Archive for August, 2010

Molly Pickens: The Whole Story

By Lindsey | August 31, 2010 | My Thoughts | No comments

If you read my original review of Molly Pickens you’ll know I had a few issues with the curriculum including:

Lessons are too abstract for real-life application
Too much emphasis on “power of love”
Videos aren’t lesson driven enough/not enough biblical content

After talking with Matthew Young, my issues with Molly were cleared up a bit. Here’s what he shared:

Media-Enriched, not Media-driven

Molly Pickens curriculum is teacher-driven, media-enriched. It is not a DVD-based curriciulum. Unlike 252 Basics and other DVD curriculums, the video portion of Molly Pickens is designed to be a talking point for the teacher. It can be used much in the same way you would teach a biblical point from a secular movie. Bill and Charles will mention the Bible point or Scripture passage, but this mention is intended to be a starting point, not the teaching method.

The Teacher is the Main Character

Lessons are presented in an abstract way during the video so the teacher can customize the Bible story based on his audience/class. If he has younger kids, he can pick up on the more basic parts of the Scripture. If older kids comprise most of the class, more life-application can be given. The teacher knows their class the best, so the producers of Molly didn’t want to step into the teacher’s territory and teach the lesson for them. When the teacher drives the lesson home (as opposed to Bill and Charles), it is more personal, more meaningful, and more tailored to meet the needs of the class. All good things.

There’s a Reason for All that Love!

Love was a huge focus during Molly’s adventures in the Fantastic World. The reason is this: John 13:35 says that the world will know we are Christ’s disciples by our love. But what is this love exactly? How does it manifest itself in a Christian’s life? That’s exactly what kids learn along with Molly. Love is having faith in someone, it’s encouraging someone, its being humble (not a know it all!). Love involves sacrifice and forgiveness. One of the goals of this curriculum was to help kids understand what it means to show Christ-like love to others in a real way. When Bill and Charles are moping around and down in the dumps in Episode four, Molly shows them love by encouraging them. Towards the end of the curriculum, we learn about Christ’s sacrifice because Molly has to make a loving sacrifice of her own. In light of this insight, the love emphasis makes a lot more sense.

Thanks so much to Matthew Young for providing these tidbits about the curriculum. I’m glad to share them so everyone might be able to use Molly to its full potential!

More Molly:

How did Molly Pickens come about?

New Series: Odyssey of Tiny Pirate (Fantastic World series)

Original Goals of the Curriculum

Goals for Molly Pickens (interview with Matthew Young)

By Lindsey | August 31, 2010 | My Thoughts | No comments

I’m excited to announce I had a chance to talk with Matthew Young, one of the creators of the Fantastic World series last Thursday. After filling me in on some insight about Molly Pickens and talking about his recent release of Tiny Pirate, he shared some of the original goals of the Fantastic World series:

Not Your Every-day Curriculum

The adventures in the Fantastic World were never intended to be an on-going everday curriculum. Instead, Molly Pickens was designed to break up the monotony a bit for teachers and kids. It offers a little bit of an “off the wall” break for summer-time or when you’re in-between other curriculums. (Many curriculums do not publish summer materials, so this is a great resource to that end!)

Something Worth Doing Well

High quality production is very important to the Young brothers. They didn’t want to produce a hurried, cheesy Christian film that is boring at best and the cause of embarrassment at worse (there’s already too many of those type of films on the market!) Instead, they wanted something that was of high value, something the kids could really engage in because “when a child is engaged, they will absorb more of the lesson” (Matthew Young, interview 8/19/2010). I must say, they succeeded in this goal. The sets are beautiful, and even though I’m still not crazy about Bill and Charles, the acting is certainly fluid and polished.

It All Goes Together

The small group lessons, large group skits, and DVD-clips were always intended to be used together. Without one component, it really isn’t a complete curriculum. This is unlike many other curriculums on the market, so keep that in mind when considering the Fantastic World series.

Be sure to check out the rest of the interview!

