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As a child’s teacher, have you ever had this feeling? You arrive in your classroom and have everything ready to go for your class with extra time to spare so that you can take a moment to prepare your mind for the big day. You look at the clock only to discover there’s a full ten minutes before class starts, and you have early children beginning to arrive!!
What to do in the waiting? Don’t panic. We have eight easy-to-prepare, creative ideas to keep your early kids engaged and introduce them to the subject of the day!
Readily Available Materials For Sunday School Teachers
Prepare your pre-class activity materials and have them boxed up and ready to help you engage more with your students and worry less about what you’re doing at the last minute.
Designate an area where you can set up an activity station. Set it away from the area where you gather for your welcome and lesson time. This makes the activity feel special and trains your early arrivers where to go each week.
Plan your simple activity with a connection to your lesson topic for the week. For instance, if you are studying Jonah and the whale, bring a whale-shaped cookie cutter to use with the play dough, or bring a bunch of sea life plastic animals to ‘float’ in the ocean, or have some questions ready about what we do if someone asks us to do something we really don’t want to do.
Focused play and conversational questions to interact with your students help to build anticipation and reinforcement for the lesson of the day while building relationships with your students. Check out these Easy Ways To Incorporate Sensory Activities In Your Children’s Ministry for creative ideas on how to use a variety of materials for focused play.
Pre-Service Sunday School Activity Stations
These hands-on activities are a perfect way to keep your kids engaged before the lesson even starts!
1. Play Dough Fun For Students
Young kids and adults alike enjoy creating with soft dough; this type of sensory play is very soothing to some, and it’s wonderful to use our imagination! In addition, tactile items can be a creative way to connect with kids.
For an added bonus, have a box of ‘tools’ available to help them to create: wooden child-size rollers, a set of cookie cutters, and small plastic utensils, just to name a few.
2. Use White Boards For Tic Tac Toe
Make a whiteboard or chalkboard available for kids who love to play old-school games like Tic-tac-toe or Hangman. A fun way to incorporate the lesson is by using words in your Hangman game that are relevant to your lesson.
If you don’t have a board available, buy some rolls of paper or a large notepad with markers designated only to be used with that game; it makes them feel special!
3. Build With Blocks Before Your Lesson
Blocks of all shapes and textures can be fun to create with, and even help develop new skills! Yard sale finds, or thrift store treasures are great for building a plastic tote full of these fun items. Put out a sign with a challenge for the day of what to make. For example, if you are studying Noah and The Ark, challenge them to build their own version of a floating zoo! For the wise and foolish builder parable, ask children to make two houses, one on the ‘rock’ and one on the sand! The Lesson Tower is a great example of using blocks in the classroom.
4. Offer A Cup Stacking Challenge
Use plastic cups to form pyramids or towers. Challenge each other to a timed stacking, or print out pictures of some of the elements and people in your Bible lesson and place them on the cups so you can talk about them as you are stacking or doing simple lineups. Sequencing cup pictures in order of the story can also be a great way to review the lesson from the previous week.
5. Magazine Collage Murals Are A Big Hit
Put out a large piece of paper roll that several students can work on at one time. Get several magazines from people in your congregation for the children to cut out pictures. Check ahead of time to ensure all magazines are appropriate for school-age kids!
Introduce the theme of your mural to the children. For example, if you are studying the parable of the Rich Young Ruler, tell your students you are making a mural about what they think a rich person might own. Let them find pictures, cut them out, and paste them onto your mural. This allows you to turn the mural into a visual aid when introducing your lesson. What pride and joy these students will have to know they are a special part of the lesson!
6. Make Your Own Memory Game
Purchase a game for this, or even better, print your own cards out on your computer using clip art elements from the lesson of the day or general Bible themes, e.g., books of the Bible or the twelve disciples. Print them on cardstock so they are more durable. Covering them with clear contact paper can also help to stand the test of time.
7. Craft Kits Are Great Before Service Activities
Develop a craft kit stash! Always keep an eye out for deals on craft kits at your local discount stores or craft stores. Buying items off-season and storing them away gives you an opportunity to use them throughout the school year and for the story reminder you need.
Fun foam items, wood kits, black velvet poster kits, and so much more can be found and are great time fillers. Always make sure to have standard craft items on hand to complete these kits, markers, scissors, crayons, glue sticks, and craft glue.
If you have super shoppers in your church family, give them a ‘lookout list’ and ask
them to pick up items when they find a deal!! This is a great way to get congregation members involved in church ministry, using a hobby they enjoy. It’s a win-win!!
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
8. Can You Spy It?
A popular children’s game can be found many times in paper or digital form or even in a bottle-sized form. This is a fun challenge to have on hand. The game is so simple to custom-design to fit your Bible lesson.
Make a ‘classroom-sized’ Can You Spy It version
1. First, obtain a clear plastic tote with a lid (25-30 quart size) to hold your materials. Make it easily accessible, fit on the tabletop, and not too heavy for teachers to move around.
2. Fill your tote with a dried material for your base, such as rice, beans, or sanitized play sand.
3. Put your I Spy items in the box, as well as some filler items for children to
discover as they hunt for specific things on their list. Thrift store plastic toys, small animals, action figures, and blocks are great filler items. Keep in mind, no sharp edges. Children will be searching with their hands. Use nothing that is food-related or could ‘melt or disintegrate’ into your dried material.
4. Make your ‘I Spy List’ for the day. If you have non-readers, make sure to create your list with clip art pictures. Then, put the list on the board or table and encourage the children to search together to find them all. If you have several children, take turns and only allow one find per child, and then keep going until you have the list all done.
5. Here are some ideas for studying Easter week: faux coins from the party store, a plastic rooster, an empty communion cup, a rock for the door of the tomb, an angel ornament, a small wooden cross, an empty Easter egg, and a silk palm leaf.
Engage Early Arrivers With Activity Stations
Aren’t you excited? Just think, by using just one out of the variety of activities we shared, each week, you have enough projects to keep your early arrivers engaged and learning for two whole months. Then, it will be a good time to start the rotation fresh all over again!
Let’s not forget our purpose and vision for our small church children’s ministry; this article from our website is a great reminder of why we do what we do. Check it out here: 4 Steps To Strengthen Your Children’s Ministry.
So with a little planning, creativity, and this article, you can start engaging your early arrivers as opposed to just ‘keeping them busy.’ Imagine what a difference this could make in their faith journey by giving them this little extra boost to prepare them for the lesson of the day! Remember, your small church children’s ministry is making a difference in kids’ lives that can impact them for a lifetime!
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!
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