How To Engage Kids Using Worship Bags

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Help relieve their stress with a rambunctious child by offering parents worship bags for their children. We’ve included ideas to help your kids engage in the service and for their spiritual growth too!

Worship bags shouldn’t just be used to keep a child quiet to not disturb others during a church service. Worship bags engage children in peaceful activities. They can help them connect with the sermon message or learn about the God of our universe and His character. This allows parents to hear what God may be speaking to them during the sermon without some of the stress, embarrassment, and pressure of helping a wiggly child stay quiet.

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Check out the Children’s Ministry Bundle For Small Churches!

Worship Bags Are A Great Tool Small Churches Can Use To:

Engage children to connect with the message better
Help children manage their energy
Teach the Word of God, biblical principles, or basic skills
Reduce stress and anxiety for both children and their parents

Decisions To Make Ahead Of Time

Who Gets The Worship Bags?

Talk with your pastor or leadership team to understand your church’s and children’s needs. Use these conversations to determine age groups for your worship bags. Options include toddlers, early elementary, and upper elementary/ junior high.

What Goes In The Worship Bags?

Thinking about the needs of those children and students, create a list of items that might be included in the worship bags. (The purpose of this step is to create a brainstorming list. You will use this list to choose items. The bags won’t contain every item on this list all at one time.) We’ve included lists in this post to help with ideas.

Will You Use A Bag? Box? Bin? Clipboard?

Consider your budget, size, and distribution/collection of bags when choosing how you will present your worship bags. If your budget is super tight right now, ask your local pizza shop to donate small or medium-sized pizza boxes. Or try using gallon or 2-gallon Ziplock bags. If you have some money to invest, try this set of 14 drawstring bags or this set of 42 drawstring bags. Put crayons, pencils, and such into pencil cases or quart-size resealable bags.

Choose containers that will adequately hold your worship bag items. For example, a drawstring bag would better fit a mini clipboard than a narrow shoebox.

What happens to the worship bag after service? If children take it all home and bring nothing back, you won’t want to invest in expensive backpacks to give out again and again. Church disinfection and cleaning policies may need to be considered before you decide whether the same child gets the same bag or if it is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Will You Have Different Types Of Worship Bags?

Each church that uses worship bags should consider their children and tailor their worship bags accordingly. Depending on the number of kids you have plus the age levels and ability levels, you may want to choose to offer different types of bags instead of the same bag option for everyone. If your children are fairly all on the same level, one bag option may work for everyone.

Different Types Of Worship Bags

Same bag options for everyone
Reader’s bags and non-reader’s bags
Boys’ bags and girls’ bags
Bags for different age groups: preschool, early elementary, and upper elementary

How Will You Distribute The Worship Bags?

Families pick up worship bags at a table in the lobby
Ushers distribute once families are seated in church
Children choose one from a coat rack or bag rack (How easy will it be for your toddler or an early elementary student to carry their bag, box, or bin?)

Tip: Avoid using “crunchy” plastic grocery bags that make noise when you reach in to grab an item. When using shoeboxes, whether plastic or cardboard, choose ones with secure-fitting lids. If a child accidentally drops their box, you don’t want papers and toys flying everywhere.

There is no one-size-fits-all system for knowing what to include in your worship bags because every church is different. The culture, length of service, number of children and their ages, and even developmental stages affect the items that should be in your worship bags.

Top Hints For Worship Bag Success

Choose Items That Work For Your Church Culture & Standards

Not all pastors or church boards appreciate bingo cards –– even if they are about the sermon. Depending on church policies, water bottles may be a better choice than juice boxes in the sanctuary.

Think About Who Is Creating The Bags & Their Time Availability

Children’s bulletins are a great idea, but only if you or someone else has the time to put them together and do a good job.

Be Intentional In Including Age & Developmentally Appropriate Items

Giving a younger jr. higher a sermon notes sheet will only frustrate them, just as giving an older preschooler a letter writing practice page.

Consider The Length Of Your Church Service

If your service usually lasts 45 minutes, you won’t include as many items in the worship bag as the church whose service is usually 2 hours long.

Change It Up

Your children will soon become bored and fidgety if they have the same things in their worship bags week after week. Rotate toys, change the graphics on the children’s bulletin, alternate crayon color options, and put different fidget toys in different bags.

Best Items To Include In Your Worship Bags

Quiet Book Ideas

Fabric books
I Spy books
Bible story books

Activity Book, Papers, & Printables Ideas

Bible verse memory cards
Small notebook or sheets of blank paper for writing or drawing
Personal journal
Bible activity book
Coloring book with crayons (if using coloring sheets, include a clipboard)
Activity sheet with stickers
Sticker Scenes, Christmas Nativity
Hidden picture activity pages
Pages from the book series Draw Write Now **These are a favorite
Word searches
Code puzzle sheets
Printable to draw Noah’s Ark
Printable to draw the church
Color by number
Sermon & Service Sheets
- Sermon Bingo: When the student hears a word, they mark it off on the paper. To encourage a quiet bingo, offer a treat to any child who is quiet and shows his paper to the pastor after the service.
- List of songs for the service: Kids circle their favorite song and turn it in after the service.
- Listening sheets for youngers: keywords written for them to trace or practice writing, pictures to color that follow with the sermon, and verses they can look up in their Bibles
- Sermon notes for older or fill-in-the-blank sermon outlines
- Printable to draw the pastor
- Some pastors give out candy to children that show them their sermon notes.

Food & Drinks

Small snacks: goldfish, cheerios, fruit snacks, etc.
8 oz water bottle, juice box

Quiet Toys

Sock puppets or finger puppets
Wiki Stix to outline shapes or drawings. Hint: To make the pictures reusable, put the printable pictures inside sheet protectors. Offer religious or faith-based coloring sheets for the Wikki Stix activity.
Pipe cleaners
Small stuffed animal
MagMen
Lacing cards with yarn: If you have time, as a leader, trace Bible characters onto cardboard, cut out, hole punch, and offer these for lacing cards.
Fidget toy
Magnetic doll house
Puzzle cube
Mini-Magna Doodle
Mini dry-erase boards with dry-erase markers
Squishy ball, stress ball, DIY: double-balloon and fill with pinto beans
Wooden toddler puzzles
Small box of Lego bricks

Packaging & Essentials Options

Mini Clipboards
Pencil pouches for pencils and crayons
Baggies for crayons, small toys

Use your worship bags as an opportunity to encourage spiritual growth for your children and students. Learning during the sermon shouldn’t be for adults only. Even if your children and older students catch one concept or Bible verse each week, it can start a lifetime of influence and learning. By changing the contents and what is given each week, your children will look forward to what’s in store for them.