Now Released: Tiny Pirate (Fantastic World Series)

By Lindsey | August 30, 2010 | Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The makers of Molly Pickens have recently released a brand new series featuring all the Fantastic World friends. The Fantastic World website describes it this way:

All your favorite Fantastic World friends are back in four brand new adventures. First, Bill has trouble accepting Charles’ new friend, Tiny Pirate. Next, Charles learns what it means to be responsible when he forgets to do his chores. Finally, everyone has to band together and help Tiny Pirate save his ship from the mischievous Heeby Jeeby. Plus, see Bill do martial arts in his dojo and watch Charles build crazy things in his Tree-Top Toy Shop.

This series provides your church with an easy and effective way to teach the value of Acceptance, Responsibility, Friendship and Respect from a biblical perspective. Your students should come away with a better understanding of what it means to accept others; what is means to be responsible; what it means to be a good friend; and what it means to be respectful.

In talking with Matthew Young, he gave a few more details about this hot new series. Tiny Pirate has many of the same characters as Molly Pickens, but there are new characters as well. This series is a bit more episodic, whereas Molly built upon each week to form one large story. As such, Tiny Pirate would be a great “fill-in” curriculum if you need something to cover a teacher who bailed or if you’re waiting for other materials to come in. Each episode of Tiny Pirate can stand alone. Of course, once the kids see one episode, they will likely be begging you to watch the whole series. The kids at our church are already asking if there is a sequel to Molly Pickens.

Pick up a copy and check it out for yourself! Currently it’s on sale for $75.00.

Molly Pickens: How it All Got Started

By Lindsey | August 30, 2010 | Elementary Age, Preschoolers, Reviews | No comments

How did the Fantastic World Come About?

Matthew Young, one of the producers and actor (Charles) in Molly Pickens describes the making of The Fantastic World curriculum “a God-thing”. He and his twin brother, Jared (Bill in Molly Pickens), didn’t start out with curriculum writing in mind. They both graduated from the University of Georgia and established an interior painting company in 2008. The brothers also did a little acting in an improv theatre on the side. A local youth pastor friend asked the Young brothers to do a show (featuring the characters Bill and Charles) for the youth group at a lock-in. That’s when the gears started turning. Why stop at live shows? Why not produce some films? The two buckled down and put together a smashing pilot for PBS which was quickly rejected. Bummer. Time for plan B.

The quirky pair continued to do live shows around town, geared towards youth group age, when they were asked by a friend, Julie Butler, to write some curriculum for the Children’s Ministry at her church. They were also contacted by Phil Vischer (wow!) to do some stuff for Jelly Telly, as well as Dan Huffman who commissioned the makers of Molly to produce Zap Pack, a 6-week video series following the life of a preteen boy named Zack who is mysteriously zapped inside his bookbag for some important life lessons.

The children’s ministry curriculum they produced for Julie Butler became Molly Pickens and the Rainy Day Castle 10 Week Curriculum. The fun didn’t end there, though. This team has been hard at work producing other crazy curriculums to line the catalog including: Adventures in Values and the Odyssey of Tiny Pirate (both 5 week curriculums).

Want to know more?

Learn about the new series, Tiny Pirate, and the full story on the making of Molly Pickens.

Looking towards the future:

Matt and Jared Young started out with live shows, and that’s still very much their passion. They hope to visit many of the churches who use the Molly Pickens Curriculum. They will do a side-splitting show at your church for $1,000 plus travel expenses. Check out what the shows look like:

The Fantastic World Live Promo Video from The Fantastic World on Vimeo.

They’ve also put together a series called Adventures in Values. The plan for this series is to have 5 volumes with 5 episodes each. Each episode covers a key characteristic such as friendship, honesty, etc. Volume one is currently available for purchase (special price of $50 until September 1st).

A Little More about Matt:

On his bookshelf: Matt just finished up Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. He’s usually engrossed in some kind of science fiction though. Some favorites include The Alchemist, anything by Tolkien, and the Song of Fire and Ice Trilogy.

Favorite Kids’ Movie: He’s a huge Jim Henson fan and could watch a Pixarfilm any day of the week.

That’s all for now! Jump on over to The Fantastic World’s website to get more details on the curriculum, the brothers, watch videos, check out merchandise and more! Personally, I’m thinking about adding one of those cranky cactus shirts to my collection!

