100 Best Ideas to Turbocharged your Preschool Ministry (6 page)

2.
We show preschoolers how to apply God’s Word.
Children become what we show them, not what we tell them.
By using real-life scenarios, we can show preschoolers how to live out the Bible’s teachings.
By incorporating puppets, videos, and drama sketches into our preschool lessons, we can show kids examples of how they can make Christlike choices and overcome negative social influences.

3.
We acknowledge preschoolers who lead by example.
Children will repeat what gets rewarded.
When you see an example of positive peer pressure in action, go out of your way to identify and applaud the child for influencing his or her peers in a positive way.
Be alert and ready to praise when you
see a child engage in worship, participate in ministry experiences, and listen intently during Bible time.

The influence preschoolers have on their friends can be helpful or harmful.
Through our ministry’s positive influence, children can be strengthened to resist negative peer pressure when they’re outside our doors.

—Eric

Anger is part of life—everyone gets angry.
But helping angry preschoolers presents a unique challenge because anger is their response to feelings they don’t know how to cope with or verbalize.
These could be frustration, fear, jealousy, embarrassment, or even boredom.

The best thing we can do in a preschool ministry setting is to try to prevent situations that can cause anger.
But when we find ourselves with a child who’s angry, we must be ready to recognize the underlying problem and find a solution to prevent the anger from continuing, escalating, or spreading to other children.
Here are typical causes for a preschooler’s anger.

Boredom
—Too often we want to diagnose a child with a problem when he or she acts out aggressively or with anger.
Could it be that the child just isn’t receiving the right amount of stimulation?
If you don’t suspect a serious underlying problem, consider that the child may simply be bored.
Anger management for young children often means helping them to focus their energy in other, more creative ways.
A preschool ministry that has too few activities and restricts movement can lead to boredom that manifests itself through anger in some children.

If a child is refusing to participate in activities or being destructive with items around them or intentionally being a distraction to other children, he or she probably needs more physical and creative outlets.
Reconsider your ministry environment, and see how time could be restructured to utilize more movement and creative storytelling.
Provide a variety of outlets so children can refocus their energy.

Frustration
—Frustration is a tense, unhappy feeling that often results from being unable to do something we want to do.
An adult will walk away from this kind of situation, ask for help, and then try again.
But a preschool child is unable to recognize the frustration and what’s causing it, so the feeling will quickly turn into anger, usually directed at the task.

To prevent frustration anger, keep your preschool ministry experiences
at the correct developmental stage for all the children.
Understand that crafts requiring fine motor skills, writing, and even coloring can create a separation of abilities among children.
Carefully plan your experiences in a way that ensures no child is left behind.
Also, remember to give ample encouragement to all children for even the smallest accomplishments.

Jealousy
—The green-eyed monster is a common problem with children.
Jealousy can rear its head at a very early age in preschoolers because of an inward need to be recognized for who they are. It’s often triggered by sibling rivalry if a sibling has more privileges, attention, or freedom.
Peer pressure can become a huge factor in jealousy if a child doesn’t have the same material things friends have.
This can cause a child to feel left out, mistreated, or that life is “unfair.”

To prevent jealousy in your preschool ministry, avoid comparisons.
Even something as simple as holding up a child’s paper because you think it’s exceptional can stir up feelings of jealousy and make another child angry.
Preschool children also have difficulty when they think someone else receives special attention from an adult.
What they may see as inequality in attention can cause jealousy toward the other child.
Be very intentional about treating each child with equal love and praise.

Embarrassment
—As ministry leaders, we know how wrong it is to draw negative attention to a child; for example, reprimanding a child for not paying attention, laughing at something he or she did, or even calling the child by a nickname.
When discipline is necessary and could embarrass a child, do it as privately as possible or address the issue after preschool ministry is over.

Fear
—This emotion usually comes from a home atmosphere in which a child loses his or her sense of well-being.
Maybe the parental relationship isn’t good, a child is involved in a custody battle, or the child has a new sibling and fears the loss of love.

