A couple of months ago, a free webinar was aired as part of a book launch by Nils Smith. The book was 'Social Media- a guide for ministry' and the webinar was helpful for those interested in learning more about 'whys' and 'hows' of using social media for  ministry- yes, children & family ministry, too.

If you missed it and would still like to learn more, you can view these presentation online HERE...

The book is available here or as a Kindle version here..

No matter how organised or prepared your kidmin programs may be, there may come a time when you need to occupy a child or some children for a short period of time. Check out some of these games, quiz or activity apps. Be prepared- download a couple now so you're ready for any need. They would also be great for a fun segment for families to included in their family devotion time. Click on the links or images for more information about each app.

Children's Bible Games: 5 exciting games- puzzles, seek & find, Bible stickers, colouring, memory.
Dot to Dot Bible Stories: Complete the dot-to-dot puzzle and the picture comes to life with animations and sounds. Pictures can also be coloured.
Bible Word Scramble: Use your knowledge of the Bible to solve hundreds of word puzzles.
Bible Stories Hidden Objects: 10 puzzles.. new one opens on completion of previous game.
Christian Bible Heroes: 5 different games, animated animal reward stickers
Bible Colouring Book: includes 12 stories to colour and more books available to download. 
Bible Pairs: Find the matching pair. Some are simple, others require greater Bible knowledge.
Bible Quest- Just for Fun: Unusual or funny questions from the Bible.. just for fun.

(If you cannot see the gallery of app images, click HERE to view the post in your browser.)

Looking for last minute Mother's Day printables? The following ideas can be downloaded and printed ready to create a highlight of Mother's Day for the mothers in your church family and your kidmin.
1. Mother's Day cards... ready to be downloaded in either colour or black/white format. See here
2. Mother's Day coupons ....Print these coupons ready for the kids to cut out and assemble into a special book for Mum... a great ideas from 'I should be mopping the floor.'
3. Colouring-in page for Mother's Day... find it here and download
4. Tags and labels for Mother's Day ready to add to beautiful cupcakes or bouquets. Find them here....
5. Mother's Day bookmarks.. ready to print and decorate. These would be even better with a great book to accompany them. see here.

If you still can't find just what you're looking for, you may like to check out the wonderful list of Mother's Day ideas here on Pinterest.

Vision- animates, inspires, transforms purpose into action. Our church Vision Dinner was held last Friday evening.. a time when we could consider: 'Who are we? Where is God leading us as a church and in our ministry?'  

It gave us the opportunity to highlight our focus on Family Ministry, explain more about our programs and encourage the church family to visit our Tweedkids Facebook page. 

We used a number of resources in preparation for our special Vision Dinner event and you may find them helpful yourself.
First, I found a great powerpoint presentation template at Graphicriver that was so easy to add text and images for a dynamic presentation. They do charge a few dollars for these templates but, for a special event, it's really worth it in terms of quality and time. You can find more here...
I also used Animoto to create a short clip for our TweedKids and you can check it out below. I've mentioned Animoto before and you might like to read more about this online program here...
I created some great littleBox Brownie cameras to add to the tables since a 'Vision Dinner gives a picture of what lies ahead.' I added the wording to the design before printing the boxes and assembling them. The design cost $4 to download but again, worth it.. it was a great little focus point for the dinner and I filled the cameras with M&Ms.

WorshipHouseKids have made a welcome motion loop available -free. Download it now!

Take a few moments, too, check out some great clips for Mother's Day from WorshipHouseMedia and Sermonspice.
Just click on the image for a link through to the clip. You'll find a countdown, a simple, bright highlight of the important roles of mothers as well as others that pull on the heart-strings.
 Take a look.. and let us know others that you enjoy.

Some time ago, Elevate at Church launched a program for families- Elevate at Home. The idea was to make their Sunday morning kids ministry program materials available for families to download and use at home to develop and grow leaders: making good kids into great leaders.

I don't know if you accessed their materials and promoted them with your church families but the quality of animated Bible stories and lesson materials is excellent. 

Now, they have revamped the program and are offering the resources to families on a subscription basis- $3.99 per month. It's great value and well presented. The other positive feature of this new approach is that you don't have to download the clips. The new improved website allows kids and families to watch any lesson movie at any time using any device. It's worth taking some time to check it out- here!

Mike Johnson, children's pastor and executive producer says:
"This new and improved, streaming website takes the stories (lessons) from the Bible and brings to light the leadership principles that are contained within them. From the lesson of Gideon we can learn about confidence. From the lesson of Nehemiah we can learn about perseverance. From the lessons of Paul we can learn about commitment, and the list goes on. This program gets kids into God’s Word during the week so that it can be learned and applied to their lives now, and in the future.

Our world needs, and will need, men and women who will step up and lead our world in a God honoring way. That’s why you and I have given our lives to work with kids - to teach them God’s Word today so they can impact their world now, and the larger world tomorrow".

We'd been there since early morning setting up for our Easter family event, 'Rock-n-Roll Easter', unsure of how many families and children would shortly walk through the door. The program was simple: children's ministry was responsible for a 15-minute segment of the worship service, the children's program and the following Easter egg hunt outside. This year, we'd decided to use Group's Rock-n-Roll Easter Event, and all the leaders were enthusiastic.

Our worship service segment involved the kids as much as possible. 
1. We started with the kids singing one of the praise and worship dvd songs provided in the kit. (If you haven't used Group's praise dvds before, it's well worth checking out. The kids really enjoy the music and love doing the actions and singing along with the kids on the clip. And.. it removes the pressure of wondering if the kids will sing or be overcome with stage-fright. The kids are also more confident and I just had to remind them that they just had to sing along with the songs we'd been practising during our regular programs.)
2.We followed with a clip with photos of the kids during their mid-week program, made using SmileBox, followed by the puppet skit supplied with the kit. 
3.Some of our older kids presented the puppet show and it was also easy to prepare, since the voice-over audio is provided in the kit, too.
4. We included a clip from the Skit Guys to highlight the resurrection (see here).
5. The final segment was another song with the kids singing- He Arose. We encouraged the whole church family to join in singing this well-know chorus.

Then we went out for our program. And again, it was really easy. We sang a couple more songs with the kids, showed them the Easter clip, A Very Special Easter.

The Rock-n-Roll Easter Event provides clear instructions and resources for 8 activity stations; Gospel Wristband, Rock Craft Station, Resurrection Cupcakes, Rolling Rock Game, Silly Sphere Pool Station, Easter Skin Decals, Rock-n-Roll Singer station, & Candy Basket Station. We allowed the kids to go to whichever station they wanted, but limited the number allowed at any one time at a station. It worked really well... and the volunteers enjoyed it... (a big plus!)

We played music to bring them all back to the main area before going out to the Easter Egg Hunt. The program suggests hiding plastic eggs which can then be redeemed at the designated area for a bag of Easter goodies including a comic Where the Rock Rolled Away that shares the gospel in a fun way. It worked very well with many parents commenting that they had never been to a better Easter program and Egg Hunt that not only was heaps of fun, but taught the kids something, too. 

So.. would I recommend it? Definitely... Our numbers swelled to three times our usual crowd of families and everyone had something encouraging to say about the morning. I even had new families coming up afterwards wanting to sign their kids in for our mid-week program, too.

What programs did you use this Easter and how did it all go?

I usually find, whenever I create a list of suggested movie clips, that I've overlooked some great ones as soon as the blog is posted.
So.... just realise that this list is not exhaustive but does contain some worthwhile suggestions to check out for use in your kids church and other programs over the Easter period.

1. INVITATIONS    This is a great little clip to encourage your church family to invite along friends and family to your Easter events.
2. A VERY SPECIAL EASTER     This clip uses crayon drawings to illustrate responses and comments by kids about the Easter story. It does have a great finish.
3. PETER & JOHN: THE TOMB    This clip from The Skit Guys (I've included it below) would be great to use as a discussion starter with older kids: Why were they running? Who ran inside first? Why did their expressions change to delight and laughter?...
4. A VERY SPECIAL SUNDAY   One from the series that tells the Easter story with line drawings through the eyes of children.
5.  TINY BIBLE TREASURES 6- HE'S ALIVE    This is another animated series retelling the Easter story (Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20)
6. AN EASTER STORY   This presentation uses children as Bible characters to retell the Easter story.
7.WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT       This short little clip would be a great introduction or conclusion to your Easter event and just highlights the real message of Easter.
8. THE JESUS EGG   I've included this story clip about an Easter egg hunt. It has a great message that you might like to use as a discussion launcher or to develop further following Easter. 
9. REMEMBER ME   Friends and Heroes have a quality musical presentation of the Easter story.
10. I BELIEVE  If you're looking for some downloadable music for your kids to sing along with, check out Groups selection. Our kids really enjoy them and love to see other kids singing, too. This is just one of the list available to download.

How often do we access daily news media sources and learn of dangerous situations needing the help of emergency services? Whether it's police, fire and rescue services, ambulance, Life Guards, SES, St John's, Rural Fire Brigade... these organisations provide help and assistance to many, often without thanks or real appreciation.
 
You may wish to take the opportunity, as a church or a children's ministry, to invite members from these groups to a special 'thank you' family service or event. A simple postcard-style invitation has been included in the file below plus a couple of decorative pieces- bunting, small labels for attaching to packs of chips or drinks, cupcake toppers. When we contacted these organisations, some offered to bring along their emergency vehicles, much to the delight of the kids! We also painted up some cardboard boxes as firetrucks and emergency vehicles and held races for the kids.

You may wish to present a special certificate to all the emergency service personnel present. A simple certificate is available below.  Another gift suggestion is to present each organisation with copies of the popular movies Fireproof and/or Courageous.