Back to School Party Ideas

By Lindsey | August 29, 2010 | Elementary Age, Games, Holidays and Events | 5 Comments

Looking for a way to make that “Back to School” time special in your Children’s Ministry? Check out some the following ideas. Mix and match to make a one of a kind evening for your kids.

Banana Theme: Kids bring their own banana and everyone makes their own banana splits. Here are some banana games to go with the theme!

Give each kid a school supply sack filled with school supplies. Check out this creative way to wrap the gifts in plaster of paris for some extra fun!

Extra Fun by the Numbers: Have some age-specific games for the kids. For instance, for those going into third grade – have kids run a three legged relay race. For fourth graders, have them try to balance four eggs on spoons in their mouths… and maybe run the length of the room (haha!)

Letter Hunt — for the younger grades, put flashcards on sticks (paint stirrers would work great) in the yard and assign each kid 4-5 letters to find. First one done wins!

Silly Bandz – these would make a great favor!

Play some fun playground game s such as 15 Seconds of Fame, Spud, READ tag and more.

Send home invitations the week before, decorated as schoolbooks or apples.

Play some school related relays such as Build a Lunch Relay Race or Fill a Back Pack Relay. Check out Amazing Moms website for more game ideas as well as favors and decorations.

Check out this lesson idea for telling your friends at school about Christ.

What are your ideas?

Here’s what we’ll be doing at our church:

Decorate the gym with streamers and balloons
Play some Minute to Win It Games
Break up into small groups for prayer. Kids will write any concerns or prayer requests they have on an index card. The cards get shuffled among the group, and we spend some time praying for one another. Afterwards, the small group leader keeps the cards so he can continue to pray and follow up with the kids.
I might snag a few of the ideas from above too!

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Minute to Win It: Game Ideas for Kids

By Lindsey | August 28, 2010 | Games, Minute to Win It | 2 Comments

Looking for some ideas to play in your church based on the hit TV show, Minute to Win It? Check out the ideas below. Still need more? Check out the whole Minute to Win It series.

Shoe Box Relay

For this game, you need four shoe boxes (and a few spares). The group is divided into equal numbers. At the signal, the first person in line puts the two boxes on their feet and shuffles to the finish line (or cone) and returns to the starting line. She passes off the boxes to the next player and the race continues. Winning team is whoever has the most contestants make it to the finish line and back in a minute.

Over and Under

This game is played as a two-person team. The first player is given a ball or bean bag. At the signal, he passes the ball over his head and behind him to the second player. He then immediately runs behind player #2 who passes the ball/bag between his knees back to player #1. The ball continues in this over/under pattern as players switch players and work their way across a playing area. They have to make it from the starting line to the finish line passing over and under in one minute.

Blackboard Relay

This could be played with everyone divided into two teams or as a 2-person team alternating turns. Place a white board/blackboard in the front of the room. Players start behind a line. When the signal is given, the first player runs forward and write one word of the memory verse on the board (preferably in order!). He returns to the line and hands the marker/chalk to player #2 who then runs and writes the next word. Played as a 2-person team, the verse must be complete (with Bible reference of course) in one minute. Played as a relay for everyone, first team to write entire verse wins.

Spider Relay

Players stand back to back, locking arms together. At the signal, the team runs for a designated area. Running toward the goal, player #1 is running forward and player #2 is running backward. Returning back to the starting line, the opposite is true. Players can’t run “sideways”. At the designated area, players must pick up a fake bug (they are a spider after all!), and carry it back with them to the starting line where they will deposit it in a bucket. The team must place 3 bugs in the bucket by the end of one minute.

Make it easier: Put bugs on a table so contestants won’t have to stoop down to retrieve them

Make it harder: If bug is dropped or it doesn’t land in bucket, that bug is out of play. Players must return to designated areas to get another one.

Fill up the Cup

One contestant sits with a dixie cup on their forehead, face towards the ceiling. A line is drawn inside the dixie cup (whatever you think is appropriate for your group). Second contestant stands with a bowl of water and spoon. Second contestant must dish out water from the bowl spoon by spoon until the water reaches the line inside the dixie cup. They must fill up the cup in a minute.

Make it harder (and messier!): 2nd player must stand two feet from the 1st player and toss water into the cup.

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