Jesus Cleanses the Temple

We've heard the story dozens of time. Jesus gets mad and turns over tables, weaves a whip and drive out the moneychangers, and basically shows the people that they're not supposed to be using the temple that way. But have you taught it recently?
I try to find different ways to teach the stories each week. If I use blacklight pictures one week, I'll use the white board the next, or we'll act something out the next, or I'll have visuals aides they can hold.
t's hard to create a whole temple in a little classroom already crammed with tables and chairs and bookshelves and posters and other things. Especially for only one week. So, instead, I wanted to focus on what Jesus was trying to teach and how he did it. I gave my co-teacher a tray and filled it with things you might have use of during Bible class: Bibles, crayons, scissors, glue sticks, pencils, etc. Then, as I was showing the kids pictures of what the temple looked like and explaining where all this was taking place, my co-teacher started going around to the kids and asking if any of them needed anything. Would they like to buy a pencil? How about a glue stick? Did they bring their Bible? She could make them a good deal.
The kids looked from me, as I tried to talk over all this, to her as she went about selling her wares, wondering what was going on. Finally, I threw down my pictures of the temple, stormed over to her, grabbed the tray, and slung it across the room. "This is not the time or place for this!"
Think it made an impact on the kids? You bet it did! That, of course, led right into the story and how Jesus got mad and did basically the same thing. We talked about how it was okay to get mad sometimes, and why this was one of them. Then, we talked about where the temple is today (our hearts), and how we can keep them clean from things like what was going on back then. I ended by focusing on worship and how we can make sure we act correctly in worship and focus on what we need to focus on instead of on corrupt things.
I hope this helps you as you try to teach this lesson in the future!