Archive for March, 2011

Rainy Day Fun: Chalk and Rain

By | March 31, 2011 | Preschoolers, Resources | 1 Comment
Flickr by ap

I was just browsing through this month’s issue of Parent Life Magazine when I saw the following craft idea.  I was reminded of a comment I just read from a fellow blogger about being trapped inside with a busy toddler because of several rainy days.  I thought I’d post this for her and any other rainy-day readers out there!

Rainy Day Fun: Chalk and Rain

Materials:

  • Rain
  • Paper Plate (heavy, uncoated, not shiny)
  • Colored Chalk or chalk pastels
  • Cosmetic sponge or paintbrush

Directions:

  1. Carry the paper plate outdoors in the rain.  Allow the plate to soak well, and then bring it back in to your workspace.
  2. Draw freely with any kind of chalk
  3. The rain-soaked plate with cause the chalk to soften a little and will significantly brighten the chalk-marks
  4. When the drawing is dry, brush chalk liens with cosmetic sponge or paintbrush to smooth and blend the colors

Taken originally from the book Art with Anything: 52 Weeks of Fun Using Everyday Stuff.

Pick up some chalk at Amazon!

Crayola 52 Count Chalk Carton

Art Drawing Chalk 12-Pack

 

Purim Celebration Ideas

By | March 30, 2011 | Holidays and Events | 3 Comments
Crown, princess, king, queen

Recently, we celebrated Purim in our Children’s Church program.  The kids had a blast and listened very attentively to the story of Esther and her nerve-wracking journey to save her people.  Here’s what our schedule looked like:

  • Making cookies: 10 minutes (Hamantashen are traditional, but we made Sugar and Oatmeal out of those bagged mixes)
  • Story of Esther: 10-15 minutes (make sure to hand out noise makers for the kids to shake when you say Haman!)
  • Making Crowns: 10 minutes (get a bunch of great crown templates here)

You could also play some games like “Pin the Crown on the Queen” or “The King Says” (instead of Simon Says).    There are few websites with coloring and activity pages (and review questions) geared specifically towards the Esther Story. Here’s a few of the best I’ve found:

Don’t forget to encourage the kids to dress up as royalty.  We had a few girls wear some elaborate costumes.  I called them up the front and introduced them to the rest of the crowd as “Madeline, the Egyptian Queen” or “Sydney the Pakistan Princess”.  They loved that!

What are some of your Purim ideas?

Build a Better Blog: Pay Attention to a Reader

By | March 29, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 4 Comments
Flickr by timailius

For this week’s task (#22), you are to choose one (or more) of your current readers and do anything out of the blue that acknowledges them, shows them that you value them, and highlights them to your other readers.  Darren Rowse, aka Problogger, shares a few ways to do this:

  • Promote a Comment to a Post—sometimes readers make insightful and wise observations and tips in the comments of your blog. While they’ll be read by a handful of people in the comment thread, why not pull it out and use it as the basis for one of your posts—highlighting the wisdom conveyed and the person who made the comment.
  • Write a Post about Their Blog—visit the blogs of those leaving comments on your blog and pick one that resonates with you to post about.
  • Send Your Readers to Comment on Another’s Blog—write a post that links to another’s great blog post and suggest to your readers to head over and comment on it on that person’s blog. Shutting down the comments in your own post and saying that you’ve left a comment already on their blog can help make this more effective.
  • Give Readers an Opportunity to Promote Themselves – invite them to link up or share something about their own blog in your comments.

I think I’ll dive head-long into this one and take a few angles.

Top Notch Blogs

First, here are some of my favorite bloggers.  Check ‘em out and let them know I sent you!   You could also check out the March Madness on Ministry to Children for some great kidmin blogs.

Top Notch Posts from Readers

Kidmin Blog Madness: Making it Work for You (by Wayne Stocks)

Nine Do’s and Don’ts of Post Tantrum Follow Up (by Adriel at the Mommyhood Memos)

Presenting the Gospel, Part #1 (by Wanda at Kidtrek)

Five Ways to Connect to Other Children’s Pastors (by Jeff at Kids Ministry Blog)

Talking to Your Kids about the Sermon (by Joey at a Different Way)

Now, Your Turn!

If you’ve got a great blog or know of a great blog, leave a link and a short description in the comments.  Maybe you’ll be the featured reader soon!

Monday Minute to Win It: Lakers in the Circle

By | March 28, 2011 | Games, Minute to Win It | No comments
Flickr by jvnunag

In Episode 18 of Season Two, the L.A. Lakers make an appearance on the Minute to Win it Show.  These basketball stars bring lots of energy with them to the show.  Here’s some great games you can play on family fun night or use in your Children’s Ministry:

Nice Build:

Contestants work as a team to build a pyramid out of 15 reams of copy paper.  Not too bad.  You could make it even easier using cereal boxes (just try to make them all the same size!)

Whipper Snapper:

Contestant uses a towel attached the floor to whip a ping pong ball across the room and into a trash basket.  Might be a little tough to secure the towel to the ground, depending on where you’re playing.  Duct tape perhaps?

Speed Eraser:

This game is explained in the Office Edition games.  In this episode, each contestant has six glasses to fill.

That’s it for this episode.  There were some tough games for these basketball stars.  Too tough for kids, I’m afraid.  Stay tuned for more game ideas next week!

Looking for a Great Easter Skit?

By | March 24, 2011 | Easter, Holidays and Events | 4 Comments
Flickr by katee_diane

For our Easter Event, we’re hosting an Easter Egg Hunt.  While one group hunts, the opposite age group (or stragglers) can watch a puppet show and sing some songs.  I’ve been scouring the internet looking for some community friendly skits that might be adaptable for all ages.  Here’s a few I’ve discovered:

Cymbals of Easter: Two puppets and an adult discuss the different symbols of Easter. Special meaning is found with each symbol: baby animals, an egg, candy, and a cross.

So, What’s Easter All About?: Is Easter really all about the Easter bunny, chocolate and school holidays?  Or is there something more?

What is Easter All About? (popular title!): A host interviews three panelists, Miss Know-it-All, Mr. Don’t Know A Lot and Shaun (the sheep) to find out what this holiday really means.

Build Your Faith on the Rock: The tomb rock visits the kids (the one that was rolled away) to tell all about his/her experience that day.  We did this one once in our Kids for Christ program.  A rolling hit!

Bada-bing-bada-boom! JESUS IS ALIVE!:  A couple of monster puppets tell the story of Jesus (about 20 minutes long). Comes with an object lesson, key Bible verse, and review questions!

Coloring Fun

Bonus: Here’s few sites that have coloring pages for Palm Sunday and Easter:

A Glorious Easter

For Toddlers and Preschoolers

Allergy Free Snack Ideas

By | March 23, 2011 | Getting Started, Resources, Safety and Security | No comments
Flickr by Seegul

Many kids suffer from food allergies today.  When serving food at the church, we need to make sure we take the time to not only check with kids and parents about potential allergies, but also check the foods we’re serving to make sure playing it safe when it comes to allergies.

Here’s a list of the top 8 food allergies:

  1. Dairy
  2. Egg
  3. Soy
  4. Wheat
  5. Peanut
  6. Tree Nuts
  7. Fish
  8. Shellfish

Here’s some idea for allergy-free snacks:

  • Kix
  • Fresh Fruit
  • Applesauce Cups
  • Fruit Cups
  • Raisins

For more ideas, check out these sites

As always, check the labels and make sure you’re letting parents know what snack is being served during a program.

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