Blog Archives

Tips for taking great kidmin pics

26/2/2014

A picture is worth a thousand words.

It's true, especially in our image-saturated world of Facebook, Instagram, infographics, Pinterest, YouTube and other social media.

It's no less true for your children's ministry, especially if you're wanting to connect with your community and highlight the regular excitement and activity of your Sunday and mid-week programs.

If you're unsure whether to outlay the time and effort to include regular pics of your program in your kidmin social media, read this post about the relevance of Pinterest for children's ministry. Our experience has been that parents, even the ones that never come along to church or stay to talk following the programs, know about information and updates we've posted on our kidmin Facebook page.We have more people following our Facebook page (friends & families from the community) than church family. So.. yes, I think it's worth the time and effort.

We take pics of the craft and snacks... the games and activities..anything that paints a picture and highlights our program. At this point, I need to emphasize that you read up on your country/region's current regulations regarding taking images of kids, and ensure a child's privacy by obtaining parental consent and providing information on how and for what purpose images will be used. Our kidmin focus in all things is to be the care and protection of children.

Some churches and children's ministries find a talented, enthusiastic volunteer to regularly snap photos of all that's happening each Sunday or during special events. If you can find such a person, great! If not, you'd be surprised how effective you and your smartphone camera can be ... with a few hints from the experts.

But... I'm not such an expert- so I avidly read anything that will help me improve my skill in this area. The following links are posts that I've found helpful and I hope you will, too. let me know what you think, and if you've found any other hints and tips, please pass along the information.. I certainly need it!

* 7 Steps to Better Blog Photos ...this is a great site and the simple points listed will encourage and inspire you.
* 11 Composition Tips for taking Great Photos with your iPhone... these tips are little more involved but I have started using the grid feature of my smartphone, as suggested, and it has made a big difference. Check out the tips..
* 10 Quick iPhone Tips.. nice, simple tips but really helpful.
* Take Better Pictures with your Phone: my best tips, tricks and apps...a different style of blog but the hints are really helpful. Check out the first one- 'Stand still'. Actually, when you're with kids during a program, that's probably easier than it sounds.
* 15 tips on how to take good photos with your iPhone... I've just been told about this one so check it out! There are plenty of great hints and ideas for you to try.

Read up.. practice.. and have fun. I think the most helpful hint for me is to take lots of photos.. you can always delete the ones that don't work out.

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Do more than teach kids about prayer

24/2/2014

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"The little estimate we put on prayer is evidence from the little time we give to it." E.M. Bounds

During our kidmin programs we speak about prayer, teach about prayer, encourage children to pray but often, with so many aspects of our program that we want to cover, we often don't allow time to actually pray with the kids. The best way to encourage children to pray is when they see it's important enough for us to pray, too.

So.. how can we include prayer time in a meaningful manner. For many, the solution is a prayer wall- a visual reminder for children write about their needs and their concerns and to pray for others. Don't forget to encourage them to add their praise notes, too; for who God is and what He has done- how He has answered their requests.

Set aside time in your morning program's schedule for prayer and pray for the requests on your prayer wall. Pray, too, for the needs of others in the church and encourage the kids to pray.

If you're thinking of creating your own prayer wall, there are many special FREE fonts that can be used for the lettering of the word 'PRAY'. See here for some examples.. Print the letters banner-size and leave a ready supply of post-it notes and pens for anyone to include their own prayer notes. There are some other 'prayer wall' designs from Pinterest that you might like to consider incorporating.

You also might like to consider printing the free downloadablehere of '10 Ways to teach your child to pray'.

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Connect with kidmin families using this special resource

18/2/2014

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It's encouraging when families from the community attend your regular midweek kidmin programs or planned special events. Hopefully, they love every minute!

It was like that for Sharon who quietly turned up one Tuesday morning with her two little ones for playgroup.

She enjoyed the friendly,welcoming atmosphere. She appreciated the fun and excitement evident on the faces of their children as they played with the other children, joined in enthusiastically with the singing and craft time and listened intently during story-time.

But how do you extend that connection with families, like Sharon's, once your program ends? What can you do to provide interest and encouragement for families beyond the time frames of your scheduled programs and, potentially, build into their daily lives?

While we've provided regular inspiration for our church families for years using Group's ParentLink newsletter (see here if you want more information about this resource), we needed something for non-church families providing encouragement, parenting tips, ideas and resources.

So... this term we're handing out The Macaron Approach, a small newsletter designed with bite-sized articles for busy families to connect and provide ideas and information for spending meaningful time with family, developing parenting skills, highlighting practical family resources and apps and cultivating the roots of faith in the lives of children.

