The Snowbound City
Hi teachers! This is a fun activity to make a story come alive. It’s based on the Teaching Baha’i Children’s Classes Grade 2, Set 7, Lesson 19
Story: The Snowbound City
And we share our experience teaching it here in the north part of Singapore at our “Woodlands Ring Road” grade 2 neighborhood children’s class near the MRT.
We made the following craft project to support the story about Bahá’í consultation in a snowbound village.
Arts & Crafts: Toilet Roll People
We made characters for the story suitably named The Snow Bound Village, because it got snowbound. Before the story, we made character props to enact as we read our story for clearer understanding. The kids loved the arts and craft project. They were the characters. I mean. The students from Indian backgrounds in our class made their characters in saris!
The Story: The Snowbound City
Bahá’ís got together to consult. They made a plan for inviting all the people of their city to
Bahá’í activities. By the time the friends left their meeting it was snowing. Within a day or two, the city was covered by a blanket of snow. Schools were closed. Shops were closed and all manner of transportation came to a halt. All the people of the city were snowbound. No one could go to work or go to school or shop.
Bahá’í friends consulted and came up with a new plan. “We’ll adapt to our situation. We will visit all our neighbors on foot and invite them to our home.”
As it turned out, every child in class can become a character in the story. They acted out the story speaking to the other character having conversations about what to do and when. They loved it and it was all natural…with a little prompting from the teacher.
Soon we decided to make short dialogue cards for a script. That made the story run faster…also, for effect, we sprinkled white cotton balls for snow at the appropriate time. So much fun!!!
Related crafts: we really like this story and revisited it several times making some buildings from cereal boxes and trees by adding green leaves to taller paper tubes. The blanket of snow grew by gluing white cotton balls together.
Basic Supplies You Will Need for the Toilet Paper Roll People
- toilet paper rolls
- white/colored paper for face, hair & clothing
- scissors
- glue & brush or glue stick
- colored pencils, crayons, markers
- white cotton balls
Optional: a few sprinkles of glitter makes the snow sparkle, sequins would be fun, too; yarn for hair, pipe-cleaners for arms and legs, wiggly-eyes***Kids love googly-eyes!
Toilet paper roll people is rated as an EASY project. Even little pre-schoolers can make them!
Just a hint: to save time in class:
Pre-cut art paper to wrap the TP roll and for hair, arm strips and shoes.
Draw a circle for the face on the paper, the kids will fill in the details.
Set up art supplies before class time; cover if necessary to keep curious hands from trouble.
OPTION: For serious arts & crafters, make an entire village and put flags on the houses where the different core activities are offered: devotional gatherings (DG), children’s classes (CC), study circles (SC), holy days (HD), junior youth groups (JYG), feasts (F), racial unity events (RUE), interfaith events (IE), and more. The kids will want to have activities in their homes. Talk about accompaniment and other necessary support activities with the older kids. Maybe you want to identify the LSA and its officers. Make the pieces of the village interchangeable so they can support other stories.
HAVE FUN! Please share your experiences with this lesson in the comments.
Love,
Mine Rich in Gems family