Bible Story Characters to Make and Use

One of my go-to sites for children’s ministry ideas is the Flame: Creative Children’s Ministry blog and it was there that I recently found a fabulous pattern for making wonderful stand-up Bible story characters. I’ve listed three ideas for how you might use them, but I'm sure there are many more: 

1. Keep a set on hand in every children’s ministry room as one more option for leaders to use when telling a Bible story.
2. Print a set for each child in your small group and sit alongside them as you each color and cut out your sets. Then keep them handy for children to use to re-tell the story to themselves and/or to each other. Tip: Make each set out of cardstock and then cover each character with clear contact paper to protect it.
3. Email the pattern to families and encourage them to make a set at home to use with their children as they tell and re-tell Bible stories to each other. (They’d be fun to use when telling or when re-telling the stories while using God’s Big Story cards.)

How about you? What other ways can you think of to use these Bible story characters at church or at home?