The newsletter is one-sided to allow space to including details of other kidmin programs or special upcoming events on the reverse. Also, as a practical resource for families, we hand out the weekly copy of The Weekly Household Planner from the Confident Mom. You can find more information about it here..

When the newsletter was first handed out, we included an individually wrapped macaron for each person and encouraged the parents to relax and enjoy the macaron while reading the newsletter. (It was very popular!)

Read more about this newsletter here..

The newsletter is handed out each week so that families look forward to reading the new information and ideas and are encouraged when they receive something for them to enjoy. We also hand the newsletter out at the Sunday morning kidmin program. Many of the kids who come along each Sunday attend without their parents and we hope and pray that their parents will read the helpful articles without feeling threatened or uncomfortable. We also pray that they will want to learn more.

A free sample copy of The Macaron Approach is provided below and if you're thinking of using the resource yourself, you can find it here. There are 10 undated issues in the first volume pack- one for each week of the term.

tma_vol_1.1.pdf
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Tech Spring Cleaning

11/2/2014

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No matter how exciting I try to make the heading, or how much colour I include or how many exclamation marks I use, this post is boring. Sorry..

Spring cleaning.. not just your office but, in particular, your computer- that workhorse that churns out letters, flyers, ministry updates, reports, sign-in sheets, lists, memos, emails and so much more.....

It's an important subject, though, a task that should be completed on a regular basis and something that will make a huge difference to the speed and efficiency of your computer and ultimately, your productivity..

Excited now? Taking time to spring clean any work environment, pays big dividends. Once complete, you'll feel motivated to work, and you'll work more efficiently with greater job satisfaction.
So start with your physical work area. Declutter and wipe down your desktop, sort your files and toss anything that isn't crucial, clean out your drawers and restock with fresh supplies. Dust the shelves and remove any books or magazines that don't belong or are out of date. Perhaps add a new indoor plant for a fresh touch to your work area. Yes, you really will feel more focused and motivated when your work area is clear, clean and refreshed. It's a great way to begin the new year. Now.. your computer...

Although I'm well aware of the importance of a regular spring clean of my computer, I leave it up to the experts to run through the list of tasks that need to be competed. TeachHub provides a well-presented spring cleaning list for your computer, that will soon have it running more efficiently and ready to handle any of the work required. The 14 Easy Steps to Spring Clean you Computer is well worth checking out here... Don't neglect this task. It might not be exciting but, when so much of your ministry admin relies on well-maintained equipment, it's worth expending a little time and energy to ensure its efficiency.
So, refresh your work area, brighten your focus and spring clean your computer inside and out.

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A 'Welcome to our Kidmin' card

10/2/2014

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Most people feel nervous attending a new church for the first time, and it's no different for children.. probably worse. They're expected to leave the rest of their family and go by themselves to a new room filled with people and kids that they've never met before. Daunting!

So, it's important to include visiting children and make them feel welcome without overwhelming them. Part of our strategy for welcoming visitors to our kidmin program is to hand them a visitor's pack. Our packs look interesting enough to take the focus from their nervousness to opening and checking inside the brightly coloured packs. (see here)

In a previous post, I wrote about these activity boxes for our visitors and mentioned the 'welcome card' that we include in these packs. The card is a take-home reminder of our kidmin and a 'thank you' to our visiting kids for joining us for our Sunday program.

But, I thought that it might be helpful for anyone who is organising their own welcome packs to include a printable card to download and use. The brightly coloured card below is large postcard size (A5) with 2 printed per A4 page. If you plan to use it, I'd suggest that you print the card design on 100gsm weight paper or even light card. If you'd like to create you own, try Smilebox. It's a simple program and saves me hours of work. (see here)

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Simple Valentine's Day kidmin gift

8/2/2014

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Valentine's Day may be days away but love is certainly in the air with plenty of Valentine's Day sales, promotions, gift ideas and crafts arriving in emails or in store promotions. But, since Valentine's Day occurs mid-week, this year, you may not be including a strong emphasis in your kidmin Sunday program.

If, like us, you're including a simple focus on God's love and a Valentine's Day craft, you might be interested in this image of John 3:16 which can be found here from ministry-to-children.com along with some other Valentine's Day ideas.

iMom.com has a range of free printables for Valentine's Day, too- cupcake cutouts, cards, lunchbox notes and more. But the Valentine's Day gift tags are wonderful. You can find them here.. We're turning them into a simple gift idea.

The kids can cut out the gift tags. They will also need to cut out a slightly larger circle of coloured card. and glue the tag and circle of card together. Then, punch a hole in the tag and slip a lollipop through the hole. Add a ribbon bow and it's finished. Then they can hand them out to others at church or in their neighbourhood. You could also add a Scripture verse on the back or your kidmin website address.

