Effective Children's Ministry

Posts Tagged ‘children’

Do you have a child in your family or group that has special needs? I have  been very impressed at the regularity and quality of posts on
Our Out of Sync Life.

The author, Momma C. sums up her site like this:

God has blessed us with three beautiful children – one with Sensory Processing Disorder, a very Strong Willed middle child, and a Spirited Little Man. Follow us as we learn to train up our children to love the Lord with all of their heart, soul, and mind.

Even if right now there are no children in your care with special needs, you will still find this blog very uplifting and illuminating. There are heaps of ideas for crafts, and other learning opportunities.

Momma C is a trained educator  and she also runs a companion site , ABC Jesus Loves Me.   This is a pre-school Bible curriculum, free for use in the home. It is especially helpful for children with developmental delays.

I’d encourage you to check out these wonderful sites.

Once again our friends over at Ministry-to-children.com have come up with a practical and sensitive article.

To quote from the introduction:

Some of the children in our classrooms may not have a mother present in the home due to death, abandonment, military service, incarceration, custody issues, or various other circumstances.Parents can also be dealing with Mother’s Day grief, especially for those who have lost a child or their own mother recently. These feelings often will affect all the children in the family. So how can we approach the day with compassion? 

You can find  Mother’s Day & Kids Who Have Lost Their Mom here.

There is also a companion post on Father’s Day & Kids Who Have Lost Their Dad

Would you like to see a video of two of the cutest kids on the planet showing what they have learned about the Crucifixion? They use finger gestures to help recall the “5 mighty miracles of the cross”.

Hop over to becomingsaturated.com.

I defy you not to grin from ear to ear when you watch the girls and then try to remember the gestures so that you can teach your kids!

Is there something that a small church can offer that is much harder to achieve in the megachurch?
Pastor Jared at the Smalltownkidmin Blog thinks so. In one thoughtful and honest post he focuses on the value of building relationships.

If you check it out this post, you’ll also see an ace craft idea for pre-schoolers!

Smalltownkidmin Blog is relatively new, but in a dozen or so posts, the author has established a niche of writing from the perspective of a small church. Pastor Jared’s church has an average attendance of around 50, of which about a third are cared for in the nursery and children’s ministry. In the wider scope of children’s ministry sites and blogs it is refreshing to see the challenges and blessings of the small scale set up written about.

Thanks to Iconshock.com for the free images used in this game. 

Fast food for kids? Yes, and not one calory or ounce of saturated fat!

In the game, correct answers to  your Bible review questions earn the team a chance to choose a lettered rectangle on a PowerPoint grid.

Once clicked, it reveals one of five items the team needs to collect in order to win the game: a burger, a drink, ketchup, fries and an ice cream sundae.

If the team has already collected the item, then it is covered again, ready for the next team – if they need it, are alert and have remembered where it is! There are three of each item so collecting is not difficult – except when a team is waiting for that one final item to clinch the game!  Many an underdog has come from behind to with this exciting review!

Full instructions are included in the Powerpoint presentation, but for your convenience they are also available in a Word document.

It is essential to download BOTH PowerPoint files and save them to the same folder on your computer. This is because the game “hops” from one presentation to the other and back again, using hyperlinked buttons. It sounds complex but it isn’t really.  Don’t let that put you off trying out this exciting game that we have found to be among the kids’ great favourites .

The first presentation contains the “game board”. This is the one containing the items to be collected.
The second “board” is for scoring. Each of the two teams have pictures of the items and can check them off on the score boards as they collect them, before you click on the button to return to the game board.

If you are not used to downloading files over the internet the following steps may be helpful:

1) Make a new folder somewhere on your computer where you will be able to easily find it again. Name it “Burger Bar”.

2) RIGHT-click on one of the links below and when prompted, SAVE it to the folder you have just made.

3) Do the same with the other PowerPoint (.ppt)  file. Remember: You MUST have these files in the same folder for the game to work properly.

4) To view the game, open up first the file (burger_bar1.ppt). Full instructions are on slides 3 and 4. OR, you could open the Word document and read the instructions there.

As always, if you have any problems, feel free to contact us -
contact[at]effectivechildrensministry[dot]org

Download Main Game board PowerPoint

Download Score chart PowerPoint

Download Instructions (Word document)