Pringle people instructions Archives - Let their light shine!

X is for Xerxes is part of our Bible Alphabet. The following is a much shortened telling of the story of Esther, King Xerxes and Haman. When you are telling a story in a toddler group you have to shorten the narrative and find a way to tell the story simply. To read the full story see Esther

X is for Xerxes story idea

Our story happened a long time again in a country called Persia. There was a powerful king called King Xerxes. He was in charge of a huge kingdom and in his kingdom lots of God’s people lived. They were a long way from home.

Now one of God’s people had married the King (he didn’t know that she was one of God’s people – he had married her because she was very beautiful) Her name was Esther.

And there was another man whose name was Haman. The king liked him very much but he was a very bad and horrible man.

Haman didn’t like God’s people at all. He wanted to get rid of all of them. And so he asked the king, ‘Can we get rid of all these people?’ And the King said, ….. ‘yes!’

Now Esther was very sad and worried. She had to find a way to keep God’s people safe. She knew that she needed help. But who could help her? She sent a message to her family – Pray to God. Ask him to help me. And I will pray too.

Esther asked God to help her. She went to see King Xerxes. She told him what was going to happen to God’s people and how she was one of them. The King was horrified. He was angry with Haman and he protected God’s people. They were kept safe.

King Xerxes was very powerful – but not as powerful as God who is able to keep his people safe and hears them when they ask for his help.

X is for Xerxes props for story telling

People characters made from cardboard tubes

King Xerxes and Queen Esther are made from Pringle Containers. Xerxes is a regular Pringle container and Esther is a whole wheat Pringle tube which is slightly smaller (perfect for making storytelling people of different heights!)

To make you just cover the tube in coloured paper (I used a glue gun to stick this) and then add a face , hair and some clothes. Pipe cleaners are very useful for holding everything together. As they are royalty I added crowns but often it’s just a piece of material held in place with a pipe cleaner as in the case of Haman. There are instructions here

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Here’s some instructions on how to make pringle people. They are easy to make and really useful when telling Bible stories. You can make lots of variations and they stand up all by themselves which keeps the storytellers hands free for lots of actions!

All you need to make pringle people

Empty pringles cartons
Material cut to approx 25cmx25cm (10in x10in) square
Felt cut to approx 20cm x18cm (8in x7in)
Circle 8cm (3in) diameter
Pipecleaners at least 30 cm (12in) in length available here
Sharpie or felt tip
Yarn for hair
Cellotape or glue
Coloured paper – A4 size is fine

All the items needed to make pringle people

How to make pringle people

Clean out your container and replace the lid. Cover the tube with coloured paper and secure with cellotape or glue. Add a face – it can have any expression that you choose. If you want hair add it now. Then secure the headress using the material and a pipe cleaner. Then add the cloak using the felt and secure with a pipe cleaner.

You can use pringle people in all sorts of Bible Stories. We’ve used the basic idea and made Pharoah and Joseph for the story about ‘Frogs in the bed!‘ You can add all sorts of extras such as Pharoah’s style of dress. We also used the idea to make Jezebel and added beads and buttons.

Children can make their own versions too and retell the story.