100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry (17 page)

It’s clear that airplanes aren’t designed to be office substitutes.
They’re not conducive for working.
The environment isn’t nearly as inviting as the local coffee shop in my hometown.
When the engineers at Boeing designed this plane, they didn’t sit around and put my comfort and ability to get work done at the top of their list of necessities.
Let’s be honest, I’m not sure they put comfort on their list at all.

I wonder how many preschoolers feel the same way when they enter our preschool ministries.
I’m sure they’re thinking,
The chairs are too big, the table’s too tall, and it just doesn’t fit me.
Unlike Boeing, we do need to think first and foremost about our children when setting up our preschool rooms.

There are three criteria we use to determine if a preschool room at our church is child-sized.

Accessibility
—First of all, specific things in our rooms need to be accessible.
Can the kids reach the sink?
Are the table and chairs preschooler-friendly?
Is the tallest shelf on the bookcase reachable by a 3-year-old?

Practicality
—Second, everything needs to be practical.
For example, are the toys age-appropriate?
It’s probably not a good idea to give your
preschoolers a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Do you have rugs for kids to sit on during story time?
Can a 4-year-old easily complete your crafts in the allotted time?

Visibility
—Finally, everything needs to be visible.
Is everything at eye level for a preschooler?
Are your toy bins clearly labeled with the name of the item in the bin and a corresponding picture so kids can identify what they’re looking for?
During Bible time, can you make eye contact with all the kids?
Be sure they can see you and engage with you.

By ensuring that everything in your preschool environment is accessible, practical, and visible, you’re designing a place with kids in mind.
A child-sized preschool room is inviting and comfortable and just the right fit for the kids in your ministry.

—Eric

We use cleaners containing chemical disinfectants to stop the spread of communicable diseases in our preschool ministries—but when we douse our tables and toys with these products, we’re replacing germs with toxins.
Preschoolers’ bodies are developing and growing rapidly, and even small amounts of a chemical may impact a child’s ability to reach his or her full potential.

How do we make our preschool area green and still provide a clean, germ-free environment?
Use environmentally friendly disinfectants and cleaners.
Many are now available for purchase, but why not make your own?

Grapefruit Seed Extract
—Add 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract to one gallon of water.
Use in spray bottles.

Eucalyptus Oil
—Add a drop or two to a damp cloth, and wipe down surfaces.
Or if you use a sponge, make sure it’s made of natural materials because essential oils react with plastic.

Vinegar
—Plain vinegar (5 percent acidity) cleans 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of viruses.

Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar—
Warning: Don’t mix these two ingredients together in a single container!
Hydrogen peroxide and vinegar each work effectively to kill bacteria, but they work even better when you spray one first and then the other.
You’ll need two separate spray bottles.
Fill one spray bottle with 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, the same strength available at the drug store for gargling or disinfecting wounds.
Spray on surfaces, allow it to act for 30 seconds, and then wipe down.
Fill another bottle with plain white vinegar, spray, and wipe the surface with a clean cloth.

Borax
—Mix ½ cup borax into 1 gallon of hot water to disinfect and deodorize.

Vinegar and baking soda
—Dissolve ½ cup vinegar and ¼ cup baking soda in ½ gallon of water for an excellent cleaning agent.
Store and keep on hand.

Isopropyl alcohol
—Use alone as a disinfectant.

Baking soda
—Cleans, deodorizes, and scours.

DON’T USE:

Aerosol sprays
—These may contain propane and formaldehyde (a carcinogen).
Aerosols have been linked to the dramatic increase of asthma in children.

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite)
—Found in a wide range of household cleaners, bleach is hazardous to people with heart conditions or asthma and can be fatal if swallowed.
Bleach has been linked to learning and behavioral problems in children.

Antibacterial soaps and hand sanitizers
—The overuse of these items has been linked to the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria.
It’s best to use warm running water and soap.

Nontoxic cleaning products represent a new level of hospitality we can offer to the children who’ve been entrusted to us.

