The Gospels in Playdough

Liz Anstey, Barton Books

Liz Anstey is a Canberra mother of three who was inspired to share the Bible stories using play dough to bring the characters to life for her children.

This is very much a hands-on approach to teaching young children about Jesus.

The book covers 73 stories from the Gospels and some are marked (D) as they contain more difficult stories to understand or share; for example, the story of John’s beheading by Herod.

However, she has simply and faithfully told the stories in a way that enables any parent or carer to do the same. There is a helpful introduction with a focus on the “retell”, an important part of this method, when a child re-tells and re-enacts the story.

The book is well set out with a clear index and each story has a Bible reference. There is a cooked play dough recipe included in the Appendix as well as several stories told with extensive notes to teach a beginner how to use this approach.

An excellent website supporting the book has a delightful film clip of Liz telling a story using the play dough figures.

This book will certainly affect my practice and I will be using play dough not just for fun but also for story-telling.

Judyth Roberts