By the Lord using visual aids when He talked through Jeremiah to His people, we know that visual aids were beneficial by the examples that were used in this Old Testament book. (Jer. 18, 19) We can say that we definitely have book, chapter, and verse for using visual aids in the Bible classroom!
Visual aids are items that illustrate the Bible lessons. Maps are a visual aid. By pointing out cities, towns, and bodies of water on a map, we can compare the distances between each. If we drew a simple line 9 ½ feet high on the classroom wall representing how tall Goliath was (1 Samuel 17:4), that line would be a visual aid.
The variety of visual aids is without number! Charts, posters, flowers, a shoe, a candle are all examples of visual aids. The greater the number, the better! Children grow accustomed to one or two types of repeated visual aids. Soon, we will be talking more specifically about how visual aids will help you illustrate the Bible lessons.
The variety of visual aids is without number! Charts, posters, flowers, a shoe, a candle are all examples of visual aids. The greater the number, the better! Children grow accustomed to one or two types of repeated visual aids. Soon, we will be talking more specifically about how visual aids will help you illustrate the Bible lessons.
I’d like to share my most favorite visual aid with you. It is a TV box! It consists of a cardboard box and two gift-wrapping tubes. You will also need a long strip of paper that fits through the box, scissors, and tape. Here are the simple instructions:
1. Open up a cardboard box, usually about 14 inches square, and cut off the flaps of one end of the box; this is the back of the TV.
2. Turning the box over, cut an 11-inch square out of the front of the TV to make the TV screen.
3. Cut two circles on each side of the box, one circle on top and one on the bottom of each side, cutting close to the TV screen.
4. Slide one paper tube into the two top circles.
5. Slide the other paper tube through the bottom two circles.
6. Draw pictures depicting scenes from the Bible lesson on a fairly long 12-inch wide strip of paper. The length of the paper will depend on how many pictures you have drawn.
7. Thread and tape one end of the paper to the top tube on the inside of the TV.
8. Now, tape the end of the paper to the bottom tube inside the TV.
9. By holding the outside of one of the tubes, try scrolling the paper, looking on the outside of the TV screen to see if the pictures are lined up nicely.
10. Note: Do not bother to laminate the paper; the lamination makes the paper too thick to scroll easily.
10. Note: Do not bother to laminate the paper; the lamination makes the paper too thick to scroll easily.
11.Congratulations! You have created a fairly easy and very inexpensive visual aid!
I have used this type of visual aid for many years much to the delight of young Bible students. The most significant reason that I enjoy using this visual aid: It keeps the lesson on track. It holds the students’ attention and it helps them remember the Bible lesson longer than without a visual aid. A TV Box definitely appeals to the young Bible student.
A few more important reasons that I enjoy using the TV box is that I can draw the pictures of the lesson at my convenience, the pictures are drawn so that I don’t forget an important point, and I also have control of how quickly or slowly I tell the lesson. The box that is pictured on this blog is made out of wood and was given to me by a friend who just happened to be a woodshop teacher. It is nice to have talented friends! The wooden box definitely will last much longer than a cardboard one will, but when the cardboard box wears out, just make a new one!
