If you use the optional supply, before class, print out enough comic strip templates so that each of your students has one (1) page. The pages are different, so each of your students can get creative. The template is found here. Cool Comic Book Templates for Kids
If your class is meeting online, email families the template ahead of time to print a copy. Invite students to bring printouts (or index cards) and pens/pencils with them to class.
After your students have arrived, tell them they will be creating their own comics today.
Play the following video clip about creating comic characters and dialogue [0:43]: 5 Tips for writing Good characters in Comic books
Distribute supplies (or invite them to have supplies ready at home). Ask students to draw a cartoon but leave speech (or thought) bubbles blank (if the printed sheet they receive does not have pre-printed speech/thought bubbles, they should add their own BLANK ones). After you have allowed students time to think and draw, have them pass their cartoon to a person near them. Let that person fill in the speech/thought bubble(s) with what they think the cartoon character is thinking. Caution students to keep drawings and speech/thought bubble remarks appropriate. Invite several students to share their final cartoon—giving the written version as well as the version the original artist had in mind when they drew the cartoon. (If your class is meeting online, allow students to complete their own cartoons and then share with the class.)
It was interesting to hear both the writers and the artists share their own versions of the comics! Although there were some similarities, each artist had thoughts and ideas for the story that the writers didn’t know about.
- Was the final story of your comic different than the one you originally planned while drawing? If so, how? (Accept all reasonable responses.)
- Why can’t we know what a person is really thinking? (Answers may include: We aren’t him or her, individuals all feel differently about various topics, it is impossible to get into someone’s mind, we might have an idea of what someone would think, but we’ll never really know, because we aren’t that person.)
People love to assume that they know everything about everyone. But the truth is, we can only know something about a person if we’ve taken the time to get to know that person.
- What are some ways we can get to know someone? (Answers may include: spend time talking, hang out, play games, have a meal together, go for a walk and talk, ask questions and invite responses, talk to that person’s friends and family about his or her likes and dislikes, etc.)
Today we’re going to discuss thinking about what God has said in His Word. You can’t think on what you don’t know…and thinking about what God has said is the best kind of “in the know” we can know!
