Depicting biblical stories with Playmobil

Basic Tips

Which figures are suitable?

In principle, of course, almost all figures can be used.

But figures from the following series are well suited to stories from the Bible in terms of appearance:

• Knights (remove weapons and armor where necessary)
• Vikings
• Pirates (those without eye patches)
• Farm
• Romans (for the soldiers)
• Egyptians (for the story of Joseph, for example)

What kind of figure to use for Jesus?

Use a figure with white clothes

If you don't have a figure with white clothing, you can also make a simple robe out of fabric. Make a slit in a strip of white fabric for the head and attach the robe with a rubber band.

(Of course, Jesus won't have always dressed in white;-) but in tradition and art, Jesus is depicted dressed in white and so the recognition value is there)

The important thing is to always use the same figure for Jesus!

If you don't have a figure with all white clothing, you can also put several figures together to make a new figure. You can find the instructions in the link below

What additional material is needed?

The additional material depends heavily on the story you are depicting.

And how elaborate you want a scene to be.

Here I'll give you some ideas of what you might use:

• cloths as a base and background (e.g. green, brown, blue (for lake/sea) playgroup cloths
• Building blocks (for houses, walls, wells, villages and towns etc.)
• Everyday materials (e.g. a cardboard plate of fries as a ship, saltfish as fish, a fruit net as a fishing net, etc.)
• Cut out shapes from clay cardboard (e.g. a sun, black clouds etc).
• Additional Playmobil items as needed (e.g., trees, tables and chairs, edibles, weapons, etc.)

Tips for storytelling

• Take a story with enough plot
• Don't take too many characters, if you have to move them around it's awkward
• Turn the arms of the characters up a bit, they stand better that way
• If you have to rearrange a lot of the scenes, take a second person to help you rearrange the figures
• Make sure all the children can see the scene clearly
• If you want, you can also involve children (who can then, for example, move a figure or help to set up something)

Examples of stories

You can find photographed Playmobil scenes for some Bible stories at the following website, which you could use as inspiration:

www.kleineKids.ch

The following stories are available on kleineKids.ch:

• The fishing trip of Peter (From the BibleSet "Jesus was a man")
• Storm Calm (From the BibleSet "Jesus Can Do Great Things")
• Healing a leper (from the BibleSet "Jesus can do great things")
• Daughter of Jairus (from the BibleSet "Jesus can do great things")
• Jesus blesses children (from the BibleSet "Jesus loves everyone")
• The woman at the well (from the BibleSet "Jesus loves everyone")
• Bartimaeus (from the BibleSet "Jesus loves everyone")
• Zachaeus (from the BibleSet "Jesus loves everyone")
• The Last Supper (from the BibleSet "Jesus died for you")
• In the Garden of Gethsemane (from the BibleSet "Jesus died for you")
• Jesus meets his disciples after the resurrection (from the BibleSet "Jesus is alive")
• Ascension (from the BibleSet "Jesus Lives")

Sources

• Photos: Michelle Flückiger