A Story Sack is a large cloth bag containing a good quality story book with supporting materials such as puppets, soft toys, colouring sheets and pencils and possibly a game.

Story Sacks can be given to schools, churches, toddler groups, and other organizations to help tell Christian stories to the children.

It is designed to help adults share books with children in a way that is positive, theatrical, special, interactive and fun. It is an excellent way to bring Christian stories to life.

THE BAG

It doesn't have to be very fancy, but should be made of a suitable fabric and can have a draw string or other form of closure. It could have some indication of the story on the bag, for instance, a felt lamb indicating a story about the Lost Sheep, or a picture using fabric paints or crayons. The bag must look inviting to a child.

PICKING A STORY

What Christian story you pick will depend on the child or children you are making the Story Sack for. Most importantly, pick a book/story appropriate for the age group.

Some favourites are :

• Noah's Ark
• Moses
• The Prodigal Son
• The First Christmas
• The Good Samaritan

FILLING THE STORY SACK

With some Christian stories, the possibilities are endless for related craft, games etc. With others, you will have to get a bit more creative.

Here are some suggestions, there is no need to have them all :

• Puppets
• Cassette tape or CD if there is no one to read the story
• Related colouring books or colouring pages
• A fact book for a sack for an older age group
• A game or toy that is related to the story
• Plain Paper and crayons to write or draw the story
• Artefacts relating to the story
• A video or DVD (if no-one is available to read, and a player is available)
• Pictures of related places or events

Remember that a wide range of Christian books and other material is available from your MU Literature Representative.

SAFETY

This aspect is most important. You should consider :

• Do not put items in the sack that a child could swallow.
• Do not put sharp edged objects or use plastic bags.
• When making soft toys, stuff them with approved toy stuffing and use safety eyes.
• When including items purchased at car boot sales etc ensure they have the CE safety symbol on their labelling.