This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission from purchased products at no additional cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Outreach Doesn’t Have To Be Vacation Bible School!
Do you ever get tired of every church in town doing the same old outreach ideas for kids’ ministry? A VBS on every corner?
Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with VBS, but if every church is offering it, do we really need to replicate it? Or can we be more unique and offer something that your neighborhood families haven’t seen before and perhaps catch the eye of a new unchurched family?
Here are 5 creative ways to reach out to kids that are budget-friendly and easy to produce. It’s a wonderful way to reach kids with the gospel. It’s also a great way to build a relational bridge with their families.
Understand Your Purpose
It’s important to find a way to present the gospel whether by a speaker, devotional, video, or even a take-home sheet so that if you never see those same faces again, you at least know that the seeds of truth have been planted. But remember, some of these events simply show God’s love and establish a relationship with your community and your church.
Use these ideas as one-time events or establish them as annual traditions so kids (and parents) can look forward to them each year.
5 Budget-Friendly Outreach Ideas For Children’s Ministry
1. Princess Party
The purpose of this party is to reach out to families in the community. Most little girls enjoy dressing up like princesses, so why not capitalize upon that joy!? We promoted the Princess Party for little ladies ages 4 & up, although we had several calls from mothers wanting to bring younger toddlers. That was fine with us!
Theme/Decor
Everything pink, glittery, pastel, gold, and princessy! Make a Princess Tent in the middle of the room for your story gathering. We used a pop-up canopy tent, then draped lots of tulle and glittery fabric –– some were just sheer curtains from the thrift store –– and bows!
Set-Up
When the guests arrive, hand out Princess Bags. A white lunch sack with a printed sticker of the party title works fine! Children use the sack to collect their prizes from the games and their craft items. We held our party in the sanctuary after clearing out the chairs and setting up the following party stations around the edge of the room.
Face-Painting Station
Face painting station with all things pretty and glitter.
Game Station 1: Spin The wheel
Spin the wheel and see what number it stops on. Then, pick up a frog. Frog toys from the dollar store sit in the pond (blue plastic tablecloth) on lily pads (green felt cut in a leaf shape). Each frog has a number on its belly, written with a permanent marker. The princess chooses a frog, and if the number matches the one on the spin wheel, she wins a small prize.
Game Station 2: Tiara Ring Toss
Make tiaras from fun foam. Make four ‘targets’ from PVC pipe (cut to various heights). Spray paint gold and screw to a 5 x 7 wood plaque (painted black). Each princess gets a chance to toss 3 tiaras to see if they can ring one of the pipes (which all had ‘jewel’ names on them in Sharpie). If the princess rings a target, she goes to the corresponding gift bag with that name and gets a prize. [diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls]
Craft Station 1: Star Wand
Princesses make their own star wand (thin dowel stick, sandwich 2-star cutouts to the top with glue before the party). Princesses decorate the star with markers and gem stickers. Then, they tie on curling ribbon streamers and curl them.
Craft Station 2: Crowns
Order paper/tag board crowns from Oriental Trading and gather stickers, markers, and gems to decorate them. Of course, they can wear them too!
Photo Op Station
Set up an area with a ‘throne’ (a very large wooden chair draped with layers of taffeta cloth, tulle, ribbons, and bows). With the help of a small step stool, children climb on their thrown. Have a volunteer ready to take photos and another ready to take addresses! That way you can print it and send it later with a thank you for attending. (Easy/effective follow-up!)
Devotional
Tell the story of a rich young princess who treated everyone badly and a poor servant girl who loved God and treated everyone with kindness. Long story short, the poor girl was the only one to attend the naughty princess’ party, and she treated her kindly, even though the princess had called her names. The poor servant girl talked to the princess about how she was a daughter of the King, the King of heaven, and how God loved her too. The princess prayed for forgiveness, gave her tiara to the poor servant girl, and hand-in-hand, they both walked away as daughters of the King!
