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Daniel in the Lion's den - Finger Puppets - Bible story

Black-and-white and colour finger-puppet templates for the Daniel in the Lion's Den Bible story come with a matching pocket, backdrop, and three classroom storytelling formats.
Year groups
Years 2–5
Pages
12
File type
PDF
Preparation
Print ready

Updated May 14, 2024

Subject
Religion, Life Studies
Topic
Bible, Daniel in the Lion's Den
Resource types
Activities
Preparation
Print ready

From the author

About this resource

Daniel in the Lion's den: Finger Puppets based on the Bible story

With these finger puppets, your students can act out the biblical story as well as act it out.
You get the template once in black and white and once in colour.
For example, the students can design the black and white templates themselves.
With the coloured templates, you can quickly create a set of finger puppets that you can give to students to play with.

Production:


Variant 1: Finger puppet set for all students
A second option is to create the finger puppets yourself and make them available for students to play with. If you want to make long-lasting finger puppets from the coloured templates, I recommend laminating them. To do this, after laminating, cut away the adhesive surfaces, fold the finger puppets and glue them together on the sides with clear tape.

Variant 2: Each student makes their own finger puppet to play with.
I always cut up the templates and have each student make a finger puppet to play with afterwards.
The students colour in the black and white templates and glue them together to form finger puppets according to the instructions.

Uses:

1) Playing along with the story
You introduce the protagonists of the story.
Your students choose the person they want to play with during the narration (or they have already created their own puppet).

-To slip into the role, each student says what role he or she plays. E.g. "I am...."
You define certain locations of the action where the action is played, or where certain people are (e.g., stable, field, castle). You can also visualize this, for example, through cloths or houses/game objects.


Here's how your narrative could begin:
"I'll tell you a story. You play along with your finger puppets. Listen carefully and do or say what I tell you about your people. Before we begin, I want each of you to say once again who you're going to play. Now we're going to decide where we'll play. Here lives ..., There is ... Now our story begins."

During the narration, the students act out the story with their finger puppets according to your stage directions. Pay attention to precise stage directions (where the character is going, who is he talking to, what is he saying). e.g. "The king tells them to throw David into the lions' den."

The student with the kings finger puppet formulates and says: "Throw him into the lions' den!"

Please note that you will need about twice as much time as usual, as the students have yet to implement everything.

2) Re-enactment of the biblical narrative
After you tell the story, the students act out the story with their puppets.

Stage your own biblical story
The students work through the Bible story in small groups. The size of the group depends on the characters in the story.
The students read the story in the group and assign the roles. A student takes over the narrator.

Each student explains which character he or she wants to use with his or her finger puppet to slip into his role.
E.g. "I am Daniel..." Students determine the locations of the action where they play or stay (e.g., stable, field, on the road). A student begins with the narration/ Reading the story. The other students play the story with their finger puppets.

Reflection of finger puppetry

After the story, the students tell the story from the perspective of the biblical character they are playing.

I'm Daniel.

I have experienced...
I think...
I feel...
I hope...
I pray to God...
I thank you God...

Best Regards,

Doreen Blumhagen - Die Relitante

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

  • Retell the Daniel in the Lion's Den story aloud in character, using assigned puppets and appropriate descriptive detail.

  • Assemble a finger puppet by cutting, folding, and gluing a template along its marked fold and glue areas.

  • Reflect on and describe a story event from a specific character's point of view using given sentence starters.

Teaching tips

  • Choose Option 1 (each student makes and plays their own puppet from the black-and-white sheet) for a class with prep time, or Option 2 (teacher pre-assembles a laminated colour set) to save class time.

  • Budget roughly twice the usual storytelling time when students are creating their own puppets and dialogue in real time, per the file's own guidance.

  • Establish specific locations for the story (e.g., stable, field, castle) before beginning, using fabric or small props to mark each spot if desired.

  • Use the closing reflection sentence-starters ('I experienced…', 'I feel…') as a quick post-performance discussion or writing prompt.

Skills covered

  • Oral narrative retelling — students recount and act out the Daniel in the Lion's Den story in character, responding to the teacher's or narrator's cues with appropriate descriptive detail (pages 3-4).

  • Craft assembly and fine-motor sequencing — students cut, fold, and glue a template along marked lines to build a functioning finger puppet and matching storage pocket (page 6, 9).

  • Perspective-taking and reflection — students describe how their character experienced the story's events using given sentence frames (page 4).

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What are the three ways the guide suggests using the puppets in class?

Acting out the story live while the teacher narrates, reenacting the story afterward from memory, or having small groups read and stage their own version with a student narrator.

Why does the file include both a black-and-white and a colour puppet sheet?

The black-and-white sheet is meant for students to colour and personalize themselves, while the colour sheet lets a teacher quickly assemble a ready-to-use puppet set without a colouring step.

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Resource details

Concepts & topics

Core concepts

  • Storytelling

  • Role play

  • Craft assembly

  • Bible story

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