To deal with children’s anger in this situation, it’s important to understand their fear.
Ask them what they’re feeling, what’s happened, or what’s gone wrong.
They may or may not be able to tell you clearly, but all of us, especially children, are remarkably able to heal when given the support we need.

Reassurance and comfort can come in many forms.
Verbal and nonverbal communication is essential.
Remind preschoolers verbally that they’re loved and cared for, and nonverbally offer your physical support by hugging them or just sitting down together.

—Barbara

“But don’t just listen to God’s Word.
You must do what it says.”

—(James 1:22)

Preschoolers learn best by doing.
Studies show that we retain very little of what we hear but a high percentage of what we do.
Preschoolers are
wired
to
do
.
Sitting quietly for more than a few minutes...it’s not happening.

Here’s how we can help children learn by being doers of the Word.

Have them “do” the Bible, not just listen to it.
Get them involved in acting out the Scripture for the day; let everyone have a part.

Send home “do-votionals,” not just devotionals.
Give kids activities they can do at home with their parents to reinforce and help them live out the truth they’re learning in your preschool ministry.

Use hands-on, active, experiential learning.
Trade in the lecture for learning by doing.
Preschoolers love learning by touching, constructing, and creating.
Recently I was teaching the weekend lesson for our preschoolers.
The lesson truth was “We are the church.”
I gathered all the children around me and gave each of them a building block.
We then proceeded to build a church building.
Each child added his or her block to the building, and I must say it was a magnificent piece of architecture.
Which means it didn’t fall down!

After we were all done, I asked the children where the church was.
They pointed to the little church building we’d constructed.
Then I told them that the church isn’t a building...it’s people...it’s us.
I asked them to touch someone beside them and say, “We are the church.”
As they did this, they got it.

It was awesome to see them understand that the church wasn’t made of blocks.
It was made of them, children Jesus loves.

Let’s continue building the faith of preschoolers by teaching them to be doers of the Word and not just hearers.

—Dale

I’ll never forget pulling into the parking lot of my freshman college dorm for the first time, excited and scared to death.
As I got out of the car, I thought to myself,
What in the world do I do now?
Just then I heard a voice calling out, “Gina Jackson, I’m so glad you’re here.”
It was my dorm mom, Melanie.
When I heard my name, the butterflies left and my heart filled with peace and great expectation.
Melanie made a connection with me that day that we kept throughout my college years.
How would my circumstances have been different if no one had noticed me when I arrived?
I know for certain it would’ve changed a lot of things.

When someone speaks our name, an instant connection is made.
You and your volunteer staff will set yourselves apart as leaders by how well you remember names.

Sundays are about connecting with preschoolers and connecting with their parents.
It’s vitally important to learn the names of the families who enter your church facilities each week.
Great leaders will spend time on this.
It’s a discipline and a habit you must work on to master.

• Take photos. The best way to learn the names of your preschoolers is to take their pictures—but ask parents’ permission first, and have them sign release forms.
  
• Make information cards. After you print each child’s photo, cut it out and attach it to a 4x6-inch card. Write the child’s name, parents’ names, and any other information you’d like. You can make this fun by asking preschoolers to tell you their favorite foods, colors, sports, songs, or TV shows. Review these cards to help you not only remember their names but also to learn more about them.
  

Making an all-out effort to learn every child’s name is a true act of love and a confirmation of your commitment to preschoolers and their families.

—Gina

I remember having time to play when I was a child.
Every minute of my day wasn’t scheduled.
I was allowed to have fun by using my imagination.

Fast-forward to today.
Busy families are working harder than ever.
American fathers work an average of 51 hours a week, and mothers work 41 hours a week on average.
So parents try to maximize their time with their children by creating the “organized kid.”
It seems every moment of a child’s day is scheduled.
Children today have 12 hours less free time each week than kids did in 1981.
Forty percent of school districts in America have eliminated recess.
Dr.
Jack Wetter, director of UCLA’s department of pediatric psychology, says, “I see small children so programmed they have no leisure time.”
Many parents today have gotten caught up in the false belief that free play is unimportant or even a waste of time.
We’ve turned children into miniature adults.