Looking for a step-by-step guide to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
2. Superhero Saturday
Superhero Saturday was a nod to the young boys who love superheroes in our church and neighborhood. We encouraged participants to wear the outfit of their favorite superhero.
As guests arrive (have them register via email, but welcome any walk-ins too!), assign them to a Super Team, and give each a name tag. (Choose fun team names like Scorpions, Victors Raiders, etc.)
Gather everyone together in the worship center or fellowship hall for a welcome and to form teams. Each team needs volunteer team leaders to lead their group around on a rotating schedule.
Theme/Decor
This is a fun theme to get your men and teens involved in helping to decorate and come up with ideas!
Set-Up
Set up the following stations, plus a gathering center for a final gospel challenge and refreshments. For extra fun, set up a photo booth in your welcome area for photos while waiting for the program to begin.
When we did this event, most of the parents stayed for the whole program!
Photo Op Station
- Make barbells out of covered cardboard boxes with 1,000 pounds stenciled on each side. Run a PVC pipe (painted black) through each end of the box. The children love lifting these with one hand for pictures!
- Make a city skyscraper view out of flat sheets of cardboard (black paint, varying building heights, yellow rectangles for windows at night). Then attach the skyline to a table covered in a black cloth. The ‘superheroes’ lie on the table and take the flying position with their arms stretched out! It looks like they are soaring over the city.
Craft Station
Set up these 2 options:
- A Super Sucker: Adorn a lollipop with a homemade cape (kids design the cape with stickers and markers) then attach the cape.
- Power Cuffs: Make bracelets out of toilet paper rolls by covering them in paper, washi tape, or decorative duct tape. Add emblems for even more fun.
Superhero Training Station
Set up a Super Obstacle course. Time each contestant as they run through the course …
- Leaping over buildings (stacked shoe boxes decorated)
- Conquering evil (Print images of villains from silly clip art and attach them to weighted 2-liter pop bottles.) Children knock over the villains.
- Walking through the lake of lava (Orange & red plastic tablecloths on the ground in an oval. Posterboard stones make in a pathway through the middle.)
- Saving the world (Hide a small globe ball in a bin of ping pong and nerf balls, shredded paper, etc.) Children find the globe and place it on the pedestal at the finish line!!!
The person on the team with the quickest time gets to find a prize on the Punch Board (Check this out on Pinterest!).
Game Station
- Bowling For Superheroes: Make a bowling set from 2-liter bottles with printed superheroes taped onto the front of the pins. Create a backdrop out of a tri-fold display board with a city backdrop, lightning bolts, clouds, etc. Tape out lanes with duct tape and find a good ball to use. Each child gets a turn to see how many rolls it takes to knock down all the superheroes.
- Kryptonite Tower: See who can make the biggest ‘kryptonite’ tower (simple wooden blocks, spray painted green). Set a timer. The biggest tower wins a small prize.
Devotional
Regather everyone in the worship center for the closing challenge to present the gospel, making sure children understand the superheroes talked about today are pretend, and their powers are not real. But Jesus, the one true God, has mighty power to conquer death, forgive sin, and loves you today! Dismiss everyone for a time of super-snacks.
3. Dog Days Of Summer Children’s Event
In our town, we noticed a trend where all the churches do VBS and summer programs within 2-3 weeks of each other. School break started in June, and by the end of June, everyone was done. So, we decided to give the last Saturday in July a try.
We knew it would be hot, so we opted for an indoor theme to stay in the air conditioning.
Following a VBS-type schedule, small groups traveled to stations, starting and ending in one larger meeting area.
Bonus Idea: Use this as a service project and have each child bring a donation of canned or bag of dried dog or cat food, treats, a leash, or a bowl to the outreach day, and then donate to the local shelter!
