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The holiday season is a wonderful time for small churches to reach out to their communities and offer unique opportunities for connection, celebration, and an introduction to your Christmas classes for kids!
Parents are often looking for opportunities for their children to be engaged in fun holiday activities, especially if your church can offer them at no cost! Not only can you provide the kids with an awesome class, but you can give mom and dad a break during a very hectic time of year!
We give ideas for easy-to-teach Christmas classes that kids can enjoy and also give them skills for getting involved in their family celebrations. We also show you simple ways to share God’s love that could impact a child’s life this Christmas!
When & Where To Host Your Class
The location of your class is important. Consider hosting a class at an alternative site in your community. Go into your neighborhood for more connections! Check with local elementary schools and see if they could let you host an after-school crafting event. You can also consider places like a community center, Parks & Rec center, town hall, YMCA, or Boys & Girls Club.
Going into your community expands your outreach and puts people in your path you might not otherwise meet! These are great connection points for families.
If you are working with the schools, you probably need to host your classes, during the week, after school. If you are using community spots, you could offer your events on Saturdays or evenings. Of course, you can host your Christmas Craft series at your small church; this gives you flexibility in scheduling.
A good tip: always check with school calendars and community websites to be sure you are not competing with other events in town.
Promoting your classes on social media outlets and community event listings helps to get the word out to your neighborhood. Your church can print flyers for your church family to invite neighbors, co-workers, kids, and family members, but we find nothing beats a personal invitation!
Pre-registration is recommended so that you have ample supplies of materials for each class.
Looking for something fresh and new for the holiday season?
Check out the Blue Christmas Pack & the Advent Worship Pack!
Three Crafts Plus A Party
Build excitement and momentum as you offer 4 events, one each week. The first three weeks the children create amazing Christmas crafts. The fourth week is an open invitation to all kids and their families to a Christmas celebration.
Ornament Making
Week 1
Try an ornament to help kids jump right into the Christmas excitement.
This is a dual project week, you teach both a craft and a skill! Children learn how to make an ornament. In planning, consider your target ages as you choose your project. Ornament project kits can give great value and keep costs low. If you go that route, be sure to order more than you think you’ll need, if you haven’t finished the pre-registration process.
Choosing your craft can be a great opportunity to get someone else from your small church involved; allow them the task of choosing the project and teaching how to put it together.
Ornament Suggestions
- Glitter ‘Rolled’ Glass Ornaments, trimmed with ribbons, berries & pine.
- Nativity Family from traditional wood clothespins
- Coffee Filter Angels
- Beaded-wood sign ornaments
Teach How To Wrap A Gift
The second part of this class is teaching how to wrap a proper gift. The gift is the ornament they made. Provide boxes and wrapping paper for each child. Give kids tips and tricks to measure wrapping paper so they don’t waste it. Teach them how to fold sharp corners and tuck in ends to make a neat-looking package. Also, help them learn to make package bows and finish off with special tie-ons that round out this portion of the class.
After each crafting class, invite the kids to gather around for a time of simple refreshments while you read part of a Christmas story. (Divide the Christmas story into 3 parts. Read one part each week, finishing the story on week 3.)
When children leave this class, they can leave with a smile on their face, a new skill to brag to their family about, and a gift in hand to bring to someone they love.
Decorate Cookies Christmas Idea For Small Churches
Week 2
Teach your children top tips to make their cookies look amazing.
Who doesn’t love to make and decorate a Christmas cookie during the holidays? All the smells, the sights, the tastes…yum. There is something warm and inviting about baking together.
Remember, some kids may come from families that don’t have time or the ability to bake cookies together. You may be introducing them to this time-honored tradition!
Did you know your small church can do so many ministries with a few yummy cookies? Check out this article for six Small Church Cookie Events For Any Season.
For this class, ask a few of your volunteers to make sugar cookie dough and frostings prior to class. Starting with pre-baked cookies ready to decorate, allows the first batch of cookies you bake in class, time to cool while keeping your eager guests in the decorating mode.
Teaching kids good kitchen skills and how to keep their work area neat while baking are helpful tools that start them off on a good baking lifestyle!
Set up workstations based on the number of students.
- Rolling and cutting the dough
- Baking and cooling racks
- Frosting and decorating
- Boxing
Before class, pre-tinting the frostings and putting them in decorating bags is a helpful time saver. In addition, consider Food coloring marker pens to help your kids easily get any details they want to draw.
Give Tips To Decorate Cookies
Focus the class on specific decorating designs on certain shaped cutouts, this allows you time to teach the kids simple techniques. Hopefully, they remember this day and repeat what they learn in their own homes someday.
- Leave an edge around the frosting
- Using colored sugars
- Marbling Royal icing
- How to use a piping bag
- Outlining a design
- Simple designs that look great
Of course, allow your bakers the opportunity to show off their creativity, and style. Include in your plans, a certain number of cookies for ‘free-style’ decorating. Gently remind them of the ‘less is more’ rule, especially when it comes to sweet frostings and sprinkles!
Once you know how many students will be attending the class, you can determine how many cookies each student can take home. Provide cookie boxes or shirt boxes lined with plastic wrap for children to take their cookies home. (The icing/frosting probably won’t be set. Lay the cookies out next to each other, instead of on top of each other.)
