DAVID AND GOLIATH Preparation and delivery ... - Fosse Deanery

DAVID AND GOLIATH
Preparation and delivery
Set up Goliath in the chancel. You could build him from cardboard boxes,
or draw him on lining paper or a roller blind, suspended from a suitable
part of the church architecture.
If he’s made from boxes then the child playing David might need a bit of
help to throw the beanbags hard enough to knock him down.
If he’s suspended on a roll of paper/fabric then instead of tying him in
place, have someone to hold the string and then let go of it when the
beanbags are thrown.
Have someone sitting by/behind Goliath to shout out his words.
David will need to be guided through his actions. The adult helping him
can voice his words for him.
Props
3 copies of the script
Goliath
beanbags spread on a piece of blue fabric to represent the river
1

[Select a child to be David, and bring him to a corner of the church
away from the chancel.]
This is David.
David has 7 older brothers. His brothers are all soldiers, but David is a
shepherd boy. He looks after his father’s sheep.
David is very brave. He fights the wild animals that try to attack the
sheep. And he always trusts God to help him.
Nobody else knows how brave David is. They don’t know how much he
trusts God. Whenever he wants to join in with his brothers, they just say,
YOU’RE TOO LITTLE!
[Get the children to practise saying this whenever you make a particular
hand sign.]
[Select some children to be in Saul’s army, and bring them to the middle
of church.]
These are David’s brothers.
They are soldiers in King Saul’s army. Their army is camping on one hill,
over here.
[Select some children to be in Goliath’s army, and bring them to the
chancel.]
These are the enemy soldiers.
Their army is camping on another hill, over there.
The enemy soldiers are sure that they will win, because they have on
their side a giant called Goliath.
2

[Get the ‘enemy soldiers’ to practise cheering whenever you make a
particular hand sign, and Saul’s soldiers to practise shouting ‘Help!
Help!’ when they hear the cheer.]
Goliath shouted across to the army on the other hill:
‘Choose a man to fight me. Whoever wins the fight, wins the battle for
the whole army.’
[Get the children to cheer/shout again.]
King Saul’s army didn’t know what to do. Everyone was scared to fight
Goliath.
[Go back to David.]
One day, David’s father asked him to take food to his brothers in the
army.
[Take David to Saul’s army.]
When David heard Goliath shouting, he said, ‘I’ll fight Goliath.’
But his brothers laughed at him. They said,
[Make the hand sign for the children to say, ‘You’re too little!’]
David said, ‘I’m not afraid.’
But his brothers said,
[Make the hand sign for the children to say, ‘You’re too little!’]
And King Saul said,
[Make the hand sign for the children to say, ‘You’re too little!’]
But David said, ‘I trust God to help me.’
3

So David went to the river. He choose 5 smooth stones.
[Take David to the river and help him to pick up the ‘stones’.]
Then David shouted to Goliath. He said, ‘I will fight you.’
Goliath laughed. He shouted back,
[Make the hand sign for the children to say, ‘You’re too little!’]
And the enemy soldiers were sure that Goliath would win.
[Make the hand sign for the children to cheer/shout.]
But David was not afraid. He shouted:
‘You come with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of
God!’
David put a stone in his sling and he threw it hard at Goliath.
[Help David to throw the beanbags at the giant.]
David’s stone hit the giant on the head, and he fell down dead.
[Get Saul’s soldiers to cheer and the enemy soldiers to shout ‘Help!
Help!’.]
David trusted God.
Gold helped David to win.
And all the people were glad.
4