Theme/Decor
Get a washing machine box from an appliance store and make a doghouse. We borrowed a huge stuffed dog from a friend for more fun! Decorate your stage area with dollar store items: dog bowls, leashes, dog toys, and ropes. Make some fire hydrants out of stacked oatmeal boxes and add fake trees made from cardboard & paper. And, of course, add paper paw prints everywhere!
The Welcome
A welcomer introduces all the teams and team leader volunteers, explaining the rules for the day and the stations to visit. For an extra fun element, hide ‘dog bones’ around the building. Any team that finds a bone brings it to the closing ceremony for a prize (each bone has a prize code on it).
Puppy Craft Station
Each child makes a ‘washcloth’ puppy to take home (see Pinterest) and a ‘Dog Tag’ necklace with their name on it (cut out of cardstock, adding sticker letters and glitter glue).
Dog Games Station
Find The Bone Game: Flip white paper cups upside down and make dog faces on them with sharpies. Add a red construction paper tongue and black paper ears. Place 15 of them on a table and take 3 small dog biscuits and hide them under the cups randomly. Each person gets 4 tries to find a dog biscuit, After each child, shuffle the cups around to mix them up. If they find a biscuit, they win a prize off the prize tray. (Find fun dog-related prizes from Oriental Trading, Dollar Tree, etc.)
Dog-Dog-Cat: If you have enough kids in each group, play an active game …instead of Duck-Duck-Goose, play Dog-Dog-Cat!! Same rules apply.
Dog Treat Station
Make sugar cookies in the shape of dog bones and have the children decorate. (Please take precautions if you have food allergies present and plan accordingly). At this station, play a short Christian video to keep them happy as they decorate.
Devotional
Focus on what we like about dogs: They are loving, faithful to us, and have a good relationship. Jesus is our true and faithful friend, who loves us so much and invites us into His family if we believe in Him.
4. Wacky Water Olympics For The Whole Family
This is a fun summer outreach to introduce families to your church. Encourage parents to participate in the games or watch in the ‘viewing area’ with other church family members. This is a great way to make connections & start conversations.
You’ll need to have water sources for the game, people willing to help you prep, and a yard for the games.
Theme/Decor
Other than the games themselves, make medals and the PVC torches to add to the theme.
Set-Up
Pre-register for events to make planning easier. We allow for a certain number of walk-ins, but the pre-registration gives us a place to start for refreshments, take home bags, craft materials, etc.
- For this event, you’ll need lots of water balloons! Best idea: Have several people each bring 200 water balloons (filled and ready to go).
- Get extensions, if needed, for water hoses to make sure you have water when needed for games and a way to fill up a small wading pool. The obstacle course requires tubs of water and a hose hooked up to a ‘racer slip-n-slide’, which has 2 tracks.
- Set up a viewing area with a few pop-up canopy tents for shade and folding lawn chairs.
- Instruct parents to bring a tote bag with sunscreen, towels, and sunglasses if needed, and perhaps a dry t-shirt.
- For a toddler water park, set up on a part of the lawn that is close to the viewing area. Then parents can bring younger kids to have fun too as the older ones participated in the games. This will be a big hit with your families! Set up inflatable sprinkler animals to hook into a hose. Add a few kiddie pools with small floatie toys in one pool and cups and pails in another pool.
Opening Ceremonies
Gather everyone together for Opening Ceremonies for the Water Olympics. Play the Olympic theme song as church volunteers (the team leaders) march in with their ‘torches’ (water balloons atop a gold-painted PVC pipe). Explain the rules of the day, break kids into teams, assign their leaders, and begin the games!
Christmas Comes Early: Santa Belly Challenge!
Each team chooses one person to be Santa. Santa puts on the red Santa shirt (a red 4X sweatshirt). The job of the other teammates is to stuff Santa’s belly with as many water balloons as possible in 2 minutes. When the timer goes off, each volunteer leader removes the balloons and counts them up. The team with the most balloons wins!
