Children's Ministry-How do I reach them?

Carol - posted on 05/06/2013

When I was teaching Sunday School, I loved the younger ones (I had 2nd and 3rd grade) love to do hands on things. One of the "projects" we did was to count our blessings and what we were thankful to God for. I bought small wooden "treasure boxes" and numerous little rocks at Michaels. Each Sunday I would ask them what they were thankful for that week and they or I would write in gold pen the word they chose onto one of the rocks and put it into their box. BOXES STAYED AT CHURCH, BTW. They LOVED it! When we talked about the plagues in the OT I bought inexpensive little bugs and symbols of the different plagues and had a treasure hunt.
As a former homeschool mom, I'm a big believer in hands on teaching and activities for younger ones, and even older ones when appropriate. I hope this might help a little?

Lori - posted on 04/20/2012

On top of all this great advice...pray and the Lord will give you some great ideas!

lori

http://myseedsoffaith.com/

Angela - posted on 04/18/2012

Great idea there from Carla - kids love drama! I still remember acting out Bible stories from Sunday School in the mid 1960's - I got to be the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment. We acted out a Bible story each week and we got another Bible story shown to us on colour projector slides - it was a real treat!

I think active boys would like active stories like Daniel in the Lions' Den, Jonah & the Whale, Joshua marching round the city & blowing his trumpet etc ....

Don't forget a sing-song of Gospel music as well!

Carla - posted on 04/18/2012

Kids LOVE to act things out, so read the story to them, then have them act it out! They will remember it if they act it.

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Jennifer - posted on 04/12/2011

Bring their parents in. Teach them how to teach their own children :)

Kristi - posted on 03/26/2009

I copied this from our church's website.  I know they've been using this rotation model for a while now and the kids love it!  Your church may not have all the equipment to do everything (computers, cooking, etc.) but the rotation theme would be successful with whatever different 'stations' you go with...the point is that every child learns differently, that's why they repeat the same lesson for 4 weeks in a row, only teaching it from a different perspective.  My son is only 4, so he doesn't 'rotate' with the older kids, but his class still does the same bible story for 4 weeks.  By the end of the 4th week, he knows all about Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Joshua, Ruth or whomever they are learning about at that time!  I have been very impressed!

Rotation Model (Wednesday night)                                                                                                          Kindergarten - Fifth Grade                                                                                                                                                                                    We have six workshops: cooking, drama, video, art, computer and games.  Each workshop has a teacher, and ideally, an assistant.  We anticipate that we will add more workshops as the program grows, but for now we have these six.  Our kids will of course be divided into six groups: kindergarten-5th.  Each group has a crew leader, who we will refer to as "Foremen".  for the time being, our preschooler will not be rotating with the rest of the kids.  Instead of rotation among all the stations during one service, each group stays at one station each week for four weeks.  At the end of four weeks, each group will have gone through an entire rotation.  As with vacation bible school each station will be focusing on the same Bible story or theme, but from the perspective of the individual station.

Tammy - posted on 03/14/2009

When I was teaching in the nursery for Sunday school I used this resource www.daniellesplace.com. 

I usually had children from 1-4 years of age and I could find just about anything for crafts and fun activities.  There is a membership but it's pretty low....check it out.....you may like it! 

Michele - posted on 02/17/2009

Hi Cheryl-

I know your struggle. I'm involved with our church's children ministries as well. Hands on activities are usually the best. The more movement and hands on you can do on a Wednesday night program is better. What I have seen is that most 5-6 year olds don't have the attention any longer in the evening to sit through "book" work. If you are using a set program see what hands on activities there are. If not, there are number of websites that you can free downloads and ideas from. And hands on doesn't have to cost anything either.

God Bless

Kristina - posted on 02/15/2009

do a lot of hands on activities give the boys something to do like hand out the papers; songs with actions is always good. Plays? just a few ideas if i think of any more I will pass them along.

Torri - posted on 02/12/2009

I've been an Awana leader for over 10 years... I taught pre-school ages 3-5 for 8 years and now i teach 3rd to 6th graders.. here's some things i've learned.





object lessons are great. I use a book Charles Ryrie i believe for my Awana kids. It takes everyday objects and sometimes the kids as objects to make a point in the Bible lesson. Also hands on, and movement. You the teacher should move around the room. Walking up to them talking directly to them. Puppets!! if you have access to them..... they are amazing attention grabbers. This is the tv generation and everything in their world is in constant motion. So as teachers we should be too.

Heather - posted on 01/24/2009

The people at my church do fun activities, usually skits or something related to a bible study. Last week that walked around the church almost the entire time to give them and idea of how isreal felt walking through the desert for 40 years.

Katherine - posted on 01/17/2009

Hi Cheryl,  I have some experience when it comes to children's mid-week ministries.  I would suggest an active or hands-on approach to keep them all engaged.  These kids have been sitting all day at school and need some movement and physical activity.  Having them act out the story will help them to focus on listening to the story for cues on what to do.  Give each child a purpose or job to perform while you are in your Bible Study section:  One child to open with prayer, one child to read the passage, another child to manage and pass out any pencils/pens and papers, and so on.

I don't know what curriculum you are using, if any, but Group Publishing has an excellent program that is very active and hands-on.  Good luck and let me know how things are going.  It's always nice to get some support and a friendly ear to listen.