One of our favorite things to do with young people in Bible classes is to take them to museums with artifacts from cultures and time periods in the Bible. For many young people, it can help them make important connections, improve understanding of Bible stories and passages and reinforce the historicity of the Bible.
There’s a fun activity you can do to adapt this activity and help students reap the same benefits if you don’t live near museums with artifacts that would help your students. In this activity, you will encourage your Bible students to design the “perfect” Bible museum. Since most young people have phones and WiFi, this can often be an in class activity.
Present the challenge to students. They are to design an exhibit for someone who knows nothing about the Bible, that will teach them important things they need to understand. This can be about specific stories, cultures, people or the Bible itself. They can create reproductions of items or if money allows, show photos of artifacts they want to use “on loan” from museums all over the world. Thankfully, so many museums have digitized all or most their collections and some of the more famous museums have artifacts students would find helpful.
You may choose to have students work in small groups, setting up separate exhibits in the “museum” or work as a class on one large exhibit. Allow enough time for students to complete the project, but not so much time they become bored. As they are working, ask why they are picking specific artifacts or works of art. Have them explain how various items in the exhibit connect to each other or improve understanding of God or something in the Bible.
Encourage creativity, as long as it’s respectful. Make sure to invite people outside of your class to tour your completed museum. Have students act as tour guides explaining exhibits. Have adults visiting the museum ask questions people who want to learn about God or the Bible might ask as they tour your museum. You can make the activity as simple or as complex as your students need it to be for them to be engaged and learning about their faith and how to share it.