Water Relay Challenge
Each team chooses one person to sit at the finish line and hold an empty 2-liter bottle on their head. The other teammate takes a sand pail full of water, runs to the finish line, dumps the water into the bottle (and on the person’s head), and runs back for the next person to go. The first team that gets the water up to the mark on the bottle wins.
Frozen T-Shirt Challenge
(Well before the event, soak 3 t-shirts/same size in water. Then, while soaking wet, fold them identically into a very small bundle. Next, place it in the freezer. It should be solid on the day of the event.) Set up a wading pool full of water. On “GO”, the first 2 team members from each team run down and pick up a frozen t-shirt. The idea is to soak it in the water and try to do whatever you can to unfold it. Each set of team members gets 2 minutes to work on it, then switch out for the next 2, and so on. The first team that gets their shirt unfolded wins. (This is a tough one!!)
Water Olympics Obstacle Course
Set up whatever challenges you like!
We divided the kids for this last challenge into 2 teams and matched them side by side (It’s important to match age/size & skill level within each match). Next, we had them run through buckets (much like you would through tires, but this was through tubs of water) and then on to a spot with a pail of water. The kids drew up water into a squirt pool noodle and tried to knock the cup off the stool. Next, they moved on to the next station with water balloons. The challenge here was to break it any way possible over the head of a volunteer sitting in a chair (We called on some dearly loved church members for that one!) Lastly, it was a running start and a dive down a slip-n-slide into a splash at the end!!
We celebrated every person running through!
Closing Ceremonies
Gather everyone together to end the day and invite them back to church the next day. This event is all about building relationships and showing God’s love. Give everyone a medal for coming. (We ordered ours from Oriental Trading.)
End the event with the perfect snack for a nice hot day! We chose ice-cold watermelon that we could eat outside, and everyone left with a big smile. (*Yes, we did notice an increase in the water bill that month, but it was worth it
5. Host A Free Sports Clinic Day For Your Community
Many churches have former or current athletes or coaches in their midst. Hosting a Sports Clinic Day is a great way to utilize skills in your community, and the kids love it too!
This is a great way to provide a free or low-cost service to the children in your community to improve or learn skills in a particular sport that is popular in your area. Reach into your community and partner up with local teams or schools and get the word out about your church. Parents appreciate not having to pay great amounts of money to do these kinds of things for their kids!
Theme/Decor
Brightly colored pendants (purchased on Amazon or Oriental Trading) strewn between sawhorses create the atmosphere. Add some balloons and a festive registration table.
Set-Up
Have lots of water and coolers to keep kids hydrated, as well as sunscreen.
Setup will totally depend on what sports clinic you run.
- You’ll need a good space to spread out and do drills.
- Cones for setting up courses or markers.
- A bonus item for your participants could be a printed T-shirt with the name of the clinic or theme and your church name on it. Although it’s expensive, look into donations, or ask participants to pay a part of the cost.
- A small gift for the volunteers who donated their time. Include a nice handwritten note from the pastor and team leader.
- Snack at the end: orange slices, bananas, cookies, and more water!
Devotional
Devotional: Based on Paul’s verse about athletes in 2 Tim. 2:5. Explain how Jesus wants us to be part of His team and we can be a part of it by believing in Him and listening to His ‘coaching’ for life.
With A Little Creativity, Small Church Events Can Have A Big Impact!
As small churches, you don’t need an expensive VBS curriculum to have a big impact on your community! With a little creativity and some teamwork, you may be surprised at the excitement these unique events bring.
Connecting with your community doesn’t take a big church budget and a fancy building!
Looking for a step-by-step guide to starting or restarting your children’s ministry?
Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!
Read More
These are fantastic ideas!!!
LOVE these ideas, Becky! And I appreciate both how thorough your details are, making it easier for others to try, and how budget-friendly the ideas are. Kudos!
Great ideas! You got us excited to reach out to the little ones.
Awesome! That’s sweet to hear!