Stone Soup Layout

I want to talk a little bit about the process of putting together a story, as this one came together in what has become a fairly typical way.

But there was one big anomaly with this, and that was the the inspiration for it came from a minister. I have never in this position worked with a minister before, but there is a ministerial candidate in town and we've been collaborating a bit on the Time for All Ages for this Sunday, and it parlays nicely into the Stone Soup story.

So, step one was getting a bird's eye view on the Sunday offerings in worship and RE, collaborating with those who are co-creating worship to understand how the various parts were intended to fit together.

Then, step two was choosing a Spirit Play story to integrate into that. It has helped immensely to take the time this year to get to know the stories, and to seek out new stories with an eye toward Spirit Play development.

Step three was to spend a little time with the story, really getting a feel for the themes and the wonderings and what kinds of materials would make the story really sing to the children.

So, with a better understanding of what I wanted to happen with the telling of the story, I set to work making, finding, and putting together materials. That was step four.

I have a ready store of the recycled-plastic-bottle felt that you can get at the craft store for about $5 a yard (sometimes less if it's on sale). I cut out a 36" indigo circle to reinforce that this is an indigo promise story, "Insist on fair and equal treatment for all." (Working the promises into the culture of the classroom hasn't been as strong as it might have been this year, so when it doesn't detract from the overall presentation, I've been trying to color-code the underlay to the promise.) And I made the felt grass.


I should add that this layout draws heavily from the one pictured in the "Stone Soup" story on the Spirit Play training CD, with only a few small changes.

I also have a ready store of peg people, so I knew I wanted to use them for the villagers. I wanted the travelers to look distinct, and I borrowed a couple of doll house people for them. This also allowed me to vary the gender of the travelers, since they are almost always two or three men int the stories.

Between the 36" circle and the people, I had a rough scale set, so I created from a small piece of 1/2" poplar wood I had here at home a set of wooden houses that would more or less fit with the villagers. The color palette was chosen to jibe with the mostly earthy and bright colors of the food that would be added to the pot--the red of a red pepper, the green of a head of cabbage, the yellow of corn, the red of a ripe tomato, etc.

I already had a set of wooden food to use for this Sunday's telling, but I found a set of fairly affordable Melissa and Doug wooden vegetables that I plan on buying for the program to live in this story basket.

My boys helped me find stones they liked for the soup pot.

And the soup pot itself isn't quite as quaint as the small iron skillet of my own that I was going to use, but it fit the bill, being the right size, without a handle, and with a lid. I had envisioned perhaps finding an iron or enameled one at the thrift store, but alas, not this time. Serendipitously, though, I found a large Ziploc bag at the thrift store full of fake bread. There is a part in the story about how the bread appears at the end of the soup's cooking, and is shared along with the rest of the meal. So, a few loaves will be with this story, and a few will go into the Bread Communion story basket.

That's another thing nice about really getting familiar with the stories you have or want to tell--you can have a running mental list of supplies to be on the lookout for at thrift stores and garage sales. I do this because I love it, but I'd love even more to share this delightful task with a steady volunteer who can double our chance of finding cool supplies and cut in half the time any one person spends doing it! Also, could you imagine what a rich partnership that would be for two people, carrying around all these stories for a year, discussing how to build them and why, and actively completing them so they could be shared?

Step 5 was putting all the materials together and practicing the story with them, doing rewrites and adaptations as you do. When I'm pretty confident that I am familiar enough to tell the story with confidence and a few glances at the paper to stay on track, and that I know which pieces to pick up when and where to put them on the underlay, I fold it up and wait for the delivery day. (I also have a ready story of thrift-store baskets, all purchased for $3 or less, and usually a little smaller than the size of a lunchroom tray.)

Step 6 is making a label for the basket, the symbol label on one side, the name of the story on the other.

And if this was going to be a classroom story, step 7 would be to find a place for it on the shelves and possibly create a new work choice to accompany it.