Try Cookie Decorating For Children’s Church Outreach
Give the kids fun Christmas stickers to decorate their boxes. Letter stickers or markers to put names on boxes help to ensure kids are bringing home their own creations!
After the baking, decorating, and boxing are done, dismiss to the refreshment table where perhaps some treats of fresh fruit or mini sandwiches would be a nice offset to all the sweets.
Continue on with a Christmas story reading and encourage your bakers to share their creations as a means of sharing Jesus’ love at Christmas.
Just imagine the feeling of accomplishment in your bakers as they bring their cookies home to show their families what they accomplished. You are building value in these young children. You are creating relationships and showing them how God sent Jesus to this earth because of His love for each one of them!
If your small church loves baking cookies, perhaps you could try one of the ideas in this article:
Small Church Christmas Caroling Ideas.
Easy To Make Nativity Sets For Children
Week 3
Create a simple Nativity Set for your kids to take home.
Nativity sets are a great avenue for conversation about each character and how they were impacted by the birth of Jesus. It can allow time for your guests to ask questions about the first Christmas. It also lets you share with them about the greatest gift ever given!
Find a fun and very budget-friendly idea for a homemade Nativity set from recyclables from one of our ministry partners, Visual Faith Ministry.
Another set from Visual Faith Ministry is made from wooden pegs. This allows your crafty kids to get expressive with how they paint their Nativity pieces. It’s easy to make and impressive to view when finished. Check it out here: Wooden Peg People Nativity Set.
Chain craft stores often have Nativity kits for kids to make, but a word of warning, grab them early in the season, or you may not find them! Inexpensive and readily available materials are key for your budget.
Refreshment time can bring another opportunity for connection and deepening those relationships. Try a fun Christmas mixer game to get to know each other better. The Personal Points game or Christmas Would You Rather games are great ideas for your gathering.
Challenge your guests to share the nativity story with their families as they unveil their creations. A wonderful chance to encourage them to share the true message of Christmas with others.
Time to finish up the Christmas book you read each week. This allows you to share a video or special reading of the Luke 2 account of Jesus’ birth during your wrap-up party next week.
Small Church Children’s Christmas Party
Week 4
It’s the last gathering of your series, so we want to wrap it up with a celebration!
Here’s an idea, turn this event into a combined gathering with everyone in your children’s ministry. Let this be one big Christmas party. What a great opportunity to connect all the families of these kids together. By inviting parents to stay and participate in the party, you are giving them an opportunity to get to know your small church family as well.
Plan Your Children’s Outreach Christmas Party
A few things you need to prepare for your party:
- Make a schedule of games and activities for both kids and parents to participate in.
Recruit some volunteers to be game leaders.
Use Icebreaker games to start the party rolling! - Gather all supplies needed and invite volunteers to be a part of your party.
- Plan menu for refreshments
Recruit volunteers to make refreshments, serve, and clean up.
Don’t overlook seniors or teens for being part of your team!
- Greeters at the event make guests feel welcome.
Encourage your greeters to also be cheerleaders for the games. - Decide items to put in the gift bag party favors
Ask for volunteers to fill your bags prior to the party. - Decorations. What’s a great Christmas party without decorations? Your church may already be festive with holiday decorations so just add a few friendly touches like balloons and streamers to make it kid-centric.
- Set a table for church information. Put all of your small church Christmas events and services on a flyer. Include any other ministry information for your guests to take home if they desire.
At the conclusion of your party while everyone is together, share the Christmas message. Invite your Pastor to speak or show a video. Whatever method you choose, pray God speaks to the hearts present.
Take the time to thank all of the kids for being a part of these Christmas classes and thank their parents for allowing them to come. Invite the families to your Christmas services at your small church. As a follow-up, consider planning a great kid’s event for January to start your small church New Year off with another connection point to these children. The Everybody’s Birthday Party Outreach is a perfect event for January.
Need to restock your children’s ministry craft supplies? Take a look at the list below!
- 8 x 10 artist canvas
- Decoupage glue
- Foam brush
- Glitter
- Hot glue or craft glue
- Ribbon or Jute twine
- Acrylic paint and Paintbrushes
- Felt
- Sheets of 8 ½ x 11 White cardstock
- Wide popsicle sticks and standard Popsicle sticks
- Acrylic paint
- Brown craft gift bags
- Sharpie permanent markers
Christmas Connections
So as you can see, 4 weeks of Christmas classes for the kids in your community can turn into:
- Great connections for relationships and future ministry.
- Deeper bonds within your church family as they serve side by side
- Intergenerational connections
- Visibility and credibility for your small church in your community
Do your follow-up. Snail mail cards can be an impactful method of follow-up. Kids love getting a note in the mail, and it demonstrates your small church cares about them.
Remember to thank all the volunteers who helped to make your Christmas connections and classes possible. People are more apt to volunteer the next time you ask if they feel their contributions are appreciated. None of us can do ministry without our volunteers! That’s what true small church ministry is all about.
Evaluations are a smart way to plan for next year’s event. Ask good questions to those who participated and to your volunteers. Consider sending out an email survey. Assess what the positives were for your Christmas classes and strive to improve on what you could do better next time. Read this for help on getting honest volunteer feedback.
Thank you for being willing to try new things to reach the kids in your community. We love to share in the outcomes of your small church events, please post pictures and results in our Facebook community: Creative Solutions for Small Churches.
We can’t wait to hear where God is working next!
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