—Barbara

When I first came on staff, our preschool ministry looked like a graveyard for unwanted toys.
With the best intentions, church members would donate their used, unwanted, and sometimes broken toys.
I remember arriving early one Sunday morning to find seven large trash bags full of old toys sitting in our hallway.
As a result, we finally faced up to this challenge.

Clutter and Chaos
—Mounds and mounds of toys of all shapes, colors, and sizes cluttered our rooms.
It was nearly impossible to organize our preschool ministry because there weren’t enough bins at the Container Store to house all the toys.
Our children played with a hodgepodge of misfit toys— everything from remote control cars without the remotes to kitchen sets without cooking utensils.
Some rooms had really large LEGO tables, and other rooms had no LEGO toys at all.

Not only were the rooms disheveled, but our kids were also distracted.
They’d rather play with toys than engage in the Bible story.
This overstimulation caused hyperactivity in some kids, while others were overwhelmed by the multitude of choices.
It was like trying to teach a lesson in the middle of FAO Schwarz.
Our leaders were constantly luring preschoolers away from the toys in an effort to teach them the Bible.
Something had to change.

Rescue and Renovation
—One of the first people I hired on our staff was a preschool director who helped transition us to a less-is-more philosophy for our preschool rooms.
She knew that if our goal was to help volunteers interact spiritually with preschoolers, kids needed to be less distracted with toys.
Here’s what she did.

• First of all, she began the audacious task of uncluttering our toy bins by responding with a flat-out no to all donations.
  
• Next, she grouped all our toys into those we could use and those we could trash. Then she tossed out all the toys that were broken or had missing parts, and she replenished our rooms with the toys we could keep.
  

We’ve experienced amazing results since implementing a minimalistic approach to toys.
We’re now extremely intentional about the toys we place in our rooms.

• Our rooms and toys are set up around learning centers. If a toy doesn’t fit into one of our learning centers, it doesn’t fit into our preschool ministry.
  
• We rotate certain toys based on what kids are learning each Sunday morning. This keeps our rooms fresh and keeps kids from getting bored with the same old toys every week.
  
• Preschoolers transition more easily to worship, craft, and Bible time because they’re not over-stimulated by an unlimited supply of toys.
  

And ultimately, our volunteers experience much more spiritual interaction with preschoolers, which was our goal all along.

—Eric

When we teach about Creation in our preschool ministry, we tell our preschoolers that when God created, he made something from nothing.
He didn’t use glue, paper, scissors, or crayons.
He spoke and everything we know, and even what we don’t know, came into existence.
God has given each of us a share in his creative power, and we can tap into this when we’re planning our preschool ministry environments.

You may say, “Wait just a minute.
You haven’t seen my budget.
I’d love my preschool ministry area to look like Disneyland; I just don’t have the resources.”
But we serve a God with unlimited resources, and you can do a lot on a limited budget.

Follow these suggestions to get from where you are to where you want to go.

Form a design team.
Find the most creative people you know—put an ad in the church bulletin calling all artists and creative people.
You’ll be amazed by the response you get.

Hold a brainstorming session.
Discuss ministry names, theme ideas, perhaps even a Bible verse that describes the heart of your preschool ministry.
Get as detailed as possible.
Put together sketches, color renderings, and layouts.
You can’t have too much detail.

One question that always comes up is whether to focus on the hallways or the rooms.
My personal advice is to do the hallways first.
Less is more when it comes to the interior of the rooms, but do what you and your team think is best for your ministry.

Put together a workable plan and a budget.
You may need to spread this project out over several months or even a year.
Do what you can.
Get as many volunteers as you can find to do the painting and any necessary repairs—this can save thousands of dollars.
Also it never hurts to ask a local paint store for discounts.
There may even be someone in the church who works at a paint store.
You won’t know until you ask.

Set a deadline and get to work.
It’s always amazing to see God’s people come together and work toward a common goal.
Focus your prayer during this time on how faithful God is and how he is the ultimate giver of all good things.

Have a party.
Celebrate your newly decorated facility with a grand opening.
This is great way to create synergy and bring new life to your ministry.
Advertise this event to the community as well.
Go big!

Make your preschool ministry a fun place for worship and learning...a place preschoolers will look forward to coming to week after week.

—Gina