your story has something that triggers, find out if it can be tolerated if they don’t get involved (eg, a texture of something) or if it needs to be changed (eg. a noise that causes pain). Thinking of alternatives in the moment is a skill – but it does develop with experience. We must never put a child through pain or distress. We are trying to help them see these Bible stories as something full of awe and wonder, something to engage with and experience. So do be careful and respectful with your sensory activities.
Take time to read the story. Keep to the script so it says the same thing every time. Those who cannot read can listen to the rhythm of the language and look at the symbols to see the sequence of events. All the stories we have created come with Widgit symbols.
Don’t rush on to another activity afterwards. Such as the craft to ‘prove’ what you’ve been doing. Let the group take time over the story and if they like it, read it at least twice and the second time they might get more involved because it will be familiar to them. If someone is likely to want to keep hold of an item, don’t tell them off. Use that as a chance to talk about that part of the story again, and maybe have some additional items next time. The idea is not to move on a quickly as possible and get on with the next thing, but to tarry, to take time, to walk the story through and have some time to process and think about what it might have been like.
Have a main story teller. Let the other helpers sit back and maybe sit beside a person who might need some gentle support. This person should not make the person pass on the objecteg. Not “now you must pass it on to the next person”, but to gently encourage by saying things like “maybe the next person would like to fell the hard stone that was like the one at the tomb.”
Let the group decide what to do with the story once it’s finished. Some might like to retell it themselves, some will just walk away and do the next thing. That’s ok.
Consider using the story again. Remember reading a favourite story over and over again. We can help ingrain these stories into the lives of the people we are sharing them with through familiarity. The more they experience the Bible, the more they can develop their relationship with Jesus.
And consider developing the stories with the Why? Stories. Here’s some that could be used with this Palm Sunday story. https://www.bdeducation.org.uk/product/why-stories-for-easter/
(The next blog will be about Why? Stories – so look out for it!)
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