Flannelgraph (also called flannel board or flannelgram) is a storytelling system that uses a board covered with flannel fabric, usually resting on an easel. It is very similar to

Fuzzy Felt Fuzzy-Felt is a simple fabric toy intended for young children, first sold in 1950. The toys consist of a flocked backing board onto which a number of felt shapes are placed to create different pictures. Felt pieces can be simple silhouettes or mor ...

, although its primary use is as a

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own stories or narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cultural pre ...

medium, rather than as a toy.

Description of use

The flannel board is usually painted to depict a background scene appropriate to the story being told. Paper cutouts of characters and objects in the story are then placed on the board, and moved around, as the story unfolds. These cutouts are backed, either with flannel, or with some other substance that adheres lightly to the flannel background, such as coarse sandpaper. Plain, undecorated flannel boards can also be used as a visual aid during presentations, allowing the speaker to display and remove charts and graphs as needed.

Associations with Christianity

In the United States, flannelgraph has been (and continues to be) a popular medium for telling

Bible stories The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

to young

Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...

students in

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

(and particularly

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

) churches. Indeed, in the United States it is used as a storytelling method almost exclusively in elementary-level Christian education.Randall Herbert Balmer.
Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism
'. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press; 2002 ited 25 October 2011 . p. 221. This may be attributed, in part, to the fact that flannelgraph is relatively inexpensive, yet provides a more vivid alternative to storytelling without visual

illustration An illustration is a decoration, interpretation or visual explanation of a text, concept or process, designed for integration in print and digital published media, such as posters, flyers, magazines, books, teaching materials, animations, vid ...

. Most people use pre-published pictures and lessons, such as from Betty Lukens or Child Evangelism Fellowship, and some add on their own materials for introduction or application, as in the "Illustrating Application" (Florence Hunnicutt) videos on YouTube.

Notes

Books

{{Authority control Visual arts media Storytelling Christian performing arts Early childhood education materials

Description of use

Associations with Christianity

See also

Notes

Books