100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry (11 page)

We’re here to share the true stories of God’s love with the next generation.
We’re the communicators.
And it’s vital that we make the most of this opportunity.
After all, we only have the preschoolers for a short time each week.
Here’s how to increase the impact of your Bible time.

Emphatically remind preschoolers that the Bible is God’s book.
Take every opportunity to convey to preschoolers what they hear from the Bible is God’s truth, given to us by God.
These aren’t made-up stories.
Always treat the Bible with special respect to show preschoolers this isn’t an ordinary book.

Tell, don’t read, the Bible.
You don’t necessarily have to have the Scripture memorized; just know where you’re going and hit all the main points.

Use expressiveness.
Make it exciting.
God’s Word is too awesome to be shared in a boring way.

Offer concrete experiences.
Let kids pretend they’re inside the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; let them taste, see, and feel the bread that Jesus shared with the 5,000.
For example, a couple who teach 4- and 5-year-olds in our preschool ministry once brought in 12 large baskets filled with loaves of bread.
There must’ve been close to 100 loaves of bread in the room that day.
It was a very dramatic illustration for the preschoolers, not only to see that God will supply all our needs, but also that he’ll often give us more than we need.
That’s a lesson they’ll never forget.

Our children need to hear the wonderful truth of God’s love, mercy, and amazing grace.
Let’s be committed to telling them in a way that captivates their hearts and communicates truth so they can understand.
And just maybe your preschoolers will be saying, “Tell it again!”
this Sunday.

—Gina

Puppets are the cockroaches of our preschool ministries...they’ll exist long after all of us are gone.

While this may sound as if I have something against puppets, it’s not entirely true.
When puppets are used professionally and creatively, they can grab kids’ attention and open them to learning God’s truth.
Puppets can be engaging, and kids typically love them.
Puppets are still one of the top tools used by churches to teach preschoolers the Bible.

The thing that bothers me about puppets, though, is that most preschool puppet shows aren’t performed professionally and with excellence.
Many of the puppet shows I’ve seen performed in preschool ministry resemble a bad foreign film where the mouths of the characters don’t sync with their words and actions.

Up until a year ago, we’d stopped using puppets in our preschool ministry because our use of puppets fell into the “really dreadful” category of puppet shows.
Today we don’t have a formalized puppet ministry per se, but we’ve started using them on occasion.
Two primary ideas have revitalized the use of puppets in our preschool programming.

1.
We create and edit most of our puppet shows using video.
With the use of green screens, we can make our puppets appear anywhere we want them to be.
And if we don’t like the sketch, we can simply shoot it again until we get it right.

2.
We prerecord all the voices.
This allows our puppeteers to focus on one thing: the movement and interaction of the puppets.
Everything is in sync because our puppeteers aren’t trying to memorize scripts and manipulate puppets at the same time.
We’ve also found that the volunteers with the best puppet voices aren’t necessarily the best puppeteers.
By prerecording the puppets’ voices, we can match each volunteer’s role with his or her greatest skill.

These changes have brought a level of professionalism that’s cured our church’s former puppet-phobia.
We’ve discovered that, if done right, puppets are a tremendous help in teaching preschoolers truth.

—Eric

Children with special needs represent a unique challenge to the church because Christian education is far behind the American public school system.

Since Congress passed a mandatory education law in 1975, schools have been required to provide free and appropriate education for every child.
A part of this law is the LRE (Least Restrictive Environment), which ensures children are to be educated in the classroom with their peers.
Also, since the passing of the ADA (American Disabilities Act) in 1990, people with disabilities are ensured the right to move easily through their communities with no hindrance to transportation, communication, or employment.

As a result of these changes, parents now come to church and rightly expect the same help their children receive from public schools.
But are we prepared?

Meeting the needs of a child with a learning or physical disability can be very challenging, but never is this more apparent than in a preschool ministry.
While some children have evident physical disabilities or are born with a condition such as Down syndrome, many other conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders or autism spectrum disorders can’t be diagnosed until children are 4 or 5 years old.
This often leaves a preschool department guessing as to how to provide the best Christian education possible for every child.
As strong as the temptation may sometimes be to make a diagnosis, it’s not our job.
Rather we are to work with the parents and child and make sure all children are equally welcomed in the church.

Here are some ideas for making sure your preschool ministry provides a welcoming environment for children with special needs.

• Speak with the parents. If you’re having trouble with a child and believe you could be dealing with a learning disability, carefully address this with the parents—without bringing up your suspicion of a disability. Instead, approach this conversation from the standpoint of finding the right environment for the child. Maybe the child’s current preschool ministry room is too restrictive and he or she needs a more developmentally appropriate environment. Ask parents to help you place their child where he or she would receive the best attention and ministry. Removing a child from a room without parental permission can cause anger, and the family may leave the church.
  
• Check for dietary restrictions. If you don’t already have a child information form in place, do so as soon as possible, and get one filled out for every preschooler. This form should include an area for diet restrictions. Children who are undergoing testing for possible learning disabilities are often on wheat- and milk-free diets. Make sure your snacks or food experiences don’t violate these diet restrictions.
  
• Have buddies available. For children who need special attention, whether diagnosed or not, assign learning companions who’ll stay with them during your preschool ministry. Let parents know— they’re aware of their children’s challenges and welcome help.
  
• Make sure your curriculum is developmentally appropriate. Developmental appropriateness is important for all preschool ministries. If your curriculum meets the needs of all learning styles and preferences, you won’t have to worry as much when it comes to adapting your curriculum for children with special needs.
  
• Have special seating ready for preschoolers who need it. You’ll need to have special chairs for any child who’s developmentally delayed due to cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or any other physical disability. There are many products on the market today that can be used to transform traditional chairs into chairs that meet children’s special needs.
  

—Barbara

Each week our preschoolers enter a world where the Bible comes to life.
The various stage areas in our current preschool building include an aquarium, a cityscape that looks like a town in Jerusalem, and an outdoor scene—but a little more than a year ago, we didn’t have anything that resembled a preschool worship area for large group experiences.

We were in an old building that housed our nursery and preschool ministries.
We had no space.
All our rooms were maxed out.
We didn’t have a stage; we didn’t have worship teams; we didn’t have creative Bible teachers.
When it came to multimedia, we were more no-tech than low-tech.
So how did we get from where we were a year ago to where we are today?

First, we started with the end in mind.
We knew that our end goal was to teach preschoolers in a large group worship environment.
We also knew that we couldn’t wait for a new building to implement our strategy.
So we started a preschool large group experience long before we had a preschool large group area.
We started with two volunteers, a CD player, and a rolling cart.
Our “large group” team would rotate to each of our preschool ministry rooms to teach the Bible and lead the kids in worship.
We didn’t let our humble circumstances keep us from our ultimate aspiration.

Next, we cast a compelling vision of our preschool ministry’s future.
We needed to build our volunteer team of creative Bible teachers, actors, and worship leaders.
We knew this required recruiting people with the specific skill sets to teach preschoolers in a large group setting.
To do that, we had to paint a picture of what it would be like to lead preschoolers in worship and use drama and creativity to influence their spiritual growth.

Keep in mind that we couldn’t cast a vision using a large group area because we didn’t have one.
Our vision had to be compelling enough to inspire volunteers to begin with our room-to-room model and help us lay the foundation for things to come.
By casting a powerful vision, we were able
to build a solid team.
When we finally moved into our large group space, we didn’t miss a beat.

Don’t let the fact that you may not have a large group area for preschoolers keep you from designing an unforgettable experience for your ministry.
No matter where you are right now, know your strategy and start with the end in mind.
Then recruit volunteers to that end by casting a compelling vision of what can be.

—Eric

Stories capture preschoolers’ attention and hearts, and they’re not alone.
People of all ages love stories.
Each year people all over the world spend billions of dollars to hear, see, and experience stories.
Stories are part of our very DNA.
We’re wired to connect with stories because we’re part of God’s story unfolding here on earth.