When stories lose their lustre, and children’s creativity and innovation plummet. By William Van Zyl (April 2023).

The Extravagant Podcast

“I am tired of all these Bible stories. Reading the devotionals and doing these prayers all the time is too much for me!?” said the young Alexander.

“You will sit down and read the Bible Story; you will listen and pray before you go to bed!” said the dedicated dad with a stern voice.

Alexander folded his arms and sighed. “I don’t want to.” He unfolded his arms and said compliantly, “Ok, I will.”

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That night his mum and dad discussed the comments and behaviour of the strong-willed Alexander displayed over the past couple of days.

“What is going on with Alexander? Do you know?”

“How do we allow Alexander to develop his creativity without overdosing him with the scriptures and the Bible?” asked the dad.

“I think we have to allow Alex more freedom. We also have to expose him to more advanced technology and modern ideas and concepts. I’ve been reading and researching. I will share with you what I have found,” said the mum.

“Maybe we should expose Alex to more open-ended questions, more challenging activities, unique stories, higher-order ideas and advanced concepts?” responded the mum.

“But how can we create more open-ended resources? How can we change the way we do things? How can we liberate Alex in his thinking? How can he be freer in his thinking and remain fully Christian?” asked the mum with a frown on her forehead.

“Yes, we do want Alexander to value those strong Christian fundamentals. Those richly layered Bible stories are so powerful; it provides an extravagantly wealthy library of truths and concepts,” said the dad.

“I have found a short essay and some ideas on how to develop creativity, I will share it with you,” said the mum.

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Does this conversation sound familiar to you? I think parents should evaluate the methods they use to develop their children’s creativity and innovation. I have written this short essay for you, and I list several ideas you can use as a parent, caregiver, or teacher.

Don't miss the research on the badger that never changes its path - part of the article.

Here is a list of strategies and activities you could consider:

ONE. Abstract Art: What could a scene from the bible, a character, an object, or an artefact look like in abstract form?

TWO. Futuristic approach: What would Jesus do if he lived on the Moon in 2082? What would He say? What type of Space Stories would he tell? Be creative, write a short one, and make a couple of sketches to accompany the story.

THREE. Redesign an insect or sea creature of your choice. Think about God’s amazing designs Investigate the shape, form, pattern, colours, size, the science behind it, the interaction with other species, eating food, and more. Sketch it. Make a quick watercolour drawing (use a fountain pen and ink). Create extravagant washes. Compare your design with God’s design work. Could you improve on something?

FOUR. Choose to read extravagantly rich and unique stories and books to children. “Inside my Imagination.” What if …..

FIVE. Collect National Geographic Magazines and allow children to read through them. The rich images and articles are a stunning way to hook children into nature, cultures, science, and much more.

SIX. Watch Superbook on a TV or device. Every story from the Bible that Superbook tells has a lesson to be learned, and the lesson is applied to real-life situations. Superbook keeps all of the kids in my Bible study classes entertained and wanting more. I use this for kids TK-8th grade. The start of most Superbook episodes is with Chris, Joy and Gizmo (the robot), and either Chris or Joy has a situation to deal with (making the right choice, helping someone, forgiving someone, etc.). Then Superbook takes them back in time to a part of the Bible that will help them with their situation back home. The kids and Gizmo interact with the people from the Bible and learn so much! The fact that Superbook can cram so much information in such a short time frame is beyond me. During the kid’s adventure in time, they ask questions and a lot of times Gizmo uses his inner computer to answer the question, OR someone from the Bible answers it. After the kids have learned their lesson, Superbook takes them back home at the same time they left, and the kids can now make good decisions and take action; for example, sharing their pizza with the less fortunate.

SEVEN. Caption from the blog post: A scene from Superbook. See the robot on the far right. Chris Quantum is your typical Middle School student — except if you take into account one of his best friends is a robot named Gizmo. Add his best friend, Joy Pepper, into the mix, and you have a recipe for adventure. The adventures begin for this trio when a mysterious device appears, taking them on journeys throughout the Bible. Travel back in time and get ready for the journey of a lifetime!

EIGHT. Tell a Bible story in Minecraft Education: For example, the Story of Moses. Caption below the image in the post: ‘The Unofficial Bible for Minecrafters – Stories from the Bible told block by block’ recreates Bible stories – including the Garden of Even and Noah’s Ark, in 3D form and is meant for children aged 7 to 11.

NINE. Animate a Christian song in Minecraft: For example, Chris Tomlin – Our God is Great. See the video below.

TEN. Solve a problem with an Arduino Uno: See the article's details of blinking an LED.

ELEVEN. Solve a problem with a BBC Microbit (Version 2): Micro-Maqueen. See the details later in the article.

TWELVE. Design a virtual 3-d object in TinkerCad and then 3-d print the creation. 3-D printing.

THIRTEEN. Design a virtual circuit in TinkerCad Circuits: Create virtual circuits in an instant.

FOURTEEN. Produce a Podcast: Open-ended -fiction – Ask children to create a unique story. Tell a story using Podcast software. Teach them how to create sound files on Podcastle (free). You will need a quality USB microphone. Podcastle is free. Once the voiceovers are completed, import short sound snippets from Free Sound dot org. You can find any short sound file (or longer sound files) for free. Import and place at the appropriate place on the timeline. Children will have lots of fun. The sounds will make the story come alive. Choose into and outro music to match the genre of the story (e.g. drama, suspense, and so on). Here is an example of one of my stories: Search PODBEAN or SPOTIFY – ‘The Extravagant Podcast.’

More at Five House Publishing: https://fivehousepublishing.com/

More about the author: https://williamvanzyl.com/Blog-Posts.php