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Save time creating kidmin visitor's packs

5/2/2014

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Visiting families are a regular part of our kidmin program each Sunday morning. It's great! This is partly due to the location of the church in a surfing community, a tourist destination. But whether or not, these families are part of this beachside community or families on holidays, we want the kids to really enjoy being a part of our Sunday morning kidmin program.

So, like you, we present each guest with an attractive visitor's pack to generate some excitement and help make these kids special special and important to us.

We bring the kids upfront and introduce them to the rest of the group. Then we ask the kids to guess their age. It's amazing how their eyes light up as the others call out varied suggestions. It also helps that our regular kids are so encouraging. "Wow! He's really tall for 7. I never would have guessed that." "Really? She's nearly as old as me.. looks like she'd be great at games. Can you run fast?" It's a lot of fun for everyone.

Then, we give each visitor a bright-coloured activity pack. What do you do for your visitors?

While the kids really enjoy the attention and gift, it takes time to create these special packs each week... and there's the costs involved of buying little items that kids will enjoy and value.
But we've discovered these brightly coloured activity boxes from Busy Nippers. Each box includes: - Colourful stickers
- Easy-peel-off sticker scene
- 8 drawing and puzzle sheets
- Jigsaw
- Collect Me Sticker
- Non-toxic crayons (4 colours each pack)

And.. it's easy to just slip in a 'Thank you for joining us this morning' card, activities information, current newsletter and information about upcoming events.

Cost-wise? They work out about $0.95/box... great value, especially when you see the delighted looks on the faces of the kids.

If you're considering something similar yourself, just click on the link for more information.

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Build community with a simple kidmin party

3/2/2014

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It's wonderful when kids look forward with excitement to your Sunday morning kidmin program. After all, real learning and growing occurs when kids are motivated and involved. But, it's easy to keep all the excitement within your children's ministry.

Why not extend your focus and provide some excitement for the whole church family? It's easier than you think.

Is your church planning a special service to start the new year, introducing a new sermon series or commencing a new program? Why not suggest a simple party to highlight this special event following the service?

Isn't that a lot of extra work? Will the adults enjoy it? How many extra volunteers will we need?

All good questions... but let me briefly outline the Ice-cream Soda Party (in Australia, we also call them 'Spiders') that we held last Sunday and you can see for yourself. And.. I'm sure you'll think of even more ideas that will create real interest and build community within your own church family.

Step 1: Get your ideas together and run it past your pastor or church leadership team. Present your ideas with enthusiasm and generate some excitement amongst this group. We included the women's ministry team and they suggested their ministry also provide a gourmet sandwich lunch- great!

Step 2: Promote your event well in advance. If you're looking for a powerpoint slide/flyer design to use, you can find it here.. Add the image to your church/kidmin facebook page and upload it to your website. Create some posters and display them prominently.

Step 3: Gather your resources. This type of party doesn't really require too much and all of the decorations were assembled around a couple of tables. We used pastel coloured tablecloths, tall plastic cups, pastel-coloured straws, serviettes and balloons. Don't forget some long-handled plastic spoons.

We downloaded the soda labels, popped them on small bottles of soft-drink and used these as the main table decoration. You can find the label printableshere.

We also downloaded the banner idea from Holly's Paisley Petal Events.. see here.. but used different letters. Our banner spelled out, 'Here's the Scoop!' If you'd like to create the same banner, you can find it below.

And we made some hats for those who were making the ice-cream sodas. Actually, I had thought it would be easy to find and purchase these, but no. So I used the instructions found at Creative Momma, here, to make the hats. ( They were very popular. Our teenagers wanted to wear them and help out- great!) Provide some big tubs of ice to keep the drinks cool until you need them.

And, of course, you'll need ice-cream, scoops, soft-drink and toppings. .We used 100s&1000s, choc drops, sprinkles, frozen berries, mini-marshmallows for toppings but you could use whatever takes your fancy. Stay away from crushed nuts to avoid any allergic reactions. Set them out in small dishes for anyone to add to their ice-cream sodas.

Step 4: Set up your area. Honestly, this took very little time but allow yourself extra time in the morning so you don't feel rushed.

And the reaction? I lost count of the number of older folk who came up and told us ..'Great idea! I haven't had one of these for 20 years!' Quite a few came up and encouraged us in the work that we're doing with the kids and families and I had a couple of people who handed over some money to help towards the costs of this and other similar events. (Unexpected, but very welcome!)

The best part for me was seeing so many happy groups of mixed ages sitting around and enjoying each other's company. (We even had the excitement of a real spider, a huge huntsman, that ran in among the groups of people with the ensuing screams and excitement before it was removed. Hopefully, you won't include that drama!)

bunting-_heres_the